LED lights are quite a recent innovation. Initially, they were initially employed in a very restricted fashion as indicator lights on electronic devices such as the on-off indicator on TVs and stereos. Nick Holonyak Jr achieved a major breakthrough in 1962. He developed the so-called red LED, the first practical LED. This achievement allowed LEDs to be used for indoor residential and commercial lighting, significantly broadening their usage potential. In that way, their successful commercialization became possible. Technically, Holonyak developed a method to blend GaAsP crystals (gallium arsenide phosphide).
Holonyak is an expert in electrical engineering. His work has focused on and semi-conductor lasers and LEDs. He received his PhD in 1954. After working as a researcher at General Electric and Bells Labs, he was invited in 1963 to return to the University of Illinois, his alma mater where his research falls into the general field of optoelectronics.
Incandescent lighting has served our requirements since the late 1800s. But that technology is now being increasingly challenged by LEDs. In addition to mainstream indoor lighting applications, LEDs are also being use in extreme maritime and aviation environments.
LEDs offer several advantages compared to incandescent lights. Perhaps the most important advantages for most customers are their higher efficiency (lumens per watt), extended lifetime and much smaller size. These three advantages can comprise significant value for many customers. Also, other advantages come in the form of cycling, color, on-off time, dimming, cool light, focus, slow failure and shock resistance.
Low energy usage is the biggest advantage. LEDs deliver more light (lumens) per unit of power (watt). Each watt of power allows LEDs to deliver around 70 lumens of light . Depending on their lighting capacity, LEDs consume a miniscule amount of power (0.5 to 5 watts). Also, LEDs need much less energy in their initial manufacture. Both these savings mean they have a tiny carbon footprint.
Regarding lifetime, LEDs can operate for as much as a whopping 100,000 hours (or 11.4 years) of 24×7 continuous light. By comparison, incandescent bulbs can only manage a few thousand hours at best. Moreover, LED units experience only small illumination degradation or depreciation over their working life. An LED might suffer 20 percent lumen depreciation, as a maximum, by the end of its operating life.
To recap, LED lights offer major net benefits on a lifetime analysis. Even though they do have a higher initial cost (that is, they are more expensive to buy), their much increased life and decreased power usage render them an attractive investment. They are a cheaper option in the long run. They supply bright, comfortable lighting; are available in a range of styles, sizes, colors and designs. Given all these positives, no wonder they are penetrating the lighting market, winning market share from both conventional incandescent and fluorescent lighting.
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