Traditional incandescent light bulbs are being phased out more and more and will continue on this trend as time goes on. LED lighting is the future. CFLs are inherently flawed and generally unpopular and halogen and xenon bulbs were the initial “fix” to incandescent bulbs but won’t have much of a chance anymore. LED lighting offers the most sustainable and exciting alternative to incandescent bulbs. For starters, they’re highly efficient: the average efficacy of an LED bulb is approximately 80% better than the equivalent incandescent bulb. Secondly, they last about 20 times longer, on average, than incandescents. Third is that you can get them in a large variety of shapes, sizes and color temperatures giving you a wide range of options to light your home, office or any area. Lastly is that you can get “smart LED’s” which can change colors completely, turn on and off with different apps and be programmed for different settings when you’re on holidays and want added security.
In terms of pricing, LED lighting has come a long way in the past year alone. As demand has increased and manufacturing processes have become more streamlined, costs have plummeted. As an example, replacing a 60-watt incandescent with an LED equivalent will save you roughly $130 in energy costs over the new bulb’s lifetime. The average Canadian household could slash $150 from its annual energy bill by replacing all incandescents with LED bulbs. Now is definitely the time to be replacing your bulbs to LED.
The higher the bulb’s color temperature, the cooler the light. A candle glows at a color temperature of 1500 K. That CFL you tried but hated because its light was too harsh was probably running at around 4500 K. LED bulbs marketed as incandescent replacements usually have a color temperature of 2700 K, which is equivalent to typical warm white incandescents. Another thing to note is the quality of a bulb’s light also depends on its color accuracy, also known as the color rendering index (CRI). The higher the bulb’s CRI, the more realistically it reveals colors. Incandescent lightbulbs have a CRI of 100, but most CFLs and LED bulbs have CRIs in the 80s right now…this will improve quickly though over this next year and most likely get to the 100 CRI within 12 months from now.
LED Lighting that is dimmable works acceptably with most newer switches with the best dimming to about 5 percent. If you need to install a new switch, we have the perfect ones from Legrand.
We also have all types of LED bulbs from the familiar A19-shaped bulb to the impressive vintage type ones.