LED Technology – Absolute Green and Eco-friendly lighting

LED Technology

LED technology (Light Emitting Diodes) is making strong waves in the energy sector and is bringing about a revolution in lighting technology. The world is on its way to turning green and engineers across the world are constantly working on inventing new technologies and improving the existing ones. LED technology is one such invention that is being hailed as the “Absolute Green Technology”.

What are LEDs?

LEDs or light emitting diodes are semiconductor devices which produce light through the use of low energy means. When electrons pass through the LED, the electric current is turned into light. LED technology was introduced in 1962 though it has not been commercially exploited like its conventional counterparts. In the sections below, we will demystify this wonderful and environment friendly technology.

Why LED?

The conventional incandescent lighting is inefficient and has a high carbon footprint. When the incandescent lighting was introduced, this technology was instant hit and it reduced the cost and wastage of energy. But the goals were different at that time because the technology was still evolving and the environmental impacts didn’t have much concerns. Today, when the world is facing sever climate change consequences and population explosion, the goals are different and policies have changed.

Conventional incandescent light bulbs loose energy in the form of heat and they also have a high carbon footprint. The incandescent light bulbs were replaced by Florescent or CFLs which again were hailed as the environment friendly light sources. CFLs have almost replaced the incandescent lighting technology in the current scenario and to an extent they have helped in saving the environment. But the problem with CFLs is that only a certain number of gases posses the property of “fluorescence” and most of them are harmful to humans (e.g. Phosphorus).

Why LED Technology is Green and Eco-friendly?

LED technology has been globally recognized as extremely clean and eco-friendly because of following reasons:

• LEDs consume less electricity for producing light compared to CFLs and incandescent bulbs, thereby carbon dioxide emissions are low per units of light generated.
• The luminous efficiency of LED is highest with 130 Lumens/watt.
• With light output ratio of nearly 80-85%, LEDs are the most energy efficient in converting energy into light.
• LEDs are semiconductor devices so there are no harmful gases or toxic substances like mercury in the device.
• LEDs have a very long lifespan of nearly 1,00,000 hours, so are cost effective as well.
• LEDs do not emit UV or infrared radiations therefore they are completely harmless.
• Unlike CFLs and incandescent bulbs, LEDs do not attract insects and bugs.

Video Tutorial – LED Technology Basics:

I have found this great video tutorial by Robert Schleicher, DiCon LED’s Vice President of Product Development, who is explaining the basics of LED technology with the help of audio visual aids. It’s a great video tutorial for understanding how LEDs are manufactured, how LEDs works and most importantly why LEDs are cheap and eco-friendly?