Until recently, LED lighting was limited in use to small appliances as indicator lights, like on/off lights.
Municipalities have now begun using LED Lighting to reduce energy costs by replacing traffic lights with LED Lights
to reduce energy and replacement costs. This trend is quickly carrying over to the residential sector where homeowners
are swapping out incandescent holiday lights with LED holiday lights. A typical strand of 50 lights uses 300 watts, whereas
a strand of 50 LED lights uses 4 watts.
But LED lights are not limited to the holiday season, products are available to meet virtually all your residential
lighting needs, from porch and garage flood lights, landscape accent lighting, track lights, even standard lamp lights.
There are several benefits to using LED lights.
LED lights use about 1/10th the energy of incandescent lights, which results in direct energy savings.
The lifespan of an LED light is about 30,000 hours which is equivalent to about 7-10 years of normal use. That's times
as long as the lifespan of an incandescent light bulb and six times longer than a compact flourescent light bulb. Longevity
means less money replacing bulbs in the future.
LED lights emit less heat making your home safer.
LED Lights do have a couple of drawbacks. LED lights are typically in an on or off state, so dimming the lights using
a dimmer control isn't that effective. Perhaps as LED technology improves, this feature will become available.
The initial cost of a standard 120V lamp bulb is about 10 times the cost of an incandescant bulb and five times the cost
of a compact flourescent bulb. However, the upfront cost may be worth it when considering the energy savings gained and
reduced costs in replacing bulbs. Also, as LED lighting grows in popularity, competition in the market and improved
technology should bring prices down.