1. Brightness and Efficacy

Obviously, the first factor that comes to mind when we think of a bulb’s performance is brightness, and this can be measured in lumens (lm). A 100W traditional incandescent light will output 1700 lumens, a 13W CFL light will ouput roughly 800 lumens, while the EarthLED Evolux S LED Light will output 1000 lumens. Taking a look at efficacy, which is simply found by dividing the lumen output by the wattage necessary to power the bulb, the incandescent outputs 17 lm/W while the CFL can handle roughtly 62.5 lm/W and the LED bulb from EarthLED achieved 76.9 lm/W. This equates to costing roughly $3.80 a year if you operate the bulb 8 hours a day for 365 days (based on $.10 per kilowatt hour).

This visual comparison above might better help to see how well the LED light stacks up against other lights.

2. Heat

Heat is a big factor for many, especially purchasers of large amounts of bulbs for large scale installations because fire hazard is a figure that influences what an entity is willing to spend to light their facilities. Home users in a sense should also consider this factor just as seriously no matter what their scale of installation. Proprietary tests show 100W incandescent lights burning at 335.4 F, CFL lights burning at 179.2 F and LED bulbs burning at 87.2 F. Flexible LED Strips lights are definitely propose the lowest risk to fire.

3. Average Life

LEDs are well-known for their life expectancy burning for over 50,000 hours in most cases, but theoretically they burn much longer. This is compared to the 8000 hours that CFLs last and 750 hours for typical incandescent lights. This life span is the other main money saver besides a lower power bill, especially if you consider the 67 incandescent bulbs you’ll have to replace before you replace an Evolux. Many larger scale commercial scenarios are switching to LED Strips simply because of the enormous cost of changing so many bulbs every year.

4. Environmental Impact

Flourescent lights, although they can perform almost as well and with almost the same efficiency as the Evolux (without the long life span that the Evolux has) present a different problem that can be costly to your wallet as well as the environment: disposal. CFLs are not to be disposed of like your typical incandescent or LED light because they contain mercury which seeps into the Earth’s soil and water supply when finally dumped in a landfill. Flourescent lights also emit greenhouse gases when in use and when discarded. LED lights and incandescent lights are both safe to discard normally. Many materials in LED lights can actually be recycled. This is a non-issue of course since you will rarely throw away any LED light bulbs in your lifetime.

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Light Therapy is also named photorejuvenation. The skin conditions that LED light therapy is used for are principally aging and acne. These concerns are not the same and need specific treatments.

Acne should be first addressed with blue light therapy. The treatment also prevent future breakouts. The acne bacteria (Propionibacterium acnes) is killed, and acne starts to vanish. Acne can then be treated with red light therapy. The red light is the renewing light and will reduce acne inflammation and also balances sebum and oil production.

The red light is really the healing LED Strips light and that is the reason it is applied as an anti aging treatment too. It increases collagen production, the protein responsible for your skin firmness and elasticity. It also increases vascularity by creating new capillaries. With more circulation more blood is flowing to your tissues and of course nutrients carried by the blood helps to repair your skin.

Light therapy minimizes fine lines and wrinkles but there are more benefits. It helps to minimize age spots and skin discoloration.As we said earlier other concerns can be treated with Flexible LED Strips light therapy, featuring different technology. More and more people are turning towards these all natural, safe and painless treatments.

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By contrast, conventional LEDs come in individual glass bulbs that get wired separately to a larger circuit board.

Bridgelux hopes to erode that problem with a new way to package LEDS that substantially reduces the cost and number of components. The company’s LED Lights Arrays consist of several LEDs under a single phosphor-coated lens. The Arrays are about the size of a button or nickel, depending on the number of LEDs. If you look closely at the photos on the right, you can make out the rows of chips underneath the yellow lens. (Note: the LEDs emit blue light; the lens filters it to white.)

Even if that price can’t be hit right away, bulbs based on the Arrays could reduce the return on investment for LED bulbs from the current four to five years to one to two, he said.

With this sort of condominium-style packaging, Bridgelux can sell an 800-lumen part, which will emit about the same amount of LED Strips as a 60-watt bulb, for $8 to $16 in volume quantities, depending on the color tone and quality of the light. A complete bulb built around one of these parts in the not distant future could sell for as low as $26 if everything goes Bridgelux’s way.

“There is a lot of extra stuff and a lot of extra steps” in traditional LED light fixtures, he said. “We think that can delay time to market.”

You might not know it, but you’re living through a revolution in how your home or office will be illuminated. Rising electricity prices, environmental regulations and rapid innovation is expected to cause a massive shift in the industry. Today’s bulbs — one of the last vestiges of the vacuum tube era – will give way to LEDs, plasma lights, OLEDs and even new types of energy-efficient fluorescents, say proponents.

“When the payback hit nine months, it went crazy,” Scott said. “It flipped in a matter of six to eight months. Boom. That was it.”

The turnover in some vertical segments could be quick. For several years, cities tested traffic lights powered by LEDs. Then, in the earlier part of the decade, the ROI dropped to around nine months.

“When the payback hit nine months, it went crazy,” Scott said. “It flipped in a matter of six to eight months. Boom. That was it.”

Bridgelux will initially target the commercial market and mostly attempt to displace halogen and incandescent bulbs. A single Array might only use five to 20 watts, versus the 35 to 150 watts an incandescent or halogen bulb light might use.

How does the math work? LED lights cost more – a 60 watt equivalent LED right now might cost $82 versus $1 to $3 for a an incandescent or a halogen. After two years, the electricity, maintenance and bulb costs for an LED might come to $96 compared to $80 or $90 for conventional bulbs. A tough choice. But if Bridgelux can drop the price of Flexible LED Strips bulbs to $30 or $40, their bulb will only have total cost of $44 or $54 after two years, or half the conventional bulbs. Call the sales guy.

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The red LED bulb has been added to flashlights to enhance night vision. It provides great contrast and is not visible to the human eye over long distances. It also works well with night vision scopes and goggles. Photographers use the red colored light when doing night-time photography because it provides contrast while preserving the natural shadows developed by darkness. It cuts through smoke better than white light and, with the exception of red lines and marks on maps and charts, it makes reading in low, or no, light possible. Police and military units like the red LED for night operations because it will not interfere with night vision technology and can’t easily be picked up by other people.

The green LED light is preferred by hunters and fishermen because it is a very soft light that will not spook their prey. Green also does not attract insects like white or yellow light does. It is not easily picked up, unless looking directly at it, so it is useful in covert operations. It is another color that is useful in smoke filled environments.

The blue LED hand-held LED Strips is good for map or chart reading in situations where night vision, and avoiding detection, are important. Blue light is also helpful in locating blood and other bodily fluids at crime scenes or during search and rescue operations. Hunters also find the blue light helpful in following blood trails of injured animals. Blue lights are often used in small keychain lights because they are a soft light that works well to illuminate locks, keys, and small items. It does not have the same harsh glare as the bright, white LED. These lights are also good for cutting through fog.

Ultraviolet LED lights have found many uses in the professional world. They are used to detect counterfeit money, art, and antiques. They are also used to detect trace blood proteins and chemicals in soils from crime scenes. Just like blue light, this one will pick out blood and other bodily fluids that might be missed by the naked eye. Ultraviolet light acts like a black light in entertainment uses. It can bring out hidden messages and enhances neon and fluorescent colors. Ultraviolet lights can be used to recharge luminescent objects like fishing lures, watch faces, compass needles, SAR signals, etc. It is important not to shine ultraviolet Flexible LED Strips directly into the eyes, as it can cause injury.

Whether looking to preserve night vision for hunting applications or to cut through smoke in a burning building colored LED lights are great for many applications. Their multitude of uses make them a must have for everyone. Flashlights are offered in single color lighting or with multiple bulbs for a choice of lighting options. This means that the right light is always available when it is needed. So, whether looking for a single light color for a specific application or multiple choices for whatever comes up, colored LED flashlights are a great choice.

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An LED, or Light Emitting Diode, is a type of circuit element that emits light when electrical current flows through it in the appropriate direction. Like a normal diode, current flow is blocked when it travels against the direction of the diode. When a positive voltage is applied to the positive side of an LED, the electrons that flow are required to jump down in energy as they cross the diode – emitting the lost energy as light. This light is generated at one specific frequency, based on the characteristics of the materials used. When creating white light that may be useful for lighting, however, a blending of many colors is needed – something the LED does not seemed easily poised to accomplish, despite numerous advances in LED technology.

Red light was the first visible LED Strips to be produced, in 1962, followed by yellow and green. Much later, in the early 1990′s, blue-spectrum LED’s were developed – a huge advance in usefulness, since blue light can be combined with red and green to make white light. However, this approach was inefficient, and companies were scrambling to make a single diode that could produce white light on its own. Then, in 1993, a company named Nichia created the first white LED using a blue LED with a phosphor coating. The coating was the trick – it provided enough shifting of the light wavelength coming from the diode itself to create white colored light.

Why, then, aren’t we using Flexible LED Strips – which are much more efficient than either incandescent or fluorescent bulbs – to light up our homes and offices? The major problem, of course, is cost. Current white LED’s require a substrate made of sapphire and an additional mirroring layer to reflect light that would otherwise be lost. As a result, LED lights already on the market cost approximately $100, far too much for the average consumer.

Researchers at Purdue University have found one method of significantly reducing the cost of a white LED by eliminating the expensive layer of sapphire. Instead, they used silicon as the substrate (the material the diode is printed on) and zirconium nitride as the reflector. This had never been done before, mainly because silicon reacts with zirconium nitride and changes its properties. The researchers solved this by putting a layer of aluminum nitride between the silicon and zirconium nitride.

“One of the main achievements in this work was placing a barrier on the silicon substrate to keep the zirconium nitride from reacting,” said Timothy D. Sands, the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue’s Discovery Park.

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