The benefits of LED lighting

Sustainable lighting, such as LED lighting, offers many advantages over traditional lighting like incandescent bulbs, energy-saving bulbs, or fluorescent tubes. Yet, people often hesitate to purchase LED lamps. This is primarily due to the seemingly high initial purchase price. However, the price difference is quickly earned back because LED lighting is not only more energy-efficient, but also lasts longer and is applicable everywhere. LED lighting is exceptionally suited as mood lighting, garden lighting, office lighting, or for illuminating workspaces.

Energy savings

The low wattages of LED lighting ensure savings on energy costs. Despite these low wattages, LED lighting is still able to produce the same amount of lumens and the familiar color temperature compared to incandescent or energy-saving bulbs. Savings from LED lighting can be as high as 90%, depending on the type of lighting. When replacing incandescent or halogen lamps, these savings percentages are around 80 to 90%.Savings when replacing fluorescent tubes are usually around 40 to 50%.

Efficiency

The main reason low-wattage LED lamps perform so well is that they convert electricity into light very efficiently. Traditional lighting, such as incandescent and halogen lamps, produces a lot of heat as a byproduct. LED lighting suffers much less from this. Make no mistake, however, LED lighting does produce heat. High-power, large LED lamps therefore often feature a large metal housing (heatsink) to dissipate this heat. If the individual LED chips (diodes) become too hot or if the heat is not dissipated sufficiently, this affects the lifespan of the LED chips.

Lifespan

The other major advantage of LED lighting is its lifespan.LED lighting lasts on average 3 to 4 times longer than traditional lighting. By comparison, an incandescent bulb has about 1,000 burning hours, halogen approximately 3,000 burning hours, energy-saving lamps are around 10,000 burning hours, and fluorescent tubes have between 30,000 and 35,000 burning hours. LED lighting, on the other hand, lasts up to 50,000 burning hours. This is a significant difference. Thanks to the difference in lifespan, it is no longer necessary to replace bulbs regularly, meaning you have to purchase new lamps less often.

Startup time

You are undoubtedly familiar with it: energy-saving lamps, you turn them on and it takes about a minute before you can actually see properly what you are doing. This is probably also the reason why there are no energy-saving lamps in rooms where you only stay for a very short time, such as the toilet. Although this is very noticeable with energy-saving lamps, incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes certainly suffer from this as well.LED lighting, however, does not; it turns on immediately at full power without any annoying startup time.

Beam angle

The beam angle of LED lighting is smaller than that of traditional lighting, which is due to the design of the LED chips. The smaller beam angle ensures that the light is better focused on the target, meaning less power is required to properly illuminate it. For this reason, most traditional lighting fixtures use reflectors. These reflectors ensure that light that would otherwise be lost is still focused. Despite this, energy is still lost, as the light intensity decreases with every reflection.

Robust

High-quality LED lamps are very durable. Most conventional lighting, such as incandescent bulbs, generally have a glass housing that is quite fragile.It is even better not to touch a halogen lamp with your fingers at all. LED lighting features a sturdier housing made of plastic combined with aluminium. Therefore, LED lighting does not break as easily if you accidentally bump into it or drop it.

Internet and Smart Home (Smart Home)

Home automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) are currently on the rise. Lighting can also be a part of this. For instance, consider lamps that simulate the sunrise when your alarm goes off, allowing you to wake up more relaxed. Another example is mood lighting that automatically takes on a warmer temperature toward the evening. With smart LED lighting, these possibilities are within reach. All the technologies required for this can be built directly into the lamp itself. This means no surface-mounted or built-in equipment is needed anymore; simply replacing the 'dumb' bulb is already sufficient.

Ambience and Color

Although some people still associate LED lighting with 'cold' 6000K lighting, LED lighting is of course much more than that. LED lighting can display all colors and color temperatures from the visible light spectrum. In addition, there is also a part of invisible light, such as television remote controls. Thanks to this flexibility in light rendering, LED lighting is also extremely suitable as atmospheric or party lighting. It is entirely possible to replicate the warm, cozy light of the traditional incandescent bulb with only a fraction of the energy consumption. Colored lighting is also an option with LED lighting, making it possible, for example, to illuminate your home or a number of trees in a specific color.

A brief summary of the benefits of LED

LED lighting saves energy, resulting in lower energy costs that can add up to savings of up to 80%. LED also offers higher efficiency, which means that LEDs convert the energy used into light much better, resulting in less heat generation. LED lamps also have a longer lifespan, in most cases, LED lamps last 3 to 4 times longer. This means fewer replacements and less climbing up the step stool. LED lighting has no start-up time, meaning the lamp immediately provides full light output, unlike energy-saving bulbs, for example.

LED lamps have a narrower beam angle, preventing light from being wasted. The light only shines where it is needed.The LED lamps themselves are also more robust than other lamps, mainly due to the use of plastic and aluminum. Furthermore, LED lamps are applicable everywhere, they are very versatile in terms of light color and there are possibilities to connect them to automation apps and systems.