March 6, 2008

Is LED Lighting In Your Future?

You can find LED’s in more than flashlights these days. LED technology has progressed to the point that you can use LED light bulbs for lighting in your home.

What does this have to do with survival? Plenty, especially if you’re considering living off the electrical power grid. They’re beneficial for anyone though. LED bulbs burn 90% less energy and last 60,000-100,000 hours. You’ll make a bit of an investment initially when purchasing LED bulbs, but it’s worth it. To learn more, read the article excerpt below.

Is LED lighting
in your future?

By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM

We were one of the first publications to advise how incandescent light bulbs were going to be outlawed in several states and many countries due to their very poor energy efficiency. I have received many e-mails from irate readers saying this would never happen in their state or their country. Sorry to be the one to tell you, but the 2007 Federal Energy Legislation just signed into law in December by the President includes legislation to totally phase out the manufacturing of most incandescent light bulbs by 2012. California has already passed legislation to ban incandescent light bulbs by 2010.

In past articles I have also described how the more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps being promoted to replace these incandescent light bulbs are all imported from China, and are burning out years earlier than their advertised eight-year life. In addition, compact fluorescent lamps contain a small amount of highly poisonous mercury, which is a hazardous waste and a banned landfill substance. So if incandescent light bulbs are being banned, and if the more-expensive compact-fluorescent lamps have manufacturing quality and disposal concerns, what type of lighting will be in our future?

Read the whole article here: www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago110.html

Excerpt used with permission of Backwoods Home Magazine. www.backwoodshome.com 1-800-835-2418

You can purchase LED bulbs from Real Goods. They’re designed to fit in standard 120V AC fixtures and use almost no electricity, generate zero heat, and last for an extraordinary 60,000 hours. If you left them on for 12 hours every single day, they’d last for more than an entire decade!

To purchase your LED lighting, click on the Real Goods logo. Then move your mouse onto the Home & Outdoor tab and go to the Lighting category, where you’ll see household lighting items.