Now I come to the part of the green building wave that I am really excited about-light emitting diode (LED) lighting. I regard LED bulbs as one of the best opportunities-in terms both of energy conservation and investment opportunity- in this green revolution.
LEDs come in many shapes and sizes, but they all work in basically the same way. They all have a dome to cover the light and two leads to connect to current. Besides the obvious differences in size and shape, an LED and the common light bulb work differently. An incandescent bulb glows when current is applied because of a high amount of electrical resistance in the titanium bridge (wire) within the bulb. Energy is given off as heat and visible light. An LED only passes electricity one way and glows when the electrons make the semiconductor crystals get excited and give off a high degree of visible light called photons.
LED bulbs are even more efficient in terms of energy than CFL bulbs, and the light that they provide is more pleasing. However, LED bulbs are very expensive at the time of this writing and many people will balk at the initial cost of over $10.00 for single light bulb. However, LED lamps are more flexible than CFL bulbs in the fact that they work well on dimmers and come in many more sizes than CFL bulbs.
