LED or Light Emitting Diode lights are solid state lighting units that are made up of a grouping of smaller units, operating using a semiconductor diode that produces an 'electroluminescence' effect to create the light. Although LEDs were invented in the 1920s they were not really produced in a practical form until the early 1960s. LED spotlights can provide a great alternative to halogen lamps. High wattage versions of LED spotlights eg 3 watt, can be used for normal area lighting, and even lower wattage (2 watt) can be used for accent lighting. If you have not really thought about using Led lights, or know little about them, her are a number of great reasons for using them for your home, business, or even vehicles.
As previously mentioned, these lights do not use heated filaments, or gas and filament combinations to create light, and unlike incandescent bulbs they do not produce much heat at all. This gives their application even greater scope, and it means that LED spotlights for instance are not likely to damage precious / delicate items and surface they're placed next to. Also, LEDs do not contain / give off toxins eg mercury, which is good for us and our environment.
Perhaps their greatest and most prominent feature is their ability to save energy and keep doing so over a much longer period than incandescent bulbs. Most of us are used to buying (relative short life cycle) incandescent bulbs which seem cheap to purchase. Although LED lights have a higher purchase price due to the expensive sapphire substrate used in their production, their life cycle is likely to be 50 times longer! If you think of how much it is to purchase them with that in mind, you'll see that they may actually work out to be cheaper.
LEDs have a much higher efficiency than incandescent bulbs – they produce more light relative to the amount of energy used to produce it – this makes them a highly efficient source of light. For example, because they produce more lumens per watt, a 13 watt LED lamp will produce the same lumen value as a 40 watt incandescent bulb, the implication is that less power is needed to do the same job, so LEDs are ENERGY SAVING – your electricity bills could be lowered by using them.
Environmentally their energy saving properties also translate to less CO2 being produced to run Led lamps compared with incandescent bulbs. Using the 13 watt LED and 40 watt incandescent example again, the LED lamp could produce one third less CO2. Just think of the reduction in carbon footprints of homes and offices if LED lamps were used to replace other types of bulbs and lamps.
As well as reflecting a long time, saving energy, and having a much more positive environmental impact, LED lamps are generally much stronger and more robust than their incandescent counterparts. Even though they're robust, they can also be made into very small sizes, which can make them ideal for accent lighting applications. LEDs light up more quickly switched on relative to other types of lamps and bulbs, and when they finally reach the end of their useful life they tend to dim rather rather than instantly breaking. They work particularly well in situations where lights are turned on off frequently – combine this with their high output, long life, minimal maintenance requirements, flexibility and low running costs, and you've got something with incredibly positive potential for commercial and domestic settings.
