LEDs have made serious headway in the field of architectural lighting through the growing use of LED-based wall washers, rope lighting, and accent lighting courtesy of companies like LED*Waves. This is clear if you simply “Google” the terms “LED Lighting”; you will find that one after the other, large-scale construction projects are committed to reducing energy-consumption through the implementation of architectural LED lighting. For these cavalier architects and builders, saving the earth has never been easier or more important.

Light bulbs, on the other hand, have been a bit trickier to persuade. They have been a recurrent hurdle for the LED revolution, and for many valid reasons: lumen output, light color, and a general inundation of the market with useless novelty bulbs. These issues have made for a rather small list of practical applications. However, over the past year, the LEDs used by LED*Waves have increased in efficacy by 20%, increasing from 50 lumens per Watt to 60-70 lumens per Watt. This has meant a dramatic increase in the amount of practical applications, which in turn has invigorated and contributed to the sustainability push in all sectors.

One particularly popular application is the replacement of halogen bi-pin bulbs with LED 5W MR-16 bulbs.

Using state-of-the-art 2nd Generation Cree™chips, the LED MR-16 bulb is making its move and getting noticed. A McDonalds in Orange County has decided to use our LED 5W MR-16 light bulb; The Greener Gallery in Salt Lake City is a cutting-edge sustainability gallery and they decided to use them as well. Both locations paired the bulbs efficiently and tastefully with Flex II Track Lighting purchased from Light*Waves Concept. Their sleek design, potent lumen output, low energy consumption, and long-life express each establishment’s nose for both style and grace.

In the above cases and for a growing number of customers, the LED 5W MR-16 bulb effectively replaces generic 30W MR-16 halogens. The benefits of this upgrade are numerous. The halogen bulb lasts only about 1000 hours while the LED bulb lasts about 50,000 hours. This means that over the life of your LED bulb, another person still using halogens would go through 50 bulbs before yours stopped working. Add to this the fact that the 5W LED bulb consumes a mere fraction (1/6th) of the energy that the 30W halogen bulb consumes and it becomes clear that an LED upgrade isn’t simply affordable, it’s unavoidable.

Mission: Unavoidable

It’s clear that all large-scale lighting applications, from businesses to schools, stand to benefit from LEDs. Whether it’s T8 fluorescent replacement, halogen replacement, or large-scale incandescent floodlight replacement, the benefits make the upgrade a no-brainer. The homeowner and renter, on the other hand, have been resistant to capitalizing on these benefits due to their perceived negligibility on such a small scale.

LED*Waves recently sent one of its Cree™-powered LED Par-20 light bulbs to Pablo Päster, Sustainability Engineer and VP at ClimateCHECK, who in turn wrote in his May 8th installment of “Ask Pablo” (salon.com) about just this conundrum. However, he believes that LED bulbs turn out to be a very worthwhile investment, even for renters and homeowners: “The LED light does cost a few dollars more but the difference is negligible. Think of the time you will save by not running to the store to buy bulbs and climbing the ladder to change them.” His conclusion comes after a detailed analysis of the overall cost of 3 different bulbs of comparable lumen output: the LED 7W Par-20 bulb (500-550 lumens), the 10W compact fluorescent bulb or CFL (500 lumens), and the 40W incandescent bulb (460 lumens). Pablo’s calculations run something like this:

The other critical point of comparison is efficiency, or a bulbs ability to convert the energy it consumes into light instead of heat. Here is a quick comparison:

And the Par-20 is only the tip of the iceberg. LED*Waves also has a 900 lumen 14W Par-30 and a 1600 lumen 21W Par-38. Stay tuned for more on these bulbs!

LED*Waves --- Changing the world, one bulb at a time