– by Lisa and Mike Dunsmuir, Step One Design –
Move over CFL … LED is here! All you sports fans can breathe a sigh of relief: I’m talking about compact fluorescent fixtures, not a major sports league.
Let me climb up on my pedestal for a moment. The lighting industry took a serious step backwards at the invention of the compact florescent light. Yes, energy efficient it is, but sadly it casts a truly horrible light, not to mention you would be done your job and out of the room by the time it actually powered up. I’m exaggerating, of course, but truly not a good thing in areas with little to no natural light (what happened to all that brouhaha in the ’80s about how nasty it is to work under florescent lights, and the next thing you know we are told to switch our light bulbs to CFL’s – never could figure this out!) So, get up, scan your house, remove every single CFL this very moment and rid yourself of this nasty dinosaur.
Thankfully, the lighting industry has made rapid strides forward with the advent of the LED (light emitting diode) bulb. If you have fixtures you rarely use, then stick with incandescent bulbs (more on this later) … but anything that you steadily use, seriously consider making the leap to into the 21st century.
I definitely go with LED lights wherever possible for all my customers and here’s why:
1. They burn cooler than halogens and CFLs. (No air conditioning? Think about LED’s to offset some of that heat.)
2. Yes … Truer light (see that note on buying cheap LED’s …)
3. They last 25,000 to 60,000 hours. No brainer here.
So, when looking for an LED bulb, look for one that is WARM white, 2,500 to 3, 000K. Also important: a high CRI index (between 0 to 100 is the index; anything closer to 100 will tend toward truer colour). Not all manufacturers post this info.
A key hint is to not buy cheap LED bulbs. You definitely pay for what you get. I do not purchase them from big box stores for just that reason, rather I like to frequent our local lighting stores. They are an investment. Also keep in mind that this is new technology, and therefore not perfected yet – for instance there is no substitute for halogen bulbs yet … I’m waiting anxiously for this one!
LEDs are going to massively change the world; when you think about it, a very small light diode can be placed anywhere! Not only will it have an impact on the environment but it will have a huge impact on our own lives. From a design standpoint, lighting design is going to be revolutionized … but from a function standpoint, we can’t even wrap our brains around it yet!
For more information visit www.steponedesign.ca.
