A newer innovation in the electrical industry is LED lighting. LED stands for light-emitting diodes, and this technology has been a true game changer for the electrical industry. As a homeowner, you can enjoy many great benefits from upgrading to LED lighting.
One of the most significant benefits of LED lighting is its energy efficiency. When homeowners switch from incandescent to LED lighting, they can save up to 90% on their energy bills. With lighting accounting for anywhere between 5% and 10% of your yearly energy bills, switching to LED lighting can significantly impact your overall energy-reducing efforts.
The beauty of LED lighting over incandescent doesn’t stop at energy efficiency. Rather, LED lighting has a lifespan of around 100,000 hours. Compared to the 1,000 hours of incandescent lighting, it becomes clear that LED is far superior. Most homeowners find that their LED lights last for around 15 to 20 years before needing to be replaced.
LED lighting is widely available in a large variety of products. From overhead lighting and undercabinet lighting to stairway and outdoor lighting, LED lights can be integrated into your home in several ways.
One of the biggest reasons LED lighting didn’t become popular until a couple of decades ago was its high upfront cost. That has changed significantly. LED lighting is now priced very similarly to incandescent bulbs and other forms of traditional lighting. With an affordable lighting solution, it isn’t a surprise that LED can be a great investment for any knowledgeable homeowner.
One of the biggest concerns with traditional incandescent lighting is that it produces a fair amount of heat during operation. This can heat up items that encounter the bulb and increase the temperature in the room that the bulb is in. LED lighting products provide light with only a tiny amount of heat, which is highly beneficial for homeowners.
Another great benefit of LED lighting is that it’s very durable. LED lights are surrounded by an epoxy lens that’s very durable. Incandescent bulbs are easy to break if you accidentally drop or hit them. LED lighting is also much safer than compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs, which emit harmful mercury into the air when broken.
With households using more and more electronics these days, our energy consumption seems to be increasing. Unfortunately, this can lead to an increased carbon footprint, which results in more global warming. Switching to all LED lighting in your home is a great way to reduce your household’s energy consumption and lower your family’s total carbon footprint.
One lesser-known benefit of LED lighting is that it’s very eco-friendly. This type of lighting doesn’t use mercury or other hazardous materials. Whenever your LED lighting reaches the end of its usable lifespan, it’s very safe to dispose of in the regular trash. There’s no need to go out of your way to take the light to a drop-off location for disposal, like with CFL lighting.
One big drawback of incandescent lighting is that it can emit UV radiation. This can be damaging to sensitive items, like artwork. LED is proving to be a great alternative that produces almost no UV radiation. In fact, LED lighting is being used in many sensitive applications, like in art galleries, wine cellars, beverage refrigerators, and even archeological dig sites.
LED lighting can allow the user to have extensive control over dimming. With LEDs, you can control the amount of light produced, its overall hue, and how it is distributed. Most LED lights can be set up to cycle through a variety of colors, like reds, greens, yellows, and blues.
Some lights struggle to perform well in cold environments. LED lighting doesn’t. In fact, LED lighting is commonly recommended for outdoor lighting applications because it can withstand frigid weather conditions. LED lighting is even great for overly hot environments. Unlike other types of lighting, LED isn’t susceptible to bursting or overheating.
One of the first things you’ll notice when switching from incandescent to LED lighting is that your lights will illuminate instantly. With fluorescent and halogen bulbs, it takes a bit for the lights to heat up and emit their full light spectrum. With LEDs, you get 100% brightness right when you flip the switch.
One of the drawbacks of other styles of lighting is that they can require higher voltage, especially for outdoor lighting. This may require having an electrician put in a higher voltage circuit. With LED lighting only needing low voltage, it can typically be added into a variety of different locations with ease. Some common locations include under cabinets, outdoor wall sconces, deck lights, and string lights.
One great benefit of an LED light is that it provides a very wide illumination area. When put next to an incandescent bulb, the LED light will span much wider. When installing lights in a room, you can get the same amount of illumination with fewer LED lights as compared to lighting it with traditional incandescent bulbs.
Every light is given a color rendering index (CRI) rating. This describes how accurately the light makes colors appear. The higher a light’s CRI rating, the more it will reveal the true colors of an item. This is great for applications like cafes or in an art gallery where you want the artwork to get as much natural light as possible. LED lighting is available in a range of CRI, including the highest rating of 100.
Another advantage of LED lights is they’re available in a wide variety of hues. You can opt for warm, subtle tones, a bright, cool tone, or anything in between. This adds more customizable options for homeowners to create a favorable environment for each room. Some of the most notable tone varieties include amber, soft white, bright white, neutral white, cool white, daylight, and daylight deluxe.
If you’re interested in integrating LED lighting into your home but don’t know where to start, Lightfoot Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical can help. One of the best places to start is replacing your existing bulbs. All fixtures that use CFL, halogen, or incandescent bulbs should be upgraded with new LED bulbs. You may even want to consider using LED recessed lighting to provide wider spans of light to illuminate all parts of your rooms. Some other popular household LED applications include undercabinet lighting, wall sconces, and outdoor floodlights.
Lightfoot Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical offers expert LED lighting upgrade services to the Weatherford, TX area. We can also assist with all your air conditioning, heating, plumbing, and electrical needs. Call us today to book your next service appointment or to schedule an electrical inspection.