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LED Technology
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Over the past decade, the advancements in light emitting diode (LED) technology
have resulted in the broad use of LED lights for many of the applications that were
historically handled by their incandescent predecessors. The traditional, incandescent
light bulb glows as electricity heats a metal thread inside of a sealed glass bulb
(filament) to approximately 3,000 degrees Kelvin. This is not very energy efficient
- 98% of the energy used by incandescent bulbs is in generating heat, not light.
The wide acceptance of LED light technology has increased rapidly as LED lights
have proven to be superior to incandescent bulbs in both efficiency and longevity.
Typical LED lights have a lifetime of up to 100,000 hours or more without generating
heat. Also, they are generally far more resistant to physical trauma than incandescent
or fluorescent lights.
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Electric current flows from the anode (+ side) to the cathode (- side). Charge carriers
– electrons and holes – flow into the junction. When an electron meets a hole, it
falls into a lower energy level, and releases energy in the form of a photon.
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LED
= light emitting diode
100,000
= life of one LED, in hours
Bright
= white light for superior viewing
Cool
= generates light, not heat
Safe
= LED bulbs contain no Mercury
Efficient
= 5x more efficient than incandescent
Durable
= solid state components
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