Author: Lucien Beauley
Lighting Facts...I Wanna Know !
Each one of us, at one time or another has either driven or been a passenger in an automobile and experienced our traffic control lighting system. Originally unique, but now part of a global system.
Situated at every fully functional traffic light intersection is at least one "Red" light which is timed to turn on and off regularly to "Stop" traffic. It employs a 100 Watt(varies between 90 and 120 Watts)incandescent light bulb. Several years ago, these light bulbs began being replaced with the latest LED(Light Emitting Diode) cluster assemblies, as were the other lamps at the same intersection. The newer Led lamps consumed only 10 Watts to accomplish the same light output(mostly greater). The clincher ! The original incandescent bulb only radiates approximately 10 % of the power consumed in visible light. The other 90 % is radiated as "heat". And with the red filter used on the original assembly to only let through the RED color needed for the "stop" function, another 30 % of the original visible portion of the light is lost, so that only about 7 % of the 100 Watts of power consumed to light the lamp is visible(to the human eye). The real clincher is that our local taxes to pay the utilities have been calculated for the 100 Watt consumption for each bulb( when it is turned on ) and only getting 7 % of the light. We
town citizens and tax payers have been paying for the 93 % wasted as invisible heat for several decades.
Leds, on the other hand, are a different breed of lighting technology and do not radiate light in the form of heat( unless designed specifically for that purpose ) and the Red Led assembly cluster which replaces the original traffic light bulb needs no red filter because it radiates a "pure" Red light. Granted, the initial cost for this lamp cluster
assembly is still higher, but when we consider the LED lamp "life" estimated to be 100,000 hours and therefore lower replacement along with labor cost, the pay-back is quick and fairly permanent. These benefits are not even considering the ongoing 90 % energy cost savings.
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Some Quick Mind Twisters(Awaikeners)
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To shatter an LED lamp would require more than 1,000 G's of impact force !
To shatter an incandescent lamp would only require less than 10 G's
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The time it takes for an incandescent light to turn on(to its maximum brightness)is about 1/10 of a second.
It takes much less than 1/1,000,000 of a second for the LED to accomplish the same thing and a generally accepted Led spec.. One might say , "who cares" ? Well, when Led lighting is used for an automobile brakelight, 1/10 of a second greater reaction time can mean the difference between stopping in time, or a collision, with possible severe injury to some, or all of the occupants.
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