Few people can have escaped noticing that conventional incandescent lighting is rapidly being phased out and that the preferred (over Compact Fluorescent Lamps) alternative is LED, which is widely regarded as the way forward to a environmentally friendly, low cost lighting future. The question though is: where to start?

One option might be to purchase LED equivalent bulbs for all the various lights you currently have but I would caution against that approach. Not only would it turn out to a rather expensive exercise, but you it also greatly increases your chances of having the end result turn out rather badly.

Getting to grips with LED lighting doesn’t happen overnight – this is a completely different technology to incandescent lighting and requires a bit of getting used to before you can get it just right for your own needs. But stick with it and the end result is superior quality lighting that also happens to save massively on electricity costs.

Accordingly, you ought to pick a location that you planned on refurbishing anyway or that otherwise uses a great deal of lighting (either lots of lights, or lights left on a lot). The likelihood that you will quickly notice a difference in operating costs (and also light quality of course) will be thus enhanced.

It’s important to get off to a good start in this way as it will encourage you to then take another step further towards the final goal of switching totally from incandescent to LED. For many, if not most, people then it is the kitchen that invariably matches these criteria – it typically has a lot of lights that get used a lot and refurbishing the lighting provides a relatively cheap makeover.

It is common these days to find large numbers of halogen spots either recessed or track mounted in kitchens. The quantity of electricity that these turn into waste heat (rather than light) is staggering yet the solution really is as simple as removing the halogen lamps and retrofitting LED lights specified to deliver the same level of luminosity. For MR16 low voltage lamps you also need to replace the 12 volt transformers with an LED driver, but for GU10 LED bulbs that run on mains voltage that’s it.

The same holds true for concealed lighting tucked under, above or inside cabinets as these too can be replaced with LED strips or mini spots. This is also a great opportunity to add lighting whilst you’re at it since LED strip lighting is easy to install, lightweight, and is packaged in a variety of forms that can be trimmed or joined as required. LED lighting to accent covings, plinths and set into kickboards to illuminate the floor are all popular techniques.

There are 3 main points to bear in mind when considering LED lighting.

1. Quality. There is no point whatever in buying low quality LED lights – they won’t produce the light levels you need, won’t last and won’t really save you much. Expect to pay a relatively high price (10-20 that of a regular bulb) for an LED that will do the job properly and bring in very significant savings over time. Branded products like Cree or Zenigata for example. Don’t forget, if you want a cheap purchase price you can always stick with incandescent bulbs – just don’t moan about the exorbitant electricity bill.

2. Cost. The real cost of lighting is the price of the bulb(s) plus the cost of the electricity. Over say 50,000 hours, a regular 50 watt halogen bulb will need to be replaced 25 times and cost 1,000 times the price of the bulb in electricity. An equivalent LED will require no replacement and cost much the same to run over all that time as it costs to buy. So over 50,000 hours the true cost of a $20 LED is likely to work out at (20 + 20) $40 and that of a $1 halogen at ((1 * 25) + (1 * 1000)) $1025.

3. Usage. LED lighting is most effective if you use multiple light sources of varying intensity and color ranges. Although very bright, they tend not to project light as far as incandescent lights do, so one of the most common ways to resolve these characteristics is to simply reflect the light off a nearby surface. This produces a diffuse light that fills the space and neatly kills two birds with one stone.

For further information check out these articles that examine the subjects of GU10 LED and 12v lighting in greater detail.

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