LED Advantages

An LED uses a barrier within it that allows electrons to flow when a high enough voltage is maintained across it.  The semiconductor material has holes where electrons are missing on one side of the barrier, and when the electrons cross the gap they fill the holes.  Of course more holes will soon form, so the semiconductor is never going to “fill up.”  The gap determines the amount of energy needed to cause the electron to traverse it.  That energy possessed by the electron is then given off as light when the electron is captured by a hole.  A specific amount of energy produces a specific color.

The process goes not have a filament, and a semiconductor should remain a semiconductor, but there is a useful life of LEDs.  However, it is much longer than the useful life of other light bulbs.  Hence, there is a long term savings associated with replacing light bulbs.  But, this is not the only savings.

LED Comparisons with Tungsten Filament Light Bulbs

The LED light bulb works with one or more LEDs, and each LED can produce a single color.  White light is obtained by combining colors, which is done with multiple LEDs, or with a phosphorescent coating that glows a color that mixes with the LED emitted color to produce white light. 

A tungsten light bulb uses a thin tungsten filament that heats up when a current passes through it and causes it to glow.  The problem is that unseen wavelengths are also emitted, with a large amount of energy in the infrared region of the spectrum, a part of the spectrum associated with heat.  Tungsten light bulbs heat up, and can get quite hot.  This heat works against air conditioning, and is passes onto the air, heating the atmosphere.  As part of the process there is a greater need for energy to obtain the same luminosity as one getss using a LED light bulb. 

So, tungsten light bulbs use more energy, and cause the air to heat with unwanted infrared waves.  In turn, the air conditioning unit will use more energy to maintain a temperature.  Energy used from a power plant often involves burning fossil fuel, adding greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.  So, LEDs are more environmentally friendly than tungsten light bulbs.

It should be point out that LEDs of a variety of types, including decorative bulbs and spotlight bulbs, make conversion to LEDs more feasible.

Fluorescent bulbs work by an electric field removing electrons from an encased gas.  As the gas captures passing electrons the difference in energy from the free electron to the energy after capture emits a frequency of light associated with that energy difference.  Since electrons that pass by have a wide range of energy, different frequencies are emitted and combine to produce white light.  The problem is some frequencies are not in the visible light range, and while cooler to operate than tungsten light bulbs, fluorescent light bulbs do have some heat associated with them, and some wasted energy. 

So, LEDs operate more efficiently, and with less heat, than fluorescent light bulbs.  There is a great savings in energy required for equivalent luminosity, but it is not as great as with the tungsten light bulbs.

Currently, even the long tube fluorescent light bulbs have LED replacements that fit the fixtures.

Wasted energy is made worse because no power plant works at one hundred percent efficiency.  The impact on the environment is greater than the difference in wattage for equivalent luminosity might seem to imply.

Whether it is for an occasional party, or for a seasonal decoration, LED lights are the environmental friendly choice.

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