Keep up with the times! 5 reasons for switching to an LED lamp now

In recent years, we can see more and more so-called “LED lamps” on the web, on television, or in big box stores. All of them highlight being totally different from traditional incandescent bulbs and having energy-saving designs. What most people know about LEDs largely comes from the indicator lights used on household appliances or other electronic products, especially TV screens and monitors. We seldom think that LEDs can be used in other applications. Due to technical limitations in the past, an LED could not emit sufficient light for household lighting. Additionally, the impression given by market-available LED bulbs until recently was mostly one of high prices, low efficiency, and issues such as flicker. However, in recent years, due to technical progress all those problems have been solved with mature LED technology. It is now used everywhere in our daily lives. In fact, most current street lights and vehicle lighting applications use LED bulbs.

What are the differences between LED lamps and older lighting technologies? What are the advantages of LED? Let’s look at five major reasons you should make the switch to LED now. 

The greatest selling point for LED lamps is energy saving. As such, LEDs have been widely used on various kinds of mobile devices, for example: the flash on a smartphone camera and flashlights. For household lighting, a general incandescent bulb can only produce 10-20 lumens per watt for lighting. In contrast, fluorescent bulbs can be described as somewhat energy saving since they produce up to 80 lumens per watt, significantly increasing lighting efficiency. That’s still behind the latest LEDs, which deliver at least 100 lumens per watt, or up to ten times more than an incandescent bulb. Data from the US Department of Energy shows that replacing old bulbs with LEDs saves a minimum of 70% on electric bills annually when looking at the expense caused by household lighting. 

If you have children at home, lighting safety is also an important factor to consider. Compared with traditional tungsten lamps, halogen lamps, or incandescent lamps, LED lamps don’t produce much heat. So while old desk lamps get really hot and can easily injure children who touch them, LEDs get to 50˚C at most, even after long periods of operation; which isn’t nearly hot enough to cause injury.

And unlike fluorescent bulbs, which also claim to be energy savers, LEDs don’t contain any mercury. There’s no risk to human health if they break, as they won’t release any toxic materials. Because of their inherent safety, LED bulbs also don’t require complex recycling techniques and aren’t subjected to strict environmental regulation by governments worldwide as fluorescents.