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Long Life and Low Maintenance
LED lighting has a 50,000 to 80,000 hours life with 80% lumen maintenance. This equates to 11 to 13 years of service on 12 hours a day operations, or about 6.0 to 8.0 years of service based on 24 hours daily continuous operations.
This can be compared with current lighting technology like:
- Halogen & incandescent bulbs with only about 700 to 1,500 hours life span
- Fluorescent bulbs with about 6,000 hours life span.
- CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs with about 6,000 to 8,000 hours life span, depending on frequency of switching.
Consequently, much less regular maintenance is required in replacing LED bulbs versus current traditional lighting bulbs.
Batteries will also last much longer when using LEDs vs current lighting bulbs. It is as much as 15 to 20 times longer compared with incandescent and halogen bulbs.
Energy Saving with Low Energy Consumption
LED's energy consumption, due to its solid state properties, is only a fraction of the wattage consumption of current lighting bulbs.
Also the light rays produced by LEDs are efficiently focused, unlike traditional lightings which transmit light rays in all directions.
Consequently, many cities in the US including Singapore, have replaced their incandescent traffic lights with LED arrays because the electricity costs can be reduced by more then 50%.
Energy Conversion Efficiency:
LED – 85% to 90%, less than 5% loss in heat
Incandescent, halogen – 5% , 95% loss in heat
Fluorescent, CFLs - 45% , 35% loss in heat
In this era of rising and high fuel costs, this low energy consumption feature represents a huge benefit in all energy conservation efforts of society.
This will also qualify projects using LED lightings for special privileges from local building authorities by complying to the “green environment” criteria.
Minimal Heat Generation
LED bulbs do not cause heat build-up as compared to current bulbs. LED bulbs produce minimally about 3.4 btu/hr of heat, compared to 85 btu/hr for incandescent and halogen bulbs.
Furthermore, the minimal heat generated by LEDs are directed away (behind) from the area of illumination since LEDs are diodes. This is unlike current lighting bulbs which all emit heat towards the area of illumination. This will assist in conserving power consumption from the standpoint of air conditioning.
This will also qualify projects using LED lightings for special privileges from local building authorities by complying to the “green environment” criteria.
Gradual vs Sudden “Death” of Bulbs
LEDs gradually fade off in the end of their life span. Traditional bulbs die a “sudden” death with no pre-emptive warning. This is especially important for signages and exterior / interior decorative lightings.
Durability
LED bulbs do not have a filament. They are then not damaged under circumstances as when a regular incandescent or halogen bulb can be broken. Because they are solid state devices, LED bulbs can then hold up well to jarring and bumping.
Furthermore the LED bulbs are stable and durable as they are not glass based and do not have large surface areas of glass like current bulbs, which are susceptible to breakage during use and transportation.
Note that current energy saving CFL bulbs normally have larger glass areas compared to incandescent or halogen bulbs.
Non Hazardous Materials
LED bulbs do not contain mercury, lead or titanium dioxide like many of the current traditional lighting bulbs, which require careful handling and immediate disposal especially during breakage. This has been warned by the Department for Environment (USA). In fact, proper disposal and recycling procedures are now required by EPA (USA) for fluorescent bulbs, which include CFLs. This will inevitably increase the costs of disposal of these traditional bulbs.
Also fluorescent lightings are known to cause ‘flare ups” and eczema for certain skin sensitive persons and even migraine for others, as reported by doctors. Not so for LED lightings.
LED lightings also operate in low DC voltage conditions being solid state materials, unlike traditional lightings.
As such, LEDs useage contributes greatly to a greener and safe environment advocated by governments worldwide.
This will qualify projects using LED lightings for special privileges from local building authorities.
Convenient Lighting for Remote Areas
Due to the low energy and low DC voltage requirement for LED lighting, it is possible to use solar panels. This becomes more practical and less expensive than running an electric line or using a generator in very remote areas of lighting requirements.
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