What are LED's?

The Future Of Lighting:

Until recently LED's (light emitting diodes) were mainly used for appliances and digital displays eg red or green indicator lights and the square lit displays on DVD players and other electronics. Advances in the technology have gathered pace and have spawned a wide range of LED lighting solutions for interior and exterior applications.

LED's have also become extremely popular among the lighting design community and an inspiration for environmentalists.They make feasible illumination effects that were once either impractical or impossible, while saving energy and reducing use of toxic components. In the past few years LED technology has bounded its way into non-residential projects like; retail, restaurants, bars, hotels, night clubs and landmark lighting.

Experts say it is now poised to move into the residential market on a much larger scale. One of the leading lighting manufacturers Osram predicts the technology will take over at least a third of the entire lighting market by 2020.

Hours Of Operation	50,000 hours equals
24 hours per day	5.7 years
18 hours per day	7.6 years
12 hours per day	11.4 years
8 hours per day	17 years

Benefits Of Using LED's:

Lifespan:
LED's have a relatively long lifespan. One report estimates 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be longer lasting 30-50 times as long as an Incandescent bulb. So this makes LED's low maintenance.

Energy Consumption:
LED's consumption of energy is low when compared with other forms of light. LED's are also ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling unlike Fluorescent lamps or HID lamps. By using LED's you can save substantial money in energy costs and still achieve the required light levels for the application.

Light Output:
LED's produce more light per Watt than Incandescent bulbs and because LED's are solid state components they can be designed to focus their light. Incandescent and Fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a suitable manner.

Dimensions:
Often the size of a single LED is less than 2mm by 2mm giving the designer more flexibility with the application of light. These dimensions open up a whole new array of possibilities for Architects and Designers to explore.

Durability:
Because LED's are solid state components, this makes them difficult to damage with external shock unlike Fluorescent and Incandescent bulbs.

Development:
Developers are constantly improving the efficiency of LED's and even though LED's use a low level of energy developers have managed to increase their brightness by a factor of 10 in the past decade with this figure still increasing. This means top-end versions produce as much light per Watt as Fluorescent lamps.