Monday, January 9, 2017

Saving the Environment, One LED At A Time


The results are in. The Environmental Department has concluded a three-part study on which kind of light bulb is best for the environment. And without a doubt, one kind of light bulb was the overall winner in the push for going green.

LEDs were found to be the most impressive and smartest option when it comes to considering the environment. The Environmental Department considered a wide variety of factors, then assessed how much each light bulb affected the air, water, soil, and resources of our planet. They did this with lighting options such as CFLs, incandescent bulbs, and LEDs.

It should be no surprise that smart bulbs consume less energy, last longer, and utilize safer materials than any other bulb. But let’s look at why LEDs excel in every aspect of lighting.



Low Energy Consumption

Smart bulbs completely out-rank every other bulbs in this category because traditional incandescent bulbs use up a large amount of energy, losing most of it by producing heat. In fact, 90% of the energy required for incandescent bulbs is lost through heat, which means only 10% is used for actual production of light. And because Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) lose a lot less heat, they use about 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs to create the same amount of light. Instead of using electricity to heat a filament to produce light like in an incandescent, CFLs sent a bold of energy to create the light. LEDs on the other hand use 80% less energy than incandescent, and 5% less than CFLs. This is attributed to the fact that there aren’t any moving parts in an LED to create light.

Energy saving products such as LEDs help save serious cash on your monthly electric bill, and they also contribute to cutting back on global energy production, making our carbon footprint a little smaller. Expert predict that by switching over completely to LEDs by 2032 could save the United States over $250 billion in energy costs alone.

Longevity of Life

The benefits of a long light bulb span are very understated. The longer a bulb lasts, the less amount of bulbs we have to produce as a society, and also the less amount of landfill use, production costs, and less transportation need which means more clean air.

The lifespan of traditional incandescent and CFLs don’t come close to measuring up to LEDs. Assuming that each of these types of lights are used 6 hours each day, incandescent bulbs will last around one-third of a year, CFLs would last about 4 ½ years, and smart bulbs? A whopping 11 ½ years!

Safe Materials Used For Our Benefit

Unlike CFLs, which use harmful materials, LEDs stray away from those especially hurting our environment. Fluorescent lights use mercury to interact with electricity to create light, and mercury has some pretty disastrous effects on health. That’s why there is a health concern when a CFL bulb is broken, and also the reasoning behind special disposal procedures. Although it is still important to be mindful of a broken LED, there is no worry of breathing in mercury during clean-up.


Thinking about switching out your light bulbs soon? Go with LEDs to reap environmental and personal benefits.


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(Source: Flux Smart)

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