The Energy Saving LED Lighting Solution

A revolution in home illumination is happening as the cost of low energy LED lighting comes down and availability and choice increases.

The whole movement toward energy saving homes started after the 1970s when the realization that the world's supply of cheap oil was finite and the knock-on effect that our energy bills would be rising sharply from then on prompted the search for greater energy efficiency. Ways had to be found to reduce home energy consumption without sacrificing the conveniences that we had become accustomed to.

One area that was ripe for improvement was the way in which we provided our homes with essential lighting at night, as well as they way we light our streets and public places. The days of the incandescent light bulb were numbered!

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL)

We already knew that fluorescent light tubes used a lot less electricity to provide light wattage compared with incandescent bulbs, which was why they were used extensively in stores, offices and public buildings. Unfortunately, this kind of lighting was unsuitable for homes as the light they produced was stark, cold white and not at all relaxing or comforting as the warmer, slightly yellow light from incandescent bulbs.

The breakthrough came in the 1990s with compact fluorescent bulbs that were able to produce a warmer shade of light while reducing power consumption for the equivalent amount of light by up to 80% over incandescents. It wasn't too long before CFLs they were replacing incandescent bulbs across the country in homes and places that previously used them.

LED Lights

Toward the latter part of the 1990s much brighter light emitting diodes (LEDs) were becoming available as a viable replacement for the CFLs, because they used even less electricity to produce usable light but more importantly, they lasted much longer. Another 10 years would elapse before these useful little lights would become powerful and cheap enough to provide realistic replacement light bulbs that could be used in homes and other buildings.

The problems were the cost of the hardware compared to the amount of light that could be produced. It needed multiple LEDs to produce anything approaching the same level of illumination that CFLs were capable of and that made them very expensive to produce.

Lower Costs

But as with any needed product, as demand rose, supply kept pace and costs were brought down to the point where today we can now buy LED replacement bulbs that can produce warm light. And they can do it at the kind of levels that CFLs are capable of with the benefits of much longer life alongside even lower electricity consumption to produce it.

Night Lights

This low cost and low power rating makes LED lights perfect for a wide range of uses aside from regular home lighting. They can be used in very low power night lights to provide useable light overnight so people can for example go to the bathroom late at night and not need to switch on main lights and wake everyone else up.

Low level might time lighting fixtures can also be very decorative as well as functional. This you can see in such designs as butterfly night lights and other such units with certain ornamental shades that add a touch of elegance and beauty to an otherwise merely functional appliance.

Outdoor Solar Lights

Another useful application for LEDs is in solar outdoor lights as they use so little power they can be run overnight off a small rechargeable battery that gets its charge during he day from the sun. This is an extremely cost effective way of providing exterior illumination at night without needing to hook up to the mains supply.

Christmas Tree Lights

Another really useful application for LEDs is for Christmas tree lights that can be battery powered. This is a much safer alternative to regular lights as there is not the fire hazard associated with ultra low power battery supplied strings of LEDs as there is with mains powered regular bulbs.

However you use your super low energy LED lighting, I'm sure you can appreciate the environmental benefits to using less power while saving yourself a big chunk of your household budget set aside for energy bills each year. What will they think of next do you imagine?