The next big thing in green lighting for homes it seems will be LEDs which can save up to 80 percent of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs.
The next big thing in green lighting for homes it seems will be LEDs which can save up to 80 percent of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs.
According to Berry Everitt, managing director of Chas Everitt International property group, they can save up to 50 percent of electricity used by compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).
He says LEDs cost more initially, priced between R200 and R300 for an 8W LED bulb (equivalent to a 60W incandescent), but they also last much longer.
LEDs have a lifetime of up to 50 000 hours in continuous operation, compared to about 1 200 hours for an incandescent bulb and 10 000 hours for a CFL and given their energy efficiency, will very rapidly pay for themselves, he explains.
“Homeowners appreciate the fact that LEDs light up instantly, don’t flicker, generate a better colour light than fluorescents and can be used with dimmer-switches.”
Everitt notes that LED lighting is a proven technology that's been in widespread use since the 1960s.
Traffic lights, electronic instruments and other devices rely on LEDs, and because they are so energy efficient, they have long been used in places where lights are switched on for an extended period of time such as restaurants, office blocks and parking lots, he says.
Now LED lights are rapidly gaining popularity in homes too, probably because they are more readily available in formats that enable homeowners to simply replace their old incandescents or CFLs in ordinary bayonet and screw-in bulb-holders.
He adds that LEDs do not contain hazardous materials such as the mercury found in CFLs and fluorescent tubes, which have to be handled very carefully and properly disposed of when they stop working in order to prevent mercury from poisoning landfills.
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