LED lighting began as the technology used to provide the red light to indicate a radio was on. It’s progressed to become commonly available, affordable technology we can use to replace incandescent bulbs in our municipal buildings, businesses, and homes.
Inefficient filament-based bulbs produce heat as they produce light and the bulbs don’t last long. LED bulbs last a long time and focus the use of electricity on producing light not heat. Think of how many light bulbs are in a typical home or business. The savings on energy and bulb costs are significant, even for apartments and small homes!
Think of our combined impact. It adds up! It’s time to help ourselves and our communities change. LED Brighter Communities is here to help.
World Impact
“If every house in the United States switched just one 60 watt bulb from incandescent to LED, it would be like taking 800,000 cars off the road, or planting 400,000,000 trees and the energy saved could light up 3,000,000 homes for a whole year.”
“20% of the world’s energy usage is from lighting. This could be converted to just 4% if lighting was converted to LED.”-energy.gov
Reduced Energy Consumption + Reduced Cost + Reduced Maintenance = BIG $ Savings
LED bulbs consume up to 90% less electricity to produce the same or even more light. For a typical bulb, 7 watts vs. 60 watts. That means if you could collect the energy inefficiently used by a traditional bulb, it could light up to 9 LEDs of the same brightness!
Change to LED and your electric expenses go down. The average savings on electricity for lighting is more that $100 over the life of an LED bulb (bulbs.com). That doesn’t even take into account the savings on air conditioning. Have you noticed how hot incandescent bulbs get? LED bulbs stay cool to the touch, significantly reducing electricity costs for air conditioning particularly for high light usage in warm climates.
LED lights thus reduce the need to generate electricity. Depending on how your community’s electricity is generated, using LED bulbs can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.
An LED bulb may last 10 or even 20 years, depending on the type of bulb and how much you use it. Read the labels carefully. Incandescent bulbs typically last 2 to 3 years. Think of how much money you are saving on bulb costs alone. For bulbs in hard to reach areas LEDs decrease the need to climb on ladders too!
Reduced Waste
LED bulbs are made of recyclable materials that are environmentally safe. They also generate significantly less waste because they last longer. Compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs contain traces of mercury and if not disposed of properly can be harmful to the environment. LEDs last about twice as long as CFL bulbs and 10 times longer that incandescent bulbs.