Showing posts with label LED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LED. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

LED Light Bulbs

LED is short for light-emitting diode.  The LED light bulb was first made in the mid 1990’s. They are semiconductors that work by passing electrons turn into light. LED light bulbs are a little more efficient than CFL light bulbs because most of the energy is directed to light instead of heat. The LED light bulbs are heat sensitive so the bulbs have a Heat sink plate that moves the heat away from the bulbs, which is made by aluminum. Some of the common uses for LED's are for light bulbs at your home, lights in cars, and light bulbs in cell phones.


LED light bulbs also have a different color of light emitted by the bulb. Unlike the other 2 light bulbs, the LED lights give off a white or cool blue color which is just due to the fact that it’s the color the diodes give off. 
LEDs have also been given more features than just giving off light. A new light bulb that was invented was the lumen TL800 LED Smart bulb. Unlike the light bulbs we are used to, it has special features you can control. With the Lumen TL800 you can change the bulbs color, you can make the bulb brighter or dimmer, and it has a sensor that can make it change it sync to your music. It is Bluetooth so that makes it accessible from your phone.   

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Incandescent Light Bulbs are now Illegal in the USA

According to USA TODAY, incandescent light bulbs are now no longer manufactured or imported in the USA as of January 1, 2014 to support the use of CLF and LED light bulbs. I'm glad the government has taken action and banned incandescent light bulbs from the USA. You might not think this is a big change but it really is. Approximately 17% of the USA energy is used for lighting. If every light bulb is replaced with CFL and LED light bulbs, we would cut our energy consumption by as much as 13%. That's the energy we lose just as heat because of the design of the incandescent light bulb.
People believe that incandescent light bulbs shouldn't be banned because they like the "warm light" it gives off but there's a solution to that, there are CFL light bulbs that give off the exact same light color as incandescent bulbs.
Another reason people complain about the CFL light bulbs is due to their shape. They think the shape is ugly unlike the incandescent light bulbs but I think that's a foolish reason. I believe it's foolish because you can't really tell the shape of a light bulb when its being used unless you stare at the light bulb, which isn't good for your eyes.
Finally, people buy them because they are cheaper when purchased at the store. These people don't look at the long term cost of the bulbs though. CFL light bulbs last about 5 times longer and use about 1/4 the energy. LED light bulbs last about 10 times linger and use 1/5 the amount of energy.
This is why I'm glad to find out that the incandescent light bulbs have been banned here in the USA now!