subject: Annual Lighting for Tomorrow Competition Crowns LED Light Bulbs [print this page] The annual Lighting for Tomorrow competition held by the US Department of Energy has announced its winner this year, and the winner is LED lighting. Energy efficient light bulbs are proliferating quickly, and specifically LED light bulbs are an excellent choice to win the Lighting for Tomorrow competition. They have a great number of benefits, from financial to environmental.
There are LEDs now that can last up to 50,000 hours. With lifetimes like that, LED light bulbs not only directly save money on energy, but they also save money on reduced frequency of maintenance and replacements. Maintenance is usually completely non-existent with LED light bulbs, as they are fully self contained and designed to be maintenance-free. The financial benefits of LED light bulbs makes them an obvious choice, but they are still too expensive up front for the general population.
Large businesses and organizations are the most common adopters of LED technology, as their significant stores of capital allow them to make large retrofits without blinking an eye. The Pittsburgh International Airport for example is buying over 1300 LED light bulbs and fixtures from Appalachian Lighting Systems. The airport expects this investment to end up saving over $158,000 a year on energy.
Research and development into LED lighting technology continues to result in improvements and breakthroughs. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently created a low-cost graphite foam which functions as a cooling agent that should extend the lifespan of LEDs. New, more powerful LEDs keep coming out as well. A Finnish company recently announced their new aviation beacon LEDs, which are 20,000 times more powerful than standard LED light bulbs. Technology just won't stop, and LED lighting is benefitting a lot from it.
Annual Lighting for Tomorrow Competition Crowns LED Light Bulbs
