Environmental Benefits of LED Lighting

A feature article by Ben Anton, Jul 25, 2007         

Summary: LED lights provide energy efficiency and cost savings for everyone who uses them. This article outlines how each household can help future generations and save their family money by transitioning toward LED light sources in the home, office and outdoors.

 
LED lights are a wonderful invention that has changed the way the world is lit. Not only are they long lasting, they have many environmental benefits. LED lights are four times more efficient than a regular incandescent light bulb and last 10 times as long. LED lights also use between 50 and 80 percent less energy than an incandescent bulb. LED lights are considerably less expensive to operate, however are a little more expensive to purchase. LED home lighting requires only one third of the energy that an incandescent bulb will use. A single 18-watt LED light can replace a 75-watt incandescent and in the lifetime of the LED light, will save 570 kWh of energy. At a basic eight cents per kilowatt rate, that equals $45 dollars in energy bill savings. By switching to low energy LED home lighting in your home, even one bulb will keep one half of a ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere through the lifetime of the bulb instead of using incandescent bulbs. Switching also keeps sulfur oxide and nuclear waste out of the atmosphere as well, leading to a cleaner world and one that will last much longer. By simply switching, our environment could easily revitalize itself without having to deal with the excess carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide and nuclear waste emissions that are currently being released into the atmosphere every day. Even changing one lonely bulb in every home to LED home lighting would make a significant impact on the environment. If every home in the United States were to switch to LED home lighting, 90 power plants could be retired, a potentially powerful impact to the long-term health of the environment. Being energy efficient and environmentally conscious doesn't have to disrupt your entire life. The switch is as difficult as changing one light bulb in your home, the results of which would save you money on your electricity bill each month. Just one home lighting fixture, one light bulb can be a positive step forward for your household. Take a look around your home and count how many bulbs you use and consider how often you change them. Say, for example that you change a bulb every two months. Now, consider that by changing them all to LED lighting for your home, you could leave them and not have to replace them for 20 months. The slightly higher upfront costs of LED lights make sense. LED lighting is finding its way into many niche markets. You can get a LED flashlight that also uses less battery energy, ensuring that the next time the power goes out in your home, you can be confident that your batteries will last. There are also LED lanterns that you can choose from that are ideal for camping or hunting. They last for considerably longer than other lanterns because they use 10 times less energy to run than standard incandescent bulbs and even less energy than a kerosene lantern. For LED home lighting, there are many options available other than just bulbs. You can find LED light fixtures for your home, indoor and out, that will provide low energy, environmentally-friendly lighting that can save you money on your energy bill. We all are challenged to do our part to conserve energy. By making small adjustments to the way we live, we can begin to make an impact on our world. One small change we all can make is to switch our home and outdoor light fixtures to LED light options. There are a large number of options for LED home lighting and LED camping and hunting outdoor equipment available on the market, all of which provide the energy efficiency benefits inherent in LED products. The benefits can become apparent very quickly as we begin to see our energy bill costs reduce over a period of a few months. ~Ben Anton, 2007 Ben Anton lives in Portland, OR and writes for Discount Lights and Knives.

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