What is LED lighting?

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, and is seen as the light system of today and the future.

LEDs can be seen as the successors of light bulbs. Light bulbs have the disadvantage that after some time the filament burns out. This is different with LEDs, because they do not use a filament.

LEDs convert the power directly into light. This way, less power is consumed. The wire must glow first with a normal lamp. Another advantage is the much longer lifetime of LEDs. An LED can burn for more than ten years without breaking down.

The advantages of LEDs:

• Energy-efficient: lots of light with a minimum of energy.
• Extremely long lifetime (20,000-100,000 hours)
• LEDs are virtually impossible to break down and are resistant to vibration, as they lack a delicate filament.
• Can handle differences in temperature.
• Lenses can be used to ‘play’ with the light beam from an LED. For example, one can make the beam wider or smaller.

Disadvantages (especially for ‘older’ LEDs):

• The colour of the light tends to blue