The future of household, commercial, outdoor signage and street lighting will soon be the wide spread adoption and use of white energy efficient LED light bulbs. This is evident by actions already taken by leading Governments such as USA and Canadian Governments.

 Lifespan of the Lamps

The operational life of current white LED lamps varies anywhere from 50,000 at the conservative end to over 100,000 hours. This is 5.7 – 11 years of continuous operations 24 hours a day 365 days a year or 11-22 years of 50% operation or 12 hours a day 365 days a year.

The long operational life of an LED lamp is a stark contrast to the average life of a traditional bulb (incandescent or Metal Halide) bulb, whose lifespan is approximately 5000 hours (approximately 7 months at 24 hours operation).

The table below compares the recommended LED lamps to those of the traditional ones for this project.

LEDs

INCANDESCENT
Wattage (Requirement)

8W

40W
Lumens

470

500
Lifespan (Hours)

25,000

1000

LED (FLOURESCENT replacement)

FLOURESCENT TUBES
Wattage (Requirement)

40W

(32 x 4*) = 128W
Lumens

4000

2850
Lifespan (Hours)

75,000

10,000

*4 Flourescent Tubes to 1 Flourescent Fixture

More Cost Effective

There is no comparison between the cost of LED lights vs. traditional incandescent lights. With the traditional bulbs like incandescent and metal halide, the true cost of the bulb is the cost of the 1st bulb, plus the cost of replacement bulbs plus the labor expenses and time required to replace them. These are significant factors, especially where there are a large number of installed bulbs in high locations like a recreational field. For instance, for this particular application, an average LED light is expected to last 14 times longer that of a metal halide bulb. This equates to the cost of 1 LED bulb and its installation cost must be compared to 14 Metal Halide bulbs plus its associated installation and maintenance costs.

This same analysis is applied to the traditional Fluorescent Tube lights to that of its replacement. In this case, 1 LED will last the lifespan of 8 Fluorescent lamps.

Reduce Maintenance Cost

This cost quickly increases dramatically for office buildings and skyscrapers and high outdoor poles, where maintenance costs to replace bulbs can be enormous. These issues can all be virtually eliminated with the LED option. This cost is further worsen if the lighting device needs to be embedded into a very inaccessible place, using LEDs would virtually eliminate the need for routine bulb replacement.

 Less Power Consumption / More Efficient / Less Operational Cost

The key strength of LED lighting is reduced power consumption. When designed properly, a LED circuit will approach 80% efficiency, which means 80% of the electrical energy is converted to light energy. The remaining 20% is lost as heat energy. Compare that with the traditional bulbs which operate at about 20% efficiency (80% of the electrical energy is lost as heat, infrared and ultraviolet lights). LED lights do not give off Infrared and Ultraviolet lights.

In real money terms, if a 100 Watt incandescent bulb is used for 1 year, with an electrical cost of 26cents TT/kilowatt hour (residential rates, commercial rates is more expensive i.e. 43 cents per KWH), $228 will be spent on electricity costs. Of the $228 expense, $182 will have been used to heat the room, not light the room. If an 80% efficient LED system had been used, the electricity cost would be $52 per year – there would be a cost savings of $176 on electricity during the year. Realistically the cost savings would be higher as most incandescent light bulbs blow out within a year and require replacements whereas LED light bulbs can be used easily for a decade without burning out.

Greater Safety

LED lights require less power to light the LEDS unlike say other types of light Induction Light or incandescent light that  require higher power to get the lighting process going, making it more demanding on the solar panels while making it more unsafe by use of a higher voltage.

No Infrared or UV Lights

LED lights do not give off Infrared or Ultra Violet Lights, making them very effective in the preservation of material in museums and retail stores, and preservation of buildings and protection of the environment in general.

Produces Less Heat

Unlike other traditional Lamps, LED produces less heat into a building resulting in less demands on the Air Conditions or HVAC system. Consequently, the ACs or HVAC will work less thereby consuming less power.

These are just a few of the general advantages of LED lights. However, there is a multitude of other benefits especially when discussing individual applications, for instance, Street Lighting.

No Mercury

Unlike Florescent lamps, LEDs contain no mercury, a hazardous material, which is detrimental to human beings. As such, once these lamps gets into the landfills they eventually get into the eco-system and later consumed by humans.

More Efficient in Cold Environments

LED lighting also operates effectively in cold environments (significantly better than fluorescent), which is important for cold storage and refrigerated displays.

Smaller Size and Better Light Control

Importantly, the small size LED emitters creates compact lamps and luminaries, as well as directional control of light into precise beams, making it very efficient for sport lighting.