How is LED lighting different than other light sources ?

LED lighting differs from incandescent and compact fluorescent lighting in several ways. When properly designed, LED lighting solutions can offer higher efficiency, increased durability, and significantly longer life than traditional light sources. Traditional lighting products leverage standard bulb shapes and historical base types (Example: A19 with E26 medium base). LED lighting products, on the other hand, incorporate custom light sources and application-specific electronics. Compared to the traditional lighting technologies of Incandescent (light is produced by heating a tungsten wire) and Compact Fluorescent (light is produced by exciting phosphors with the emission of mercury), LEDs produce visible light by passing current through a solid state diode. The solid state diode converts electrical energy into photons, and the color of the photon is defined by the selection of materials used to fabricate the diode. For example, red LEDs are typically produced with an AlInGaP diode (Aluminum/ Gallium/Indium/Phosphide), and green LEDs are produced with an InGaN diode (Indium/Gallium/ Nitride).

There are several LED design approaches for producing white light. The most sophisticated of these is mixing red, green and blue LEDs to achieve a given white color point. This approach can achieve high efficiency, however, usually requires complex electrical circuitry and can lead to higher costs. The most simplistic and common approach used today leverages a blue LED, fabricated with an InGaN diode, and a phosphor material that produces a yellow/orange spectrum. The combination of blue and yellow/orange spectrums provides a white color point. White LEDs have made significant increases in efficiency, or LPW (lumens per watt), over the past three to four years and have begun to penetrate most general lighting applications.

LED lighting differs from compact fluorescent and incandescent lighting in numerous ways. LED Lighting Specialists provides commercial grade LED lighting which can be more efficient, durable, versatile and longer lasting, even compared to lower quality LED’s. Incandescent bulbs produce light using electricity to heat a metal filament until it becomes hot or is said to incandesce (it glows due to the high temperature.) As a result, incandescent bulbs release 90% of their energy as heat. In a CFL, an electric current flows between electrodes at each end of a tube containing gases. This reaction produces ultraviolet (UV) light and heat. The UV light is transformed into visible light when it strikes a phosphor coating (substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence) on the inside of the bulb. LED lighting products use light emitting diodes (LEDs) to produce light very efficiently. An electrical current passed through semiconductor material illuminates the tiny LEDs. LEDs are directional light sources as they emit light in a specific direction, unlike incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs, which emit light and heat in all directions. For this reason, LED lighting is able to use light and energy more efficiently in many applications. Let LED Lighting Specialists do a design consultation with you to show you specific ways LED lights can enhance your business and save you money. We will walk you through the process from start to finish.

LUMENS: Light Output vs. Energy Consumed

For decades, consumers have purchased light bulbs based on consumed wattage, for example, a 60W Incandescent light bulb. However, as new lighting technologies offer more efficient solutions, consumers are now able to replace the older 60W Incandescent bulbs with either a 13W CFL or 11W LED product, while maintaining the same light levels in their application. For this reason, the focus of light sources has shifted from energy consumed (60W) to light levels produced (800 Lumens). Lumens (Lms) are a measurement of the luminous flux, or light level, coming from a given light source. Typical light levels for traditional 40W, 60W, 75W and 100W Incandescent bulbs are 450 Lms, 800 Lms, 1100 Lms and 1600 Lms respectively.