LEDS work on 3.5 volts and low amperage so they are not power hogs. You can run 'em on just about any power source. What you DON'T want to do is run them from a transformer from 120v. You're bleeding off the excess in waste heat. That's why I'm designing a battery powered/solar charged system for a couple of rooms.
You are correct - sort of - about the brightness. LEDs can be VERY bright. Some are now used at the tops of towers because of their brightness and reliability. Radio stations LOVE them! Less need for Tower Monkeys.
LEDS are even being used as tail lights in cars...maybe even headlights by now, I haven't been able to keep up because the tech has been changing so fast.
The problem is LEDs emit light in a very narrow band...IIRC around 20 degrees as opposed to the (nearly) 360 degrees of other sources.
But that's not really as big a problem as it sounds. You can always use more LEDS spread in a pattern that coverse a given area.
There was supposed to be a big development in LED tech this summer. Rumor was HUGE price drops one top of the line LEDs as well as better "whiteness". The desk lamps I use - ten bucks apiece at a dollar store a couple of years ago BTW - Are too bluish for most people. The newer LEDs are producing an acceptable white now...I have a few of those.
Really if I put my mind an dresources to it I could operate my house with solar lighting, a battery bank and small generator for TV, radios, computers etcetera. The only thing I would need Electric power for would be a big refigerator - something Wife and I really don't need now, powering the washer and dryer and electric motors in fans, furnace and such, and of course anything that uses resistance for heat like a hair dryer. There ARE ways around that though, they're just expnsive at the moment.
I'd like to do that not because I'm an enviromentalist - which I am DEFINATELY NOT - or some back to simplicity whacko. It's because the tech is there> It just needs a bit more tinkering.
And the most important reason for using the hi tech lighting and power system is because I CAN.
Plus... then I can tell the high priced, utilities and their whacko unions to go Fark off, hehehehe.
prisoner6
I wonder if some of the premature failures reported with LED bulbs could be due to power surges?
You need a thermoacoustic refrigerator.
“ten bucks apiece at a dollar store”
I got pissed when the Five and Dime started charging me a quarter!
There's nothing wrong with caring about G-d's creation. It's when someone goes off the deep end that it is a problem.
Unfortunately, respect for the environment has been pegged as a "liberal" thing, and now people seem to be anti-environment just to be anti-liberal.
Brownfield redevelopment and minimizing air, landfill, and water pollution does NOT mean Hillary and Nancy win, unless one INSISTS on defining it that way!
Your 'battery' probably bleeds off more waste than a transformer.