Nice LED page without the hype...

[skids]

As part of my hobby of hacking around with electronics, I happenned across this page by a non-vendor about LED lighting. I now consider it my authoritative reference on the subject. Just thought people might want to bookmark it. It's got some great assessments of some niches where LEDs work best, and regularly updated milestones in the development of the technology.

http://members.misty.com/don/ledx.html

(As an aside, as far as I can tell LED traffic lights/exit signs/etc are the big winner when it comes to energy saving with this tech, with flourescents beating it for other purposes. From googling around it seems that LED traffic light market penetration is somewhere between 15 and 25% at present, meaning there is still an estimated 250 to 500 MW of base-load capacity to be saved by upgrading traffic lights nationally. Of note, Maine is almost entirely upgraded already.)

[trotsky]

1. Nice page.

Lots of useful info. I've replaced almost all the nightlights in my home with LED models. A couple of them must have been made from inferior LEDs, though, as they got really dim within a few months of use.

[dcfirefighter]

2. I'll look into the site, but quick question:

Do you know of a particular LED technology that was introduced recently for use in streetlighting. I had an article on it, and lost it. Apparently they were touting the ability to focus public lighting exactly where it needed to go. As I recall it wasn't a convential LED but very similar.

[skids]

4. I haven't seen it, no.

Streetlights, being white, is an area where LEDs have to compete with flourescents. The site I linked does show that for night-vision white LEDs have an optimal color temperature, but so might the right flourescent. I suppose it boils down to power costs versus bulb durability/price/manufacturing carbon footprint and the focus issue. If the new 60 lumens per watt LEDs can make up for the missing 20 lumens per watt they lag flourescents by through focus, then it might be viable. (Those are visible lumens not theoretical physics lumens.)

[Old and In the Way]

3. Back / Brake lighting will be converted almost entirely to LEDs...

I suspect that we'll see LEDs replacing incandescent bulbs on a large scale soon.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. Dammit...

...now I've got to spend 3 hours following all the links. Some fascinating stuff in there...

Thanks :)