LED Light bulbs and Preppers

[Hogleg]

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.

[The Stig]

Good post...I've made the switch to all LEDs in my weapons and handheld lights. Damn expensive but well worth it for all the reasons you mentioned.

[Sniper-T]

I'm doing the slow change-over. as regular ones burn out, the get replaced by LED's

[Kodiak]

I'm doing the slow change-over. as regular ones burn out, the get replaced by LED's

Same

[izzyscout21]

I can't bring myself to do it.............yet. It's like cheating on an old friend. I knox the old school bulbs suck, but they've always been there for me..........and taken a ^%^& when I needed them most. We've bonded.

[realist]

I like the floresent tubes that we all have to buy now to potect the environment, that is until we throw them out, then we get to put mercury into our landfills which goes into our ground which goes into our food.......

LEDs are great. All my guns and flashlights are now LEDs. I only wish they would come down more in price. I am looking at building cabin which will have solar and I hope to install all the lighting with LEDs. I would say that the 20 year life span is what keeps the price up. They are more than worth the price.

[hank2222]

The cabin lighting system is led light's and i really like the fact that i'm cut out alot of the socalled wasted power drawn from the cabin battery bank

[ak474u]

My plan is to have a battery bank on the next house with a can light in each room that is on a dedicated circuit so I can have emergency lighting powered by solar for the house. I'm not interested in a full-solar house unless it's actually built ground-up with that in mind so LED lights are definitely in my future. I've done a few in lamps that I don't need a ton of light from.

[mollypup]

LED lights are great, but they sure do suck in an easybake oven!

[Sniper-T]

LED lights are great, but they sure do suck in an easybake oven!

more like a slow-cooker?