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Monday, August 22, 2011


Wikipedia : Light-Emitting Diode (LED)
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) use 90% less electricity than their domestic incandescent light bulb equivalents.

The prices of LEDs have fallen dramatically due to massive new production in China and their increased used in televisions, car headlights and other domestic appliances. LEDs are becoming far more widely available, and cheaper, but remain expensive as they are still not made in large quantities and require metal heat sinks, or fans, to assist with the shedding of the diodes' accumulated heat, which would otherwise reduce efficiency.

According to Treehugger, GE has recently developed LED alternatives to 60W, 75W and 100W domestic incandescent light bulbs.

The following Wikipedia entry for Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) is well worth reading if you would like to find out more.

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source.[1] LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962,[2] early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness.

When a light-emitting diode is forward biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern.[3] LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and reliability. LEDs powerful enough for room lighting are relatively expensive and require more precise current and heat management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output.

Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as replacements for aviation lighting, automotive lighting (particularly brake lamps, turn signals and indicators) as well as in traffic signals. The compact size, the possibility of narrow bandwidth, switching speed, and extreme reliability of LEDs has allowed new text and video displays and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are also useful in advanced communications technology. Infrared LEDs are also used in the remote control units of many commercial products including televisions, DVD players, and other domestic appliances.

Read more here...

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