LED (which stands for light emitting diode) is a new form of lighting that offers immense benefits to the user and the environment.dab5d63ck Replacement bulbs of all types are now available and generally fit right back into the same socket as they were removed from.

Unlike conventional forms of lighting, LED doesn't burn a filament inside the bulb for its brightness. This burning causes heat and a majority of the energy used to power traditional lights is wasted by this heat generation.

Does the latest generation of energy-saving light bulbs really save energy?

A major study conducted by Osram, the giant German lighting company, provides evidence that they do. Until the release of the report Dec 2009 the answer remained unclear because no one knew if the production of LED lamps required more energy than needed for standard incandescent bulbs. If more energy were used in the manufacturing and distribution process, then the lighting industry would be harming not helping CO2 production.

To calculate what is known as a Life Cycle Assessment of LED lamps, Osram compared nearly every aspect of the manufacturing process, including the energy used in manufacturing the lamps in Asia and Europe, then packaging them, and transporting them to Germany for sale.

Now back to saving money...

One of the easiest things to do is get yourself into the habit of turning off appliances and lights that aren't in use. This seems obvious, but do a simple experiment of your house one night. Are the kids leaving the lights on even when they aren't in the room? Is someone taking off to go to the shops or play outside while the TV continues playing in the living room?

While you're checking out light usage, look at the wattage of the bulbs you use in the lamps and overhead lights. You can probably go down a few watts: say, from 75 to 60 without noticing it too dramatically.

But switch to LED and suddenly you can go from a 50-watt halogen bulb to a 5 or 7-watt model with very similar light output.

There is very little heat generated by LED too... (typically halogen bulbs can reach temperatures up to 320 C and have been known to cause countless fires).

This means after the switch to LED you can run AIR CONDITIONING at lower speed and higher temperatures saving even more money and CO2 gases.

If you have Halogen lights chances are you have around 50 installed in the average sized 3-bedroom house. If these run daily for around 5 hours they will cost you around $820.00 per year to run (based on a conservative rate of 0.18c per kwh). If you switched these same lights to LED they would cost you around $88 per year to run- but the real benefit is the savings over their lifetime.Typically LED runs for 50 000 hrs- that's about 12 years of savings before replacement - or about $5850 in this example.