LEDs vs. Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

LEDs or Compact Florescent Bulbs?

LEDs and compact fluorescent bulbs are both lighting that is easy on the environment, compared to traditional incandescent bulbs.  If you want to be ultra-green, which will you choose?

Turns out that LEDs (light emitting diodes) may de-throne compact fluorescent bulbs as the green lighting option of choice!  They are not just for holiday lights any longer.

There are a number of reasons why you may want to install LEDs at your home or business:

• Much longer life - 22 years or more for LEDs!
• As a result, low-maintenance and far less changing of light bulbs
• Double the efficiency of compact florescent bulbs
• Ability to use LEDs with dimmer switches (you can’t do that compact fluorescents)
• LEDs are mercury free, and otherwise non-toxic, allowing for easy disposal - 22 years from now!
• Ability to cut CO2 emissions significantly: 6 percent of all U.S. energy use is due to lighting
• Estimates are that we could achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity used for lighting our lives within 20 years, if we replaced all light bulbs with LEDs

For more explanation of how LEDs work, here’s a terrific, easy-to-understand video:

Lit up with LEDs

LED lights are being installed all over the world!  From Buckingham Palace, to the Pentagon…. there are even U.S. cities where LEDs are the lighting element of choice for municipalities.  Its time to get in on the green lighting movement!

You can buy LEDs for installation at a number of websites, like this one, or even at home improvement stores, including Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware and the like . Are you ready to change out your bulbs and possibly never think about them again? I sure am!

I wonder…. what kind of jokes will our children tell in the future when nobody gets the “how many people does it take to change a lightbulb,” prompt?