The Incredible LED Light Bulb

An LED light bulb is a fairly recent technology that emits energy in the form of light when an electric current is passed through it. Since LED's first became commercially available in the late 1960's, they have emerged out of obscurity from being used only for specialty lighting purposes to now being available for many home and business applications. LED lighting offers many benefits over traditional incandescent lighting such as longevity, durability, absence of heat, and energy efficiency. An LED light bulb is much more expensive than an incandescent light bulb but will more than pay for itself over its light span.
Today's LED light bulb is made to replace an incandescent light bulb and comes in all the standard light bulb shapes you are familiar with for your light fixtures. An LED lamp runs on DC power instead of the standard AC, but the light bulb itself includes circuitry that converts the power to be useable by the LED. Equivalent wattages currently available as an LED light bulb include as low as 5 watts and as high as 100 watts. LED lights use much less electricity than a traditional light bulb. For example, the LED equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb is a 13-watt LED light bulb, with wattage defining the amount of energy expended to reach the same brightness.
An LED light bulb has outstanding durability and longevity, lasting approximately 30,000 hours compared to incandescent lights that last for only 1,000 hours and CFL's that last approximately 8,000 hours. This means that an LED light bulb under normal usage conditions will last for 25-30 years, maintaining a consistent light intensity output over this time period. LED lamps are available in many colors including the soft and bright shades of white which have only been available recently. Colored LED lights are used commercially for traffic signals and holiday lights. In fact, one large Christmas tree in a public square was fitted with over 700 LED lights, and despite the higher cost of LED lights, it was figured that the lights would pay for themselves with power savings in less than 4 years even though they were lit for less than 2 months annually.
With a growing number of companies now offering LED lamps for all-purpose lighting, soon it may not be uncommon to have many of your household light fixtures fitted with an LED light bulb. Many of these manufacturers offer warranties to back up their longevity claims, giving guarantees of at least 6 years, far below the projected life expectancy of an LED light bulb. The commercial market is slowly accepting the LED light bulb as a replacement for incandescent lighting, but many consumers are skeptical of the high price tag. It's tough to shell out 30 times more for a light bulb unless you are confident of the technology.
Education and experience could eventually change this attitude, but until then LED lighting will continue to dominate only in special applications such as flashlights, solar powered walkway lighting, and bicycle lights. With advancing technology, innovative design applications, and rising public awareness, the LED light bulb may eventually become one of the most common lighting methods available. True to form, human ingenuity and imagination has triumphed again with this incredible invention - the LED light bulb.