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| Types of bulbs (L-R) INCANDESCENT, CFL AND LED |
Just a couple decades ago, light bulbs were light
bulbs. No matter your budget, you really had only one choice when it came to
interior lighting options for your home: Head to the hardware store and pick up
some incandescent bulbs, choosing a wattage based on how bright you needed the
light to be.
Over the years, advances in technology have brought about innovations in how to light our homes and commercial buildings. In the beginning, all we had was the standard, incandescent light bulb. Now we have compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and light emitting diodes or LED for short — that put incandescent lighting to shame.
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| Incandescent Bulb |
Incandescent Lighting:
Incandescent lamps are often considered the least
energy efficient type of electric lighting commonly found in residential
buildings. Although inefficient, incandescent lamps possess a number of key
advantages--they are inexpensive to buy, turn on instantly, are available in a huge
array of sizes and shapes and provide a pleasant, warm light with excellent
color rendition.
However, because of their relative inefficiency
and short life spans, they are more expensive to operate than newer lighting
types such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and light-emitting
diodes (LEDs).
The main downside with traditional light bulbs is
that they use only 10 percent of their energy to produce light, burning off the
rest as heat. They've wasted 90 percent of the electricity people have fed them
for the past over the years.
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| CFL Bulb |
CFL Lighting:
In a CFL, an electric current is driven through a
tube containing argon and a small amount of mercury vapor. This generates
invisible ultraviolet light that excites a fluorescent coating (called phosphor)
on the inside of the tube, which then emits visible light.
One of the most potent threats to CFLs' is their contents. There's a small amount of toxic
mercury in every one, which can be absorbed or inhaled, potentially causing brain
damage in adults, children and especially in fetuses. Fumble a CFL while
changing a light, critics warn, and you unleash a poisonous fiend in your home.
Throw it out and you're dumping mercury in landfills.
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| LED Bulb |
LED Lighting:
The light-emitting diode (LED) is one of today's
most energy-efficient and rapidly-developing lighting
technologies. Quality LED light bulbs last longer, are more durable, and
offer comparable or better light quality than other types of lighting.
With performance improvements and dropping
prices, LED lamps can replace 40, 60, and even 75 Watt incandescent bulbs. It's
important to read the Lighting Facts Label to make sure the product is the
right brightness and color for the intended location. When chosen carefully,
LED replacement products can be an excellent option
So which is the best deal?
LED lights are up to 80% more efficient than
traditional lighting such as fluorescent and incandescent lights. 95% of the
energy in LEDs is converted into light and only 5% is wasted as heat. This is
compared to fluorescent lights which convert 95% of energy to heat and only 5%
into light! LED lights also draw much less power than traditional lighting; a
typical 84 watt fluorescent can be replaced by a 36 watt LED to give the same
level of light.
LED lights contain no toxic elements. Most offices
currently use fluorescent strip lights which contain noxious chemicals such as
mercury. This will contaminate the environment when disposed of in landfill waste.
3 - Less Lights Needed
LEDs have a better quality of light distribution
and focus light in one direction as opposed to other types of lighting which
waste energy by emitting light in all directions, often illuminating areas
where light isn’t required (such as the ceiling). This means that less LED
lights are needed to achieve the same level of brightness given off by
fluorescents and incandescent lights.
We will continue to offer some CFL bulbs, and of
course we can order any bulb you may need to match existing bulbs you may have.
However, we encourage you to start moving to LED bulbs to gain the
benefits more quickly. The pricing is really close to CFL bulbs, and in
some cases it's lower. Stop in and see our full selection of LED bulbs,
you'll be amazed at how much variety is now available.
