Electricity is one of the most vital discoveries of this time. The way we have evolved and LED Lamps learned science is quite amusing as well as helped us to improve the standard of our living.
Ever since the discovery of electricity, the first form of product i.e the light bulb has been used ever since the foundation of new products such as the CFLs, HPS lights, and LED Lamps.
This is because the consumption of electricity is more than what could be produced and it is now important to resort to energy efficient products that could help us to save the electricity for the long run as well as save a major chunk of our electricity bills.
In this detailed post we would be doing a detailed post-mortem of the two most essential products that have been made until now, the LED vs the conventional bulbs.
LED Lamps vs Conventional Bulb
The conventional light bulb, also known as the incandescent light bulb was commercialized in 1878. It was one of the finest discoveries of mankind, the credit goes to none other than Thomas Edison.
In the conventional light bulb, the wire filament is heated at an extremely high temperature which results in glowing in the form of a visible light. The filament is protected from oxidation using a glass that is either filled with inert gas or vacuum.
Since the commercialization, the light bulb is still being used for different purposes such as home and security, brooding eggs in the poultry farm, heating reptile tanks etc.
Moving to the LED lights aka light emitting diode, it is a p-n junction diode which emits light when activated.
The LED’s were commercially successful in 1970’s and have been excessively using since then in manufacturing TV’s, traffic signals, automobile headlamps, grow lights, lighted wallpapers, advertising, camera flashes etc.
In conventional lamps, you can only have yellow light but in LED’s you can form different color light by inducing energy band gaps.
Till now, we have discussed the basics, it is now time to deep dive and knows about the pros and cons of each. Let’s start with the conventional lamps aka, incandescent light bulbs.
Conventional Lamps
Pros:
- They are highly affordable as the production cost is fairly cheap.
- They emit a good amount of heat. The reason being, only 5% of energy is converted into light.
- They require no external equipment for regulating the process.
- Conventional bulbs work equally well in either alternating current or direct current.
- Usage: home, offices, heating units etc
Cons:
- They consume more energy for converting into the light.
- Their life is fairly less i.e 10,000 hours
- Heat emitted could be a negative aspect when you are using the bulb in home and offices.
- More energy consumption means more electricity consumption.
LED Lights
The LED is one of the most evolved form of lighting till date. Now one could imagine that we would be able to achieve 80% efficiency in the form of LED lights. Although, the discovery of the light bulb was itself a big thing but as the time evolved the science evolved too. It was a need to discover an efficient, compact, robust and more advanced form of a lighting device which could truly bring a revolution in the industry and so did the LED lights.
Pros:
- Less energy consumption means less electricity bill.
- Fairly small in size.
- Can be made to emit different colored lights.
- Have a great lifespan of 2,00,000 hours.
- Physically robust
- Faster switching
Cons:
- It is expensive.
- Could degrade if used in higher temperature.
Conclusion:
Both LED and conventional lamps are still being used for different purpose. For eg: An LED cannot be used for brooding eggs. Similarly, you cannot use the incandescent bulb for an automobile as the heat emitted could harm someone.
Overall, it is preferred to choose the LED Lamps if you are using it for home and commercial purpose where the aim is lighting. Other than that, if you do not care about the heat and the energy efficiency, conventional bulbs are cheap and still work good in that condition.
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