Since more than 100 years we have
electric
lighting.
Incandescent bulbs were the first and are still used in many lamps,
especially
in our homes.Their light has a spectrum similar to natural sun light,
and is comfortable to the eyes. There are non-expensive dimming
solutions widely available in the market.
The latest development are the halogen lamps, especially used as spot
lights.
For
work
places fluorescent tubes have taken
over during the last 50 years; they carry the bulk of lighting for
public
buildings, offices, factories and warehouses.
Despite their environmental
problems, and their uncomfortable
light, these lamps are the first choice when looking for economic work
place lighting.
While
the
incandescent lights are being phased
out because of low efficiency, the compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) gain
the market. However, they come with the same problems as the
fluorescent tubes.
So, CFLs are not really a suitable replacement for incandescent lamps.
The
solution comes with a new technology which has grown up during the
recent years: Solid State or LED
Lighting
LEDs avoid all the environmental problems, their light can be
comparable to incandescent lamps, and their efficency beats the
fluorescent lamps by far. The prices for lighting LEDs are
still
rather high, but the advantages justify the price. Because of their low
energy consumption, even an economic advantage can be calculated, try this calculator of
Ledzworld.
On the long
run there is no alternative to LED Lighting.
The US Department Of Energy (DOE) has recognized the problem,
and - on
big
scale - supports solid state lighting.
