This topic has interested me for a long time, I have even gone to the length of installing test LED lighting through my own home and tested both it’s longevity and usefulness as a takeover lighting solution.
LED lighting is being pushed hard at the moment which means no doubt we will all be using them very soon, if not already.
They are substantially cheaper to run than normal every day halogen or conventional lighting which traditionally was cheap to produce but expensive to run.
The story of the LED (AKA Light-emitting diode) goes back many years to when it was first used as a computer component back in the 1960’s, and for a lot of years has been used as a basic indicator for electronic items to see if they are working, or as an indicator for different components.
The development of the LED tech has seen efficiency and light output rise at a crazy rate with both doubling every 36 months or so since the 1960’s (which if you ask me is pretty crazy!)
In 2008 we saw developers stumble over a milestone in LED technology where they achieved a luminous efficacy of 300 lumens of visible light per watt which in non tech wording means there was a glimmer of hope we could use LED for general lighting.
Now in 2012 we have seen costs in producing LED lighting reduced by some 90% with new techniques which means, lights for the masses!
No one knows exactly where LED lighting is heading, but at it’s current path it’s pretty safe to say it is here to stay, with its ability to run at low voltage for safety, its low heat so insulation can be used without cutting holes and it’s ability to save money to consumers, so much so, if everyone in australia was to convert all their lighting to LED lighting it would cut the countries entire power bill by approx. 15%!!!
I have found LED’s so far to live up to their expectations, the original LED’s I installed for testing in my own home are still going strong after 5 years without fail, and even though they are ‘old technology’ to today’s standard they still put out a fair amount of light.
