Finding Usable LED Lighting for Your Home And Converting to LED Lamps Saves Money
When LED lights first launch to public they required special bulbs that couldn’t be used in ordinary lamps. Today, you can get LED bulbs that work well in just about any lighting fixture you may have in your home. Often times there are locations and fixtures that will be more appropriate, however.
Inaccessible Locations
Lighting fixtures that are hard to reach or are seldom used may be the best for your first venture into LED usage at home. A LED bulb can last for 100,000 hours, making it less likely that you will have to take out a ladder to change bulbs on your vaulted roof again for a very long time. Additionally, if you are unsure about how you will feel about the more direct lighting style resulting from a LED bulb, this is a great way to try it out.
Spot Lights
One thing that LED bulbs do very well is to guide a light at a particular thing. While they may not be perfect yet for diffuse lighting needs, they really can’t be beaten with regards to spot lighting. Whether you choose cans or directed fixtures, LED lighting options can match your needs.
Outdoor Uses
Mainly because LED bulbs light up promptly they are ideal for backyard applications that involve safety lighting. Accessible in a number of wireless models, LED motion detector lights can be applied anywhere and anytime and they use standard batteries that only must be changed about yearly.
Cities all over the country are turning to various funding sources to change out incandescent traffic light bulbs and pedestrian crossing signals and replace them with LED lamps. How much can they count on to save? The average LED bulb takes up 80-90% less energy than an incandescent bulb, and as you consider the usage at city scale, that truly adds up.
Tucson, Arizona is in the entire process of making the change and expects to determine savings of around $50,000 in the first year alone – and so far they have merely implemented the change in the nearby downtown area.
Denny’s Leading the Action
The restaurant chain Denny’s has created LED light bulbs corporate policy and all the franchises are making the switch. In Colorado Springs, Colorado a Denny’s franchisee that conducted the change in five places cites a $15,500 reduction in his total annual energy expenses. And, if you think Denny’s is the only one on the camp, Chili’s has announced that they are changing over too.
More Good Reasons
While the financial motivation is clearly significant, there are many good reasons to make the swap. Switching to LEDs lowers the carbon emissions created by lighting needs. Fairview, Texas recently began a new street lit entirely by LED light bulbs and predicts to create a thousand pounds less carbon a year with just those 82 bulbs. The bunch of cities joining the LED City program is developing.
Mercury Issues
The other widely used replacement for incandescent light bulbs is CFL. CFL bulbs, unfortunately, include mercury. In fact, the mercury in just one CFL bulb is sufficient to poison 1000 gallons of water. Needless to say few states have basic safety protocols in place with regards to the disposal of CFL bulbs and the potential for disastrous ecological damage is clear. LED light bulbs contain no mercury in any way, and since they last so long, they reduce the volume of material going to landfills as well.
The advantage of switching to LED lamps is clear from many perspectives. Fortunately, the price of such bulbs is dropping and they are rapidly approaching the price point where they will be affordable for use throughout the home as well.