LED Lighting Technology Thoughts

The latest technology when it comes to saving money on your light bill for your home or office is supposedly the LED (Light Emitting Diode). Most folks when they think of LED are thinking of traffic lights but the industry is all a buzz with the new and improved lighting that is supposed to go viral in the homes of America in 2010. My personal thoughts are that LED lighting for the average home is going to sputter at first just like the funky shaped soft serve spiral ice cream cone CFL’s (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) did. The average consumer is not willing to dole out the high start up cost of the LED lamps. Just a quick Google search and I came across some pretty expensive desk lamps ranging from $150 to $170.

When you can go down to your local mega store and buy an incandescent lamp for well under twenty bucks then toss in a CFL bulb for another three bucks there isn’t the huge cost savings realized. Some of the reports that I’ve researched have also stated that some of the LED technology isn’t as good as it’s being advertised. Some reports stated that the LED bulbs can last upwards of twenty two years while others didn’t last two weeks. That is a huge discrepancy from the sales brochures you might come across.

I’m still researching LED technology and I’m not sold on the idea of any new lighting that still draws power when the light is off no matter how minimal the draw is. I’m not sold on the electric savings when LED is comparable to CFL.

My own past experience has been to replace all of the incandescent bulbs with CFL’s and the electric bill dropped significantly. Most of the CFL’s that I installed are still working and I’m happy with the product. Can the lighting industry make it better and more consumer friendly by eliminating the lead in the product completely? ABSOLUTELY! I just can’t see LED lighting taking off and making the progress as quickly as people selling the technology would like us to think. Not this year anyway.

Papamoka

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