Why are LED Lights so Popular?

Over the past few years, you’ve likely noticed that many things from cars, to flashlights, to home lighting have switched to using LED lights. You may have even noticed that many of our newest dome projects are using LED lighting systems. We’re even retrofitting older bubbles with LEDs. But why are you seeing LED lights everywhere nowadays?

The world relied on incandescent lighting for many years, but technologies change over time and we now have something better. The light emitting diode (or LED) format offers a more efficient and effective type of lighting. Initially quite expensive, the technology has come down considerably in price and has largely replaced its outdated predecessor. Incandescent bulbs typically waste 80-90% of their energy as heat, rather than light. The other game in town, Contact Fluorescent Lamps, also doesn’t measure up, wasting as much as 80%.

While some products that promise improvements fail to deliver (remember New Coke?), LED has only grown in popularity because consumers and businesses see the obvious improvements. Using about 75% less energy than the competition, LED makes good financial sense but also offers other appealing features.

Homes

LED offers a number of options that help you attain the sort of lighting that both compliments your home and provides comfortable illumination for your family. You can choose from various colour temperatures that provide different types of light, including soft and warm, neutral, or cool white.

LEDs are also more stylish, which makes planning your living space more satisfying. You can even buy LED lights already integrated into the fixture, greatly increasing your design choices. That certainly beats a plain, old-fashioned light fixture hung from the ceiling.

Cars

Incandescent bulbs were standard on cars for years, but LED is gaining in popularity, and for good reason. LED lights tend to be brighter and have a faster response time. This is especially important when you are braking. A fraction of a second may not seem like much, but it can be the difference between a safe stop and an accident. As LED draws less current than incandescent, they also put less strain on the turn signal system. LED also has a longer lifespan, which saves you money in the end. The recently introduced LED Plasma lights are even brighter.

You can also install LED lights in different colors in your front grill or on the underbody of the vehicle (known as underglow), to very cool effect!

Stadium and Dome Lighting

Metal halide lights are much slower than LED. Getting metal halide lights going again after a power failure often requires a wait of at least ten minutes. Can you imagine having to stop a football game where one team is on a roll and attempting a comeback? Their momentum could be completely lost by the time the lights are back on. This is not a problem for LED, which fire up instantly.

This aspect of LED not only benefits the players, but also allows stadiums to offer more elaborate and entertaining light shows during halftime. Not to mention the reduced energy cost of LED also makes such displays more affordable. LEDs are also much lower maintenance—a big deal for domes where the lights can be hard to reach!