LED Lightbulbs

Has anyone began to examine changing to LED bulbs yet? The energy savings appear significant over even CFLs and the life span 30,000-50,000 is incredible. The bulbs are still somewhat expensive but some of our light fixtures are in such ridiculous locations that that we have to rent a scissor lift when the bulbs need to be changed. Even taking into account the cost of the bulbs I can make a financial case when factoring in energy usage, bulb cost, labor, etc that making the change would be worthwhile and there are significant environmental benefits (no mercury) as well.

If you have used these in outdoor applications or have even tried them personally I am very curious as to what your thoughts are and particularly the quality of the light output.

LED lighting is still in its infancy. As an architect I'm working on various residential projects of differing sizes. Some of these projects include working with lighting consultants. I'll admit, none of these projects involve street lighting.

We have found though, thus far, that LED lighting for interior use just is not there as of yet. The light color is far different from incandescent or even the cfl lamps. We are having some success in using LED for bedside lighting or closet lighting.

We've found a product for landscape lighting that appears as if it will give good quality lighting. However, we are looking for "moonlight" effect, not lighting parking lots. We are looking for a soft almost blue light and LED can provide that.

Apparently, the real issue at this point is quality of lamps. There is no standard when it comes to LED lighting. There are many manufacturers of LED lighting and it really comes down to the quality of the lamp. I've worked with a ship builder that has outfitted a yacht with only LED lighting. They had to build their own laboratory to test every LED light prior to installing to make sure the output and light quality was up to their standards. One needs to look at each lamp manufacturer differently, what one provides could be far different from what the other provides.

It appears as if the lighting industry will end up going the route of retrofit. That is to say, just like cfl lamps now are available with an A lamp screw in base, LED manufacturers will find a way to allow us to retrofit existing light fixtures to accept LED lamps.

I would think, given the type of light output LED is presently providing, street or parking lot lighting would be a good fit. I probably can connect you with a few lighting manufacturer reps if you are interested. Lighting reps will not charge for the rime they spend working with you, so it wouldn't cost you a dime to have a conversation. I'm guessing the initial cost to retrofit your present fixtures to LED would be big, but it would be interesting to see the payback value.

Rick

Rick, have you any thoughts on outdoor holiday LED lights? Cost? Life? Cost effective? When trying to remove from trees are as many damaged? etc. etc.

Chris,

After I posted the info about LED's, I also wondered if you mean the new florescent bulbs. Those work well in a situation like you are using and are far less expensive than commercial LEDs.

Chris,

Full Spectrum HD's are what they are called. Newer type CFL. I don't know much about them except that they are supposed to be much improved in the light that they cast. But yes, LED bulbs are used in many outdoor lighting applications, especially with solar power fixtures.