Light-emitting diodes (LED’s) have been used in indicator lights and signage for many years now, but have more recently made their way into the commercial and residential construction markets as an energy efficient alternative to standard incandescent and fluorescent lamps. The LED brings with it many advantages as they produce little heat, have high light output per watt, and are an environmentally friendly option because they do not contain mercury as fluorescent lamps do. The life of an LED has been reported between 35,000 and 50,000 hours(compare toa fluorescent lampat 10,000 to 15,000 hours), and are a "clean" mercury-free technology. However, it is critical to understand the science and specialconsiderations of LED’s in order to maximize their potential.
Our presentation is broken down into four short sections: 1) What is an LED and how does it work?; 2) LED Applications in Architecture; 3) How to Specify LED products; and 4) LED’s and Their Future Potential.
The technology is rapidly evolving and will prove to be the answer to lessening the labor required for building maintenance, lowering energy costs for building owners, and most importantly, decreasing energy consumption on a global scale, thus contributing to the continuous efforts of making our world more efficient, more environmentally aware, more green. |
