LEDs, CFLs add savings to lighting

By Alan M. Petrillo

Tucson Green Times – October 2009

People are starting to see the light – at least when it comes to saving energy on lighting.

They’re using more and more compact fluorescent light (CFL) and light emitting diode (LED) bulbs to replace traditional incandescent bulbs in an array of fixtures in the home and office.

And why shouldn’t they? According to an estimate from the US Department of Energy (DOE), if we were able to replace a single incandescent bulb in every home in the country with a CFL, in a year the country would save enough energy to light more than three million homes. An added benefit would be the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those emitted by 800,000 vehicles.

Dennis Eberlein, owner of Arizona Commercial Lighting in Tucson, says CFLs offer “a tremendous energy savings over traditional incandescent bulbs. A 13 watt CFL is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent, and uses less energy so it generates less heat and burns cooler,” he notes.

And where the life of a standard incandescent lamp is about 750 hours, Eberlein says, CFLs are rated at between 8,000 and 10,000 hours of life.

However, he adds, with an LED product, one might expect between 50,000 and 100,000 hours of life, depending on the quality of the bulb purchased.

CFLs are available now to fit virtually any kind of light fixture, from those with standard-bases to ones with a smaller, narrower socket. In addition, they’re available in several shades of white light, from yellowish to white to bluish white light, allowing an individual to set the mood for a particular space.

To match a standard incandescent bulb, Eberlein recommends choosing a warm or soft white CFL. Cool white and bright white CFLs work well in kitchens and other work spaces, while natural or daylight CFLs are the best for reading, he says.

LED bulbs are now being touted as the best of green lighting choices because they are even more energy efficient than CFLs. LEDs have been used for decades in cell phones, watches and digital clocks. When they are clustered, LEDs have been used to light traffic lights and to form the images found on outdoor video screens.

LED bulbs are lit by the movement of electrons, so there is no filament to burn out, as in the case of incandescent bulbs, and they carry no mercury or other toxic substances, as do CFLs. LEDs don’t get very hot and use a high percentage of electricity to actually generate light.

Danny Levkowitz, owner of Sun Lighting in Tucson, says LEDs are becoming so popular that his company’s sales of LED lights has been doubling every six months.

“Advantages to an LED light are there’s no ultraviolet light coming out of it, so it lasts much longer, it’s fully biodegradable, lasts at least ten times longer than CFLs and produces more light than a CFL,” Levkowitz says. “And they are dimmable, unlike most CFLs, and because of their small size, they have a tremendous advantage in applications that you couldn’t touch with another type of light bulb.”

In addition, LEDs come in a wide array of color choices, while CFLs and incandescent bulbs are limited to only a few.

The main disadvantage to LEDs, and also CFLs, Levkowitz says, is price.

“If a consumer is willing to pay now, especially for the LED light, they will reap the benefits later, even though the initial expense is higher,” he points out. “But prices on both LEDs and CFLs are dropping as the technology changes and improves the bulbs.”

Another disadvantage that Levkowitz sees in LED lights is they are more directional than CFLs or incandescent lamps.

“In many applications that’s a positive thing because CFLs can’t be directed as easily,” he says. “It’s much easier to make an LED omni-directional than it is to make a CFL directional. In the next year you’re going to see 20 times more LED decorative lighting fixtures being made available, in both contemporary and traditional styles, in everything from lamps to chandeliers.”

Steve Henderson, manager of Dyna-Brite, a retail and commercial supply house in Tucson, points out that although a lot of CFLs are being sold, one of the drawbacks to CFL bulbs is that until recently they haven’t been dimmable.

“That’s held some people back,” he says, “but now there’s a dimmable CFL that can dim down to about 20 percent of its total range. But one of the drawbacks to them is you have to let them warm up at full voltage before you dim them, otherwise they tend to flash and blink.”

However, CFLs also are available now for three-way fixtures, Henderson notes, and such bulbs have no issues of flashing or blinking.

Levkowitz says Sun Lighting is developing a partnership program with Tucson Electric Power and an as-yet unnamed non-profit organization to make large quantities of CFL bulbs available to the public at greatly reduced prices, and in some instances, for free. He expects the partnership to be up and running by early November.

“If we can get enough CFLs in use, we can save a tremendous amount of power,” he points out, “which is the immediate goal of the partnership program.”

Levkowitz notes that while the federal government would like to see incandescent bulbs go the way of the dinosaurs, that is, become extinct, he doesn’t believe that will ever happen.

“Incandescent bulbs will not go completely away, but when they get to a point close to that,” he says, “the LEDs will far outpace the CFLs in terms of use.”

Author: Alan Petrillo is a local freelance writer.