Comment I'm an actual LED-lighting user, and disappointed (Score 1) 685
Our University moved to a new campus a few years ago, and the architectural firm tossed in some LED lighting. I thought it would be efficient and trendy, and I wanted to see first-hand how it performed (hey - I'm an engineer :-) ).
The result: Disappointment :-(
You know those air-deflectors on the back of cars, with an LED-third-taillight, and how many of them seem to have a few dead LED's? Well, that's what our trendy-and-cool LED lighting is like, now.
Each fixture was comprised of about 10 individual white (ish) LED's, and I am estimating that about 50% are not working now, after only 3 years!
Sure, I've done Mil-Std 217 reliability calculations, and I understand that the operating-life *expectancy* for these LED components is high, but it's just not translating into reality. Maybe the manufacturing (of the finished-product) degrades the individual LED's... I don't know.
I just know that the light is harsh, the cost is high, the actual life is low.
My experience with CFL's mirrors that of some other posters: short life, even from the late-90's through 'til now.
So, I am resisting "green-wash", and I buy partly based on TCO (total cost of ownership), which is largely based on purchase-price, and operating-cost, and partly based on light-quality. In most cases, tungsten-filament wins out.
Just my $0.02 at the end of 2008.
The result: Disappointment
You know those air-deflectors on the back of cars, with an LED-third-taillight, and how many of them seem to have a few dead LED's? Well, that's what our trendy-and-cool LED lighting is like, now.
Each fixture was comprised of about 10 individual white (ish) LED's, and I am estimating that about 50% are not working now, after only 3 years!
Sure, I've done Mil-Std 217 reliability calculations, and I understand that the operating-life *expectancy* for these LED components is high, but it's just not translating into reality. Maybe the manufacturing (of the finished-product) degrades the individual LED's... I don't know.
I just know that the light is harsh, the cost is high, the actual life is low.
My experience with CFL's mirrors that of some other posters: short life, even from the late-90's through 'til now.
So, I am resisting "green-wash", and I buy partly based on TCO (total cost of ownership), which is largely based on purchase-price, and operating-cost, and partly based on light-quality. In most cases, tungsten-filament wins out.
Just my $0.02 at the end of 2008.