LED's offer the best energy efficiency of any widely available lighting. L.E.D. (Light Emitting Diodes) have been around for years, but are now available in most types of bulb fittings – Bayonet, screw & Halogen fittings and many others. Directional lighting and accurate beam angle means less wasted light and light pollution.
Why Change my light fittings?
Let's do the sums to see the payback!
Kitchens, & rooms with recessed lighting or spot lights, are often fitted with compact, bright Halogen lamps. Sadly, they're super hot, don't last long and typically consume 50 Watts. Considering that the average kitchen is lit for 400 hours a year and has around 6 bulbs – That's 300W or 120KwH p.a!
We could replace the 6 x 50 watt Halogens by 6 x 7 watt LED's Halogen
6 halogen bulb consumption : 300 watts.
6 L.E.D. bulb consumption: 42 watts.
Power consumption saving= 258W x 400 hrs = 103KwH
Cost Saving £14 p.a.
Cost of LED bulbs: £8.00 each i.e. £48 for the whole kitchen
That's a 3.5 year payback. Better than buying Solar panels!
Safety and Environmental impact
LED lights contain no mercury, as opposed to the more recently available compact fluorescent bulbs, making them easier to dispose of when that eventually is required.
Recent reports suggested LEDs may contain hazardous substances, so should you avoid them? A University of California research team found low levels of potentially hazardous substances (mainly lead) in some Christmas light strands. LED bulbs may contain low levels of the substances, but they are very durable, cool, don't vibrate and are unlikely to break (breakage is the only way that the chemicals would be released in a domestic setting). The environmental impact of chemicals contained in LED's is more than offset by the energy efficiency. The electricity saved by using LED's eliminates far more toxic pollution from power plants than is contained inside a bulb.
Carbon dioxide saving: 52 kg per annum in the case of our kitchen lighting example.
Overall, you can feel good about making the switch to LED. Just dispose of them properly when they reach the end of their life. With electricity prices rising all the time, it seems the sensible choice!
(Ed's note: Fiona Miles is Secretary of Tarvin Environment Group and volunteers at Tarvin Woodlands.)
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