Out On A Limb / August-September 2008
How Do LEDs Work?
By: Joanne Jones
Go to your local hardware store and you will notice that LED (light-emitting diode) lights are becoming increasingly more popular. These lights use very little energy and they are rapidly replacing older, more energy consuming light bulbs. They have a wide range of uses, including: Lamps, strip lighting placed under cabinets, outdoor lighting, solar lights, regular light fixtures, pot lights, and lights that highlight art work.
Before 1993, the color of light that an LED produced came from using a combination of red, blue and green LEDs. This combination of colors could produce any color of light, including ultraviolet and infrared. In 1993, Nichia developed a way to have a single diode produce white light by using a chip coated with phosphor. This method was much cheaper and helped LED lights to gain the popularity they enjoy today.
A LED light can produce one, two or three different colors. To produce two colors in the same light bulb, two different LEDs are used. They are both connected to the same wire where the electric current flows in two different directions. When the electric current flows in one direction, a certain color is produced. Change the direction of the current and the light changes to a different color. To produce three colors, a similar process incorporating two different LEDs is also used. However, in this case each one is connected to a different wire. One LED produces a certain color and the other one produces a different color. When both lights are on at the same time a third color is produced.
LED lights do the following: they save you money, they use less energy than an incandescent light bulb, they last longer - up to 30,000 hours per bulb, they give off less heat than an incandescent light bulb, they are more durable because they don’t have fragile filaments in the bulb, and they fit standard light fixtures.
Some disadvantages of LED lighting are that they are more expensive than an incandescent light bulb, they usually cast light in a narrow beam, and they are heat sensitive and excessive heat will reduce the expected life of a bulb.
LED lights can last up to 3,000 hours compared to an incandescent light bulb, which lasts about 1,000 hours. That means they will last 30 times longer than a regular bulb. If you left an LED light on for 24 hours a day, it would last over 3 years. Turn it on for just 8 hours a day and that same light bulb will last for over 10 years!
Please visit http://www.thegardenersescape.com/Shopping/Landscaping/Lights.htm to discover all the different styles that energy efficient lights can come in. While you are there, check out our articles page at
http://www.thegardenersescape.com/Articles/TheEnvironment/TheEnvironment.htm for more information and tips on saving energy.
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