Led Lighting

REPLACING FLOURESCENT OFFICE LIGHTS WITH LEDS –THE FIGURES

LED lighting dubbed the future of energy efficient lighting is an emerging source of highly energy efficient and environmentally friendly form of lighting. It forms a good starting point for a green initiative in any organisation. This document highlights what is involved in converting from traditional standard lighting to this new form of lighting. The main focus shall be on the figures on how efficient they are the lighting quality and the economical aspect.

Defining light

Light is itself colourless but without it we cannot see anything. In other words it is what makes us see. Different applications require different lighting types. The type of light you would want in a restaurant is obviously different from what you want in an office environment. The colour you see when you look at things using a compact fluorescent light is not exactly the same when you look in day light. All these show that different lighting technologies have different lighting characteristics.

If you touch a normal incandescent bulb it would be extremely hot whilst an equivalent Compact fluorescent light (energy saver) is not as hot as the traditional light even though giving the same light. The heat that you feel is electrical energy being converted to heat instead of light. The amount of energy that is converted to light divided by the total energy being drawn by the lighting fixture is what determines how efficient the light is.

The general perception is that LED lights are the most efficient form of lighting. This is true in most cases but not always. For office use for example, fluorescent lamp technology has also improved tremendously to become very efficient. However being the most environmentally friendly form of lighting is a fact about LED lighting.

How to move from traditional lights to LED

There are many options available if one wants to change to LED lighting.

• The easiest way to...