Why You Should Spend More Time Thinking About LED Lights

Led Lights

More Than Just Lighting: How LEDs Aim To Revolutionize Your Home 

Lighting accounts for 4 percent of all the energy used in the average Canadian home. That might not sound like a lot, but LED lighting, which first became commercialized back in the 1970s, is going to make up 60 percent of the global market within the next two years, according to Canadian Business. While you might think lighting is mainly practical for helping you see at night when you’re cooking dinner or working late in your home office, it’s linked to many other important issues. LED lighting helps you save money when building your home and makes the planet eco-friendlier. It also manages to create the right kind of atmosphere in the house of your dreams, thanks to its bold colors and tones. You’ve probably heard how high-quality LED light bulbs can save you money and last longer than traditional bulbs, but they’re set to completely change your lifestyle in a big way, thanks to new innovations on the lighting market. Here’s what you need to know about them.

LEDs Save Heat And Costs

You probably know some of the ways in which LEDs are different to traditional fluorescent lights. For starters, their bulbs last much longer. Research by the Energy.gov website has found that by 2027, widespread use of LEDs will end up saving the equivalent annual electrical output of 44 large electric power plants! How this translates to the market is that it would save consumers a total of $30 billion in electricity prices.

How LEDs Differ From Fluorescent Lights 

But what makes LEDs so different to fluorescent lights? According to a fascinating article in Wired, it comes down to the way in which they’re, well, wired. All types of lighting make use of electrons to change energy levels, but LED lights are known as solid state devices. Basically, this means that they don’t use chemical processes or mechanics to work. Two semiconductor materials are used in their manufacturing, which allows electrons to move around at varying energy levels. When electrons move across an energy gap in the system, light and color is produced.

What makes LEDs so durable and long-lasting is that they don’t break when shaken and they’re robust, meaning that as long as not a large amount of electrical current moves through them they can last many years. It’s therefore a good idea to calculate your circuit resistance, such as with the use of online LED calculators. Then, you should use a current limiting resistor in the LED lighting system in your home that regulates the quantity of current that moves through the LED. This prevents too much current which can make the lightbulb burn out at a faster rate.

The Use Of Less Energy 

You’ve probably also heard that LED lights use a lower quantity of energy. This is because LED bulbs don’t become too hot when they are switched on. Since they require less heat to work, more of the energy can go into providing adequate light for a building or home, boosting the lights’ energy efficiency.

Fluorescent lights, on the other hand, make use of fluorescence. That means that the bulb absorbs the color of a light and transforms it into a longer wavelength so it works. It’s a much more complicated process that makes use of more energy. To gain higher voltages, the fluorescent lighting needs to make use of electromagnetic ballasts that create a lot more heat than LEDs. That ends up wasting energy in your home and using more of the heat resources of the planet.

LEDs Meet Lighting Needs

Building a home with LED lighting in it can have many benefits. For starters, since LEDs are available in different shapes and sizes, they can completely change the way you choose to light your home. If you have a small nook in your home that you want to light up, the convenient size of a small LED bulb can be perfect to bring greater clarity and atmosphere to that small space which would have otherwise been neglected.

Creating The Perfect Atmosphere

There’s no doubt about how lighting can create the home you want. Research, such as that published in Ergonomics Journal, has found that when people in a workplace had lighting that was too dark, their moods plummeted. When the light was too strong, the same negative effect was experienced. Finding the right amount of light was associated with people experiencing positive feelings. Another study, this time published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, found that when people were under brighter lighting, their emotions were described as more intense. Lighting also made participants feel that the room was warmer, which reveals how lighting in the home can be so much more than just illuminating a room. It can create a welcoming, cozy space.

Smart LEDs For More Intuitive Homes 

Lighting can also make your home smarter and more secure, thanks to LED innovations. There are LED lights that use voice commands so that every room so that your voice can control your home’s security, as well as other features such as temperature. If you’re not at home, LED lighting that contains cameras in it can be used as motion detectors that alert you on your phone if they sense movement in any room.

One of the most exciting innovations of LED lights is the use of Li-Fi. This is similar to Wi-Fi, however instead of making the use of radio waves, Li-Fi is when LED lighting transmits data with light waves. All of these innovations can aim to make your home a smarter, more livable space, completely transforming what the humble lightbulb has been able to achieve until now.

LEDs have come a long way since they hit the market in the 70s. Nowadays, their use has leaped beyond lighting up a room with a bulb to a variety of exciting innovations. This, combined with LED’s ability to reduce energy waste as well as expenses, makes it a practical and forward-thinking element in your home.

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