http://www.ledluxor.

com/top-10-benefits-of-led-lighting
LED Technology, December 12, 2012
Top 10 Benefits of LED Lighting
1. Long Life
Long life time stands out as the number one benefit of LED lights. LED bulbs and diodes have an
outstanding operational life time expectation of up to 100.000 hours. This is 11 years of continuous
operation, or 22 years of 50% operation. If you leave on the LED fixture for 8h per day it would take
around 20 years before you’d have to replace the LED bulb.
LED’s are different to standard lighting: They don’t really burn out and stop working like a standard
light, moreover the lighting diodes emit lower output levels over a very long period of time and become
less bright.
2. Energy Efficiency
Todays most efficient way of illumination and lighting, with an estimated energy efficiency of 80%-
90% when compared to traditional lighting and conventional light bulbs. This means that about 80% of
the electrical energy is converted to light, while a ca. 20% is lost and converted into other forms of energy
such as heat.
With traditional incandescent light bulbs who operate at 20% energy efficiency only, a 80% of the
electricity is lost as heat. Imagine the following scenario:
If you use traditional lighting and have an electricity bill of e.g US$ 100, then US$ 80 of that money
has been used to heat the room, not to light it! Using LED illumination with 80% efficiency, the
electricity costs would be around US$ 20 and you’d have saved around US$ 80.
The long operational life time acts as a multiplicator and helps achieve even more energy efficiency,
especially large scale and when thinking in terms of urban infrastructure projects, such as cities, railroads
and airports.
Think of an airport using energy efficient LED lighting exclusively and achieving a 30% power
consumption reduction in comparison with an airport using conventional lighting technology.
Because the long life span of LED lights, also the maintenance work - think of all the work and energy
it would take to purchase, stock and change the conventional light bulbs of an airport - you’ll see that you
can make significant energy savings also when it comes to maintenance and replacement due to the long
operational life times of LED lighting.
3. Ecologically Friendly
LED lights are free of toxic chemicals. Most conventional fluorescent lighting bulbs contain a
multitude of materials like e.g mercury that are dangerous for the environment. LED lights contain no
toxic materials and are 100% recyclable, and will help you to reduce your carbon footprint by up to a
third. The long operational life time span mentioned above means also that one LED light bulb can save
material and production of 25 incandescent light bulbs. A big step towards a greener future!
4. Durable Quality
LEDs are extremely durable and built with sturdy components that are highly rugged and can
withstand even the roughest conditions. Because LED lights are resistant to shock, vibrations and
external impacts, they make great outdoor lighting systems for rough conditions and exposure to weather,
wind, rain or even external vandalism, traffic related public exposure and construction or manufacturing
sites.
5. Zero UV Emissions
LED illumination produces little infrared light and close to no UV emissions. Because of this, LED
lighting is highly suitable not only for goods and materials that are sensitive to heat due to the benefit of
little radiated heat emission, but also for illumination of UV sensitive objects or materials such a in
museums, art galleries, archeological sites etc.
6. Design Flexibility
LEDs can be combined in any shape to produce highly efficient illumination. Individual LEDs can be
dimmed, resulting in a dynamic control of light, color and distribution. Well-designed LED illumination
systems can achieve fantastic lighting effects, not only for the eye but also for the mood and the
mind: LED mood illumination is already being used in airplanes, classrooms and many more locations
and we can expect to see a lot more LED mood illumination in our daily lives within the next few years.
7. Operational in Extremely Cold or Hot Temperatures
LED are ideal for operation under cold and low outdoor temperature settings. For fluorescent lamps,
low temperatures may affect operation and present a challenge, but LED illumination operates well also
in cold settings, such as for outdoor winter settings, freezer rooms etc.
8. Light Dispersement
LED is designed to focus its light and can be directed to a specific location without the use of an
external reflector, achieving a higher application efficiency than conventional lighting. Well-designed
LED illumination systems are able to deliver light more efficiently to the desired location.
9. Instant Lighting & Frequent Switching
LED lights brighten up immediately and when powered on, which has great advantages for
infrastructure projects such as e.g traffic and signal lights. Also, LED lights can switched off and on
frequently and without affecting the LED’s lifetime or light emission. In contrast, traditional lighting may
take several seconds to reach full brightness, and frequent on/off switching does drastically reduce
operational life expectancy.
10. Low-Voltage
A low-voltage power supply is sufficient for LED illumination. This makes it easy to use LED lighting
also in outdoor settings, by connecting an external solar-energy source and is a big advantage when it
comes to using LED technology in remote or rural areas.

http://www.luminanz.co.uk/tech_disadvantages.php
2011 Luminanz Ltd
Disadvantages of using LEDs
High price:
LEDs are currently more expensive, price per lumen, on an initial capital cost basis, than most
conventional lighting technologies. However, when considering the total cost of ownership (including
energy and maintenance costs), LEDs far surpass incandescent or halogen sources and begin to threaten
compact fluorescent lamps.
Temperature dependence:
LED performance largely depends on the ambient temperature of the operating environment. Over-
driving the LED in high ambient temperatures may result in overheating of the LED package, eventually
leading to device failure. Adequate heat-sinking is required to maintain long life. This is especially
important when considering automotive, medical and military applications, where the device must operate
over a large range of temperatures, and is required to have a low failure rate.
Light quality:
Most cool-white LEDs have spectra that differ significantly from a black body radiator like the sun or an
incandescent light. The spike at 460 nm and dip at 500 nm can cause the colour of objects to be perceived
differently under cool-white LED illumination than sunlight or incandescent sources, due to metamerism;
red surfaces being rendered particularly badly by typical phosphor based cool-white LEDs. However, the
colour-rendering properties of common fluorescent lamps are often inferior to what is now available in
state-of-art white LEDs.
Blue pollution:
Because cool-white LEDs (i.e. LEDs with high colour temperature) emit much more blue light than
conventional outdoor light sources such as high-pressure sodium lamps, the strong wavelength
dependence of Rayleigh scattering means that cool-white LEDs can cause more light pollution than other
light sources. It is therefore very important that cool-white LEDs are fully shielded when used outdoors.
Compared to low-pressure sodium lamps, which emit at 589.3 nm, the 460 nm emission spike of cool-
white and blue LEDs is scattered about 2.7 times more by the Earth's atmosphere. Cool-white LEDs
should not be used for outdoor lighting near astronomical observatories.
 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/15-benefits-led-lighting-virginie-glaenzer
Virginie Glaenzer, January 20, 2015
15 Benefits of LED Lighting
DID you know that a normal incandescent light bulb is actually a heater with the byproduct of light?
Over 90% of its energy is turned into heat making it an outrageously inefficient, not to mention hot, light
source. Fluorescents contain mercury. Fluorescents are prone to breaking, and when a bulb breaks, that
neurotoxic element can taint your home or office.
For years, LEDs were high cost alternatives to the fluorescent bulb, a compact fluorescent, with
several other problems such as bad colors, harsh light and poor dimming abilities. But in the last year the
price of LED lights has dropped significantly, the colors have been modified, and they are more flexible
than ever. Let’s look at the 15 benefits of LED lighting.
1. Long Lifetime
Long lifetime stands out as the number one benefit of LED lights. LED bulbs and diodes have an
outstanding operational lifetime expectation of up to 11 years of continuous operation, or 22 years at 50%
operation. If you leave a LED fixture on for 8 hours per day it would take around 20 years before you’d
have to replace the LED bulb. Lighting diodes emit lower output levels over a very long period of time
and become less bright, while LEDs maintain their original brightness throughout their lifespan.
2. Efficiency
LEDs consume far less power than fluorescent tubes. Simply put, LEDs use less electricity, with an
estimated energy efficiency of 80%-90% when compared to traditional lighting and conventional light
bulbs. This means that about 80% of the electrical energy is converted to light, while 20% is lost and
converted into heat. Because of the long lifespan of LED lights, the maintenance work is significantly
less, meaning you’ll see big energy savings.
3. Eco-friendly
LED lights contain no toxic materials and are 100% recyclable; they’ll help you reduce your carbon
footprint. One LED light bulb can save material and production of 25 incandescent light bulbs.
4. Durability
Because LEDs are not made of glass and are hollow inside, they are far less fragile than both
fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. This makes them much more durable, less likely to be inoperable due
to being dropped, and can withstand harsh conditions. Because LED lights are resistant to shock,
vibrations and external impacts, they make great outdoor lighting systems for exposure to weather, wind,
rain or even external vandalism, traffic related public exposure and construction or manufacturing sites.
For freezer rooms and iceboxes, they are the perfect bulbs.
5. No Heat
That’s right; no heat. Unlike incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, LEDs are easy to the touch even after
they are on for hours so they carry less risk of causing an accidental fire or burn. Also consider the cost it
takes to cool the air that other bulbs heat up. A single 100w light bulb costs about $1.13/month just to
cool the heat it produces.
6. No Emissions
LED illumination produces little infrared light and close to no UV emissions. Because of this, LED
lighting is highly suitable not only for goods and materials that are sensitive to heat, but also for
illumination of UV sensitive objects or materials from artwork in museums to plastics in a kitchen.
7. "Dimmability"
LEDs can be dimmed, resulting in a dynamic control of light, color, flexibility and distribution. Well-
designed LED illumination systems can achieve fantastic lighting effects, not only for the eye but also for
the mood. LED mood illumination is already being used in airplanes, classrooms and many more
locations and we can expect to see a lot more LED mood illumination in our daily lives within the next
few years, in homes, offices, hotels, restaurants, etc. Stores with LED lighting sell 30% more
merchandise!
8. Light Disbursement
LED is designed to focus its light and can be directed to a specific location without the use of an
external reflector, achieving higher application efficiency than conventional lighting. Well-designed LED
illumination systems are able to deliver light more efficiently to the desired location.
9. Instant Lighting
LEDs provide instant light and illumination; they brighten up when powered on, which has great
advantages for infrastructure projects such as traffic and signal lights. LEDs work when an electrical
current is passed through them - no flickering. In contrast, fluorescent lights don’t provide optimum
illumination levels until they have been running for a few minutes and flicker when switched on.
10. Frequent Switching
LED lights can switch off and on frequently and without affecting the LED’s lifetime or light
emission, unlike traditional lighting that may take several seconds to reach full brightness. Also, frequent
on/off switching of traditional bulbs drastically reduces operational life expectancy.
11. Low-Voltage
A low-voltage power supply is sufficient for LED illumination, making it easy to use LED lighting in
outdoor settings by connecting an external solar-energy source which is a big advantage when it comes to
using LED technology in remote or rural areas.
12. Long-Term Cost
LEDs are still more expensive than fluorescent and compact fluorescent lights, but they are far less
expensive than they were a year ago (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/leds-to-drop-10x-in-
price-in-3-years-but-will-the-u.s.-lead-the-industry) and can provide huge long-tern savings.. While
incandescent lights last for 800 to 1500 hours, and fluorescent lights last up to 10,000 hours, LEDs can
last up to a whopping 60,000 hours. This can provide substantial savings as a result of fewer replacements
needing to be bought.
13. Short-Term Cost
As stated above, prices of LED have significantly dropped in the last year. Home Depot's 800 lumen
Philips LED bulb is priced just under $40.00 and consumes 12 watts. A 40-watt equivalent from Lighting
Sciences Group, which consumes less than 8 watts, costs just under $18.00. If you used a bulb for just 2
hours a day and paid the national average of $0.115 per kilowatt-hour, a single 12-watt LED will cost you
about $1.00/year. Comparable CFLs that consume about 14 watts come to $1.17/year and about
$5.00/year for 60-watt incandescent in that scenario.
14. Noise
Fluorescent tubes are notorious for being noisy, especially if they have been used for a extended
amount of time. They tend to give off clicking sounds intermittently, but most annoyingly, they can
produce a low buzzing sound. Since fluorescent tubes are often used in offices and working
environments, this can be distracting. LEDs do not have this problem and operate silently with no
annoying flickering noises.
15. Color
Fluorescent lights are infamous for their color profile. While some fluorescent tubes now use a
different type of phosphorous powder to produce a warmer color, most fluorescents produce only a cold
blue/white light. It is stark and not very welcoming. LEDs on the other hand provide a range of different
colors for different purposes and needs. This is what makes LEDs so adaptable. They can be used in
almost any environment or lighting situation.