The LED Revolution

Here's what Comsumer report had to say about christmas lighting, the most common type of LED use around the home:

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Get full access to Ratings and recommendations on appliances, cars & trucks, electronic gear, and much more. Subscribe today to ConsumerReports.org. December 2007 Holiday lights: Incandescent vs. LED Is it a bright idea to use LED lights for the holidays? We compared LED and incandescent bulbs in three sizes-mini, C7, and C9-determining how much it cost to light strings totaling 50 feet for 300 hours. We also exposed the bulbs to moisture, hot and cold temperatures, and UV light, and sent each type of bulb to an independent lab that measures brightness.

Price. It's a toss-up. Per string, LEDs can be a bit more expensive than incandescents. The C7 and C9 sets we bought had the same number of bulbs as incandescents, but the LED were shorter (16.7 feet vs. 25 feet), so we needed three strings for a 50-foot wrap, vs. two incandescent strings. As a result, it cost $30 to $40 more to wrap a tree in C7 and C9 LEDs. Mini LED strings we tested were the same length as incandescents (25 feet) but cost $6 more.

Energy use and costs. LEDs won. They used 1 to 3 kilowatt hours of energy, compared with 12 to 105 kWh for the incandescents, saving $1 to $11.

Durability. LEDs won. All LED bulbs were working even after 4,000-plus hours, while each string of incandescents had one or more bulbs burn out before 2,000 hours. The LED bulbs we bought were also plastic and therefore less likely to break than the glass incandescents.

Brightness. Incandescents won. The C9 and C7 incandescents were five to six times brighter than the LEDs, though the mini incandescents were slightly dimmer than the mini LEDs.

CR's take. LEDs are better for the environment; run much cooler, reducing fire risk; should last longer; and could save money eventually. But it's apt to take more than one holiday season for the savings to kick in, and you might not realize any savings if payback takes more than three 90-day seasons. As a rule, you shouldn't use decorative lights longer than that.


For 50 feet of stringing, 300 hours of light

	Mini-size		C7 size		C9 size
	Incand.	LED	Incand.	LED	Incand.	LED
Strings needed	2	2	2	3	2	3
Number of bulbs	100	140	50	75	50	75
Purchase price	$14	$20	$20	$48	$22	$60
Operating cost	$1.30	$0.30	$8	$0.14	$11	$0.14

Based on national average of about 11 cents per kilowatt hour.

I agree that most new construction should/will incorporate LEDs into their construction. The overall savings should be considerable.

I have to agree that low voltage LED lighting would be very advantageous and provide a huge power reduction.....

I recently installed new track lighting with 10- 8W LED PAR30 bulbs daylight white with 650 lumens each. Of course it's powered-up with 120 VAC. I wish it was low voltage DC.....but the CREE bulbs have a 40,000 hour lifespan, which is good enough for moi, as the power consumption is going to be remarkable as compared to the 5 - 100W old incandescent bulbs they're replacing!

BTW: The light intensity is incredible on the kitchen countertops. Thank goodness that I installed a new Lutron digital dimmer switch to tone down the light level somewhat.

I ended up 'discovering' CR4. by accessing LED suppliers when I was considering opening an LED lighting store front.

I gave up that idea when, after much research into LED lighting supply sources, I found out that LED light fixtures of all types were priced at 2-5 times the price of standard incandescent light fixtures, even tho the only difference was the LED bulb itself. Even the wiring was the same size because the LED bulbs had such small amperage requirements.

I'm assuming the present high prices for LED lighting fixtures is caused by low market demand and will change sometime in the unforseeable future.

Actually low voltage wiring is used all around us, but unfortunately, they are used to power incandescant lamps. It is found in outdoor lighting, marine use and in recreational vehicles, like house trailers and of course in our cars and trucks.

Retrofitting a house for LED lighting would be as simple as attaching a pressure sensitive tape with small diameter wires embeded onto the wall or ceiling surface and painting over it. In new construction, wires could be taped in place and covered over with joint compound. I believe such a wire embeded tape exists, but can't recall where it is used. Low voltage wiring would be safe, presenting no fire danger. Think about the savings in expensive copper. Conventional 110V wiring would only be needed in areas where appliances, like washers, dryers, refrigerators are used.

seems like it would be a lot easier just to screw an LED bulb into the existing light fixtures...