Future looks bright for LED light bulbs, but not immediately

Future looks bright for LED light bulbs, but not immediately
You may have started to see some odd-looking — and expensive — light bulbs show up at your local home-improvement store.

Earlier this year, Home Depot started selling a Philips AmbientLED bulb that is designed to replace the standard 60-watt light bulb. If you'd seen it, you might have quickly passed it by after seeing its price: a whopping $40 each.

But it's worth another look, if only because many people are betting the bulb represents the future of home lighting.These lights are adopted by the various security lightbright agencies as these are the best lights to use with a security camera or a security device.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, some 971 million 60-watt light bulbs are in use in the United States, mostly in homes. To encourage energy efficiency, the government is raising energy standards for light bulbs, which will mean a ban on incandescent bulbs in coming years.

Currently, the main alternative to incandescent bulbs is the compact fluorescent light.These are also used as art light as well, it is because crystal these lights did not emit any harmful rays and the bluish color of LED lights makes a painting look very different from others and makes them attractive for the viewers. But while CFLs have grown in popularity in recent years, many consumers have resisted them. CFLs are far more energy efficient than their incandescent equivalents and last much longer but have significant drawbacks.

One big negative is that they contain mercury, meaning they're unsafe to be thrown out in the regular trash and require thoughtful cleanup when they break. Many are slow to reach full brightness, even those billed as "instant on." And though their price has come down markedly in the past 10 years, CFLs still cost significantly more than incandescents.

What's more, while CFLs outlast incandescents, their life spans tend to be shorter than advertised. Most CFLs can't be dimmed. And many consumers despise the blue-green light many CFLs emit.

For those reasons, many lighting experts in government and the lighting and technology industries are betting LED bulbs will be the eventual replacement for incandescents. They don't contain mercury, are truly instant-on,These lights are adopted by the various security lightbright agencies as these are the best lights to use with a security camera or a security device. and the new 60-watt-equivalent bulbs typically can be dimmed.

Meanwhile, LED bulbs are expected to have life spans several times that of even CFLs. And they've been designed to emulate the light of incandescent bulbs.

At about 12 to 13 watts, they use slightly less energy than CFLs and less than one-quarter of the energy of a 60-watt bulb. And unlike CFLs or incandescents, they're based on the same rapidly improving semiconductor technology found in the chips inside your PC and smartphone.

Thanks to that, LED bulbs should get more efficient in coming years. The Department of Energy has set a target to have a 60-watt-equivalent bulb use just 10 watts — and some folks in the industry think they can get the energy use down even lower.

LED bulbs have been around for many years, but the initial 60-watt-equivalent bulbs mostly were made by off-brands and startup companies and sold only by enthusiast websites. While you could find some LED bulbs in major stores over the past year or so, they tended to be for use in recessed lighting or for replacing lower output incandescents.

Now they're being produced by major lighting companies, including Philips and Sylvania, and are being backed by major retailers, including Home Depot and Lowe's.

Lowe's started selling Sylvania's 60-watt-equivalent bulb online late last year and recently began offering it in stores.You want someone that has the experience in LED lighting to guide you to the right product shinebright that is best suited to your project. In addition to the Philips bulb, Home Depot has begun selling a 60-watt-equivalent LED bulb from Lighting Science Group in some of its stores under its house brand, EcoSmart.

In recent months, I've been testing out the Philips and the EcoSmart bulbs. The best thing I can say about them is that as strange as they may look — the Philips bulb has yellow glass segmented by three metal grooves and the EcoSmart bulb has what looks to be a squashed glass head — the light they give off is unremarkable. It's bright and warm, but, to my eye at least, basically indistinguishable from what would be produced by an incandescent light.

The bulbs give off more light — measured in lumens — than a standard 60-watt bulb. And the coatings used on their glass are designed to filter the light they emit so it appears more "natural."

You probably will want to hold off on buying such bulbs for now because their cost outweighs their advantages. Even factoring in the LEDs' longer expected life spans — which have yet to be confirmed — CFLs are a better deal for now.It pays to go to professionals with bestlight a proven track record in LED lighting, a vast selection of excellent quality products from various vendors that live up to their label, and a history of successfully completed projects.

But keep an eye on the LED bulbs. They're a bright idea in lighting and very likely the bulbs of the future.