Hogleg
10-19-2011, 09:21 AM
LED Light Bulbs are here and they will make a difference for all of us.
I was in Home Depot today and the shelves are full. They are still expensive, but already HD had sales and markdowns. GE has been running TV advertising about LED bulbs as well.
Everyone who has purchased a flashlight in the last few years has seen LED lights. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, which is a fancy term for a different type of energy to light transfer device.
A traditional light bulb wastes up to75% of its energy creating heat and not light. That is why when you touch one its hot. So that 100 watt bulb is really more like a 75 watt furnace.
LED light bulbs don’t get hot. They use almost all of their energy creating light rather than wasted heat. This is why LED flashlights last so much longer, with the same batteries, than traditional bulbs.
So what does the arrival of LED light bulbs mean to us Preppers?
Well, to begin with, they last up to 20 years, so in a post-TEOTWAWKI life, we don’t have to worry so much about burning out bulbs.
Secondly, they take a lot less electric energy to deliver the same light, so they will not tap solar or wind powered systems as much.
Finally, if every bulb in the USA was an LED, we would need to import significantly less oil, and so the chances of TEOTWAWKI are not as likely.
Their price still prevents me from switching out all the bulds in the house, but with the sales I saw, its getting close. We all should keep an eye on this technology.
I was in Home Depot today and the shelves are full. They are still expensive, but already HD had sales and markdowns. GE has been running TV advertising about LED bulbs as well.
Everyone who has purchased a flashlight in the last few years has seen LED lights. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, which is a fancy term for a different type of energy to light transfer device.
A traditional light bulb wastes up to75% of its energy creating heat and not light. That is why when you touch one its hot. So that 100 watt bulb is really more like a 75 watt furnace.
LED light bulbs don’t get hot. They use almost all of their energy creating light rather than wasted heat. This is why LED flashlights last so much longer, with the same batteries, than traditional bulbs.
So what does the arrival of LED light bulbs mean to us Preppers?
Well, to begin with, they last up to 20 years, so in a post-TEOTWAWKI life, we don’t have to worry so much about burning out bulbs.
Secondly, they take a lot less electric energy to deliver the same light, so they will not tap solar or wind powered systems as much.
Finally, if every bulb in the USA was an LED, we would need to import significantly less oil, and so the chances of TEOTWAWKI are not as likely.
Their price still prevents me from switching out all the bulds in the house, but with the sales I saw, its getting close. We all should keep an eye on this technology.