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LED lamps – lighting up a new era
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LED lamps have immense energy saving potential. But they are yet to become popular because of the cost factor and lack of awareness.
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– Photo: Nagara Gopal
New lights: LED-based home lights.
Replacing the estimated eight lakh “zero watt” incandescent lamps in use in Kerala with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps will amount to setting up a 9.11-mw power plant under the current circumstances, says Georgekutty Karianappally of Lifeway Solar, a company in India dealing in LED lamps.
Proper awareness and the will to change can give LED lamps their rightful place even as the world stares at energy crisis and global warming.
Advantages
The fact of their long life compared to conventional lighting devices, their low power consumption even comparing to CFL lamps now in vogue, low heat generation and their flexibility are rendering them darlings of a new lighting era.
Interior designers love them despite the current restrictions in design choices available and air-conditioning experts more than happily fall for them.
LED lamps hold great prospects for lighting public areas. Streets, lobbies, studios, showrooms, etc. can reap the 100 per cent benefits of this revolution in lighting technology.
Their impact is evident from gate lightings to cupboard and showcase lightings where their reliance on solar energy or flexibility and low power consumption make them capable of beating competition of the future.
LED lamps, however, are yet to make a conquest of households in the country. And that will come with the perfection of the LED lighting technology. Lack of awareness is a significant factor too.
A spokesman for a leading electrical dealership in Kochi said that LED lamps are moving quickly and the trend was encouraging with more and more people becoming aware of their advantages.
Good demand
LED lighting systems that come with full fixtures have been moving quickly too. For example, a full fixture gate lighting can cost upwards of Rs.8,500.
The cost may be a hindrance initially but the advantages they bring are obvious.
A LED lamp is a solid state lighting system that uses light emitting diodes as sources of illumination (when electric current passes through them) rather than filaments or gas.
With not too many local manufacturers, LED lamps now come mostly from China and have found a ready market in many sectors.
Cost factor
Mr. Georgekutty said that that a 2-w LED lamp can replace a 15-w incandescent lamp. The cost of the LED lamp is Rs.150 while that of the incandescent lamp is Rs.20. However, the LED lamp will run for 11 years whereas the incandescent lamp has a life of around 300 hours.
With about 15 per cent of the electricity produced in the country going into lighting, one can imagine the revolution that LED lamps can bring about in the country, said Mr. Georgekutty.
He says that he had reduced his electricity bill from Rs.10,400 to Rs.2,000 with LED lamps and solar energy.
That is no subtle hint for a State that is struggling to bridge its power gap.
K.A. MARTIN
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Property Plus
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Thiruvananthapuram
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