 Light emitting diodes, those semiconductor light sources also known as LEDs, are the new hot commodity in the outdoor lighting world. No longer harbingers of the glaring light reserved for cold industrial applications, LEDs are persuading homeowners to use them for residential applications. It’s easy to see why: LEDs can save tons of money over time – especially on big installations. New technology has warmed up the light and kept the energy-saving applications in the process. Estimates suggest that LEDs offer customers up to a 75 percent reduction in energy use, have a 15- to 20-year lifespan, and require little (if any) maintenance and no service charges. The U.S. Department of Energy research indicates that during the next two decades, LEDs could save the country more than $265 billion in energy costs and reduce the demand for lighting electricity by one-third over the next 15 years. What’s more, they pay for themselves in a few short years. “LEDs are all I use,” says Paul Gosselin Sr. of NightScenes Corp. in Kingsland, Texas. “I’m 100 percent LED for the last two years. I love them, and I’ll never go back because, quite frankly, there’s no reason to go back. “They’re so much easier to install, even though in many ways you design an LED system the same way you would the traditional halogen system, which also makes life a whole lot easier if you have to go back and make adjustments. Creating the runs and a lot of the design approach remains the same, which also makes using LEDs a smart move.” Gosselin says that his enthusiasm goes beyond the different wiring systems, smaller wires and transformers that make the infrastructures much easier to implement. “There’s not as much in voltage drop (with LEDs) because they operate at the same intensity at 9 or 15 volts,” he adds. While some lighting professionals have been reluctant to become early adopters of LEDs, the quality of the lights has consistently improved, bringing initially skeptical folks like Jim Paulin – leader of Lumical Technologies Group in Sarasota, Fla. – on board. “From a technical and artistic perspective, for years there was nothing but a bunch of garbage out there,” Paulin says. “It was a bit like the Wild West, with a lot of outlandish claims at how bright they were and a lot of offshore stuff coming in that you had to be careful of. Paulin says that while some LEDs “can be wimpy and blue looking,” with the right ones, customers can expect “wonderful brightness, good color rendition and performance, and the energy use is excellent.” And the drawbacks? “We like to change bulbs to keep people happy, so in that sense, the 15-year warranty puts a dent in service calls,” Paulin says. Jeff Tullis, president of Accent Outdoor Lighting of Chesterfield, Mo., says all of these reasons led his company to do a total of three incandescent jobs last year. Everything else was LED installation. Tullis says that LEDs create reliability that isn’t achievable with incandescent lighting and removes the “hassle factor” that home and business owners usually have with system upkeep. For example, once one or two incandescent bulbs burn out, the design losses the intended look and feel. “I think that LED isn’t going away anytime soon,” he says. “And reverting back to halogen after this will be like putting toothpaste back in the tube.” |
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