It is pretty much accepted wisdom that if something seems too good to be true, it generally is. A spruiker at an exotic overseas market who promises brand name goods at one-tenth of the price? Not likely. The chance to triple your investment within 3 months? Definitely tread carefully. But the chance to save money on your power bill and at the same time do some good for the environment? As electrical contractors, we know that one checks out.
LED lighting is a fast-growing area of the lighting market which is offering both of these great benefits to consumers across Australia. LED lighting also has the great benefit of being the focal point for huge ranges of innovative and sleek designer lighting solutions. These are increasing the range of options for the vast range of home renovators across the country, as well as the record number of new home owners who are building for the first time.
With the LED revolution well and truly underway, we thought it was a great time to show its benefits by comparing to the other options that are on the market.
What else is out there
Incandescent – these are the light globes that were the first inventions of the father of electricity, Thomas Edison. When children draw a light bulb above the head of a cartoon character having a bright idea, this is the shape that these bulbs are. They are still sometimes found in Australia, especially in older homes, but have long since been replaced in offices.
That’s because they are hugely inefficient and only take about 10% of the power they suck in and convert it to light, while the rest produces only heat. The government has moved to make the sale of these bulbs impossible as well.
Halogen – these light bulbs are the close cousins of incandescent globes. They look similar, but rather than a wire string and two metal bars in the centre, they produce light by converting low pressure gas to burn the filament and turn it into light.
These sorts of bulbs are common in down lights and other high power lighting that hasn’t been replaced for some time. They are also the most commonly used light globes in Australia. However, just because they are popular, that doesn’t mean they are the best choice. In fact, because they are very close to incandescent globes, they are also very inefficient, and do not save homeowners any energy.
Eco Halogen – These are the old solution to the huge amounts of wasted energy that was a symptom of the previously mentioned light globes. Typically, they are 30% more efficient than their predecessors and are the only type of halogen light that are stocked by several of the largest lighting retailers in Australia.
So what is LED?
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, and are the “iPhone 6” of the light globe world. By that we mean that they are the newest and most sophisticated technology available on the market.
LED globes produce between 30,000 and 50,000 hours of light for consumers. This is compared to a miniscule 1,000 hours of incandescent and up to 5,000 hours on average for halogen options.
They are also more efficient in the way that a push bike is more efficient than an 8-cylinder car in terms of fuel costs. The numbers back this up. A LED globe provides an 85% energy saving when compared to incandescent globes. And this saving is provided without sacrificing any light.
This translates to cost savings because a 9 watt LED can give off the same amount of light as a 50 watt option from another category. There are also cost savings in terms of replacement costs. With traditional options, every time you switch them on or off, the working life becomes shorter, as they have a pre-defined useful life. This issue does not affect LED lighting as they don’t “burn out”, but merely get dimmer over time.
Environmental benefits
When you think that each home has a couple of dozen light bulbs, and multiply that by the tens of millions of dwellings in Australia, you realise that there are literally hundreds of millions of light bulbs in the country. Traditional light globes were bad news for the environment, with toxic chemicals and gases as well as mercury and lead all contained within them.
LED by contrast, are 100% recyclable. Simpler, cleaner and less likely to cause damage when they are at the end of their working life.
Because they are low voltage, they are also able to run from the lower energy power sources, including solar power. This makes them ideal for outdoor lighting.
If you’d like to explore your LED lighting options, and have them professionally and safely installed, the Everest Electrical team welcomes your call. We have been serving Sydney’s Northern Suburbs and Northern Beaches residents and businesses for many years, and are proud to bring the latest power and money saving options that are great for the environment to as many people as we can.
We welcome your call or email to discuss your lighting needs.