Green Promise Seen in Switch to LED Lighting
To change the bulbs in the 60-foot-high ceiling lights of Buckingham Palace's grand stairwell, workers had to erect scaffolding and cover precious portraits of royal forebears.
So when a
lightingdesigner two years ago proposed
installing light emitting diodes or LEDs, an emerging
lighting technology, the royal family readily assented. The new lights, the
designer said, would last more than 22 years and
enormously reduce energy
consumption and carbon
dioxide emissions - a big plus for Prince Charles, an
ardent environmentalist. Since then, the palace has
installed the
lighting in chandeliers and on the
exterior, where illuminating the entire facade uses less
electricity than running an electric teakettle.
In shifting to LED
lighting, the palace is part of a small but fast-growing trend that is redefining the century-old
conception of
lighting, replacing energy-wasting disposable bulbs with
efficient fixtures that are often semi-permanent, like those used in plumbing.
Studies suggest that a complete
conversion to the lights could decrease carbon
dioxide emissions from electric power use for
lighting by up to 50 percent in just over 20 years; in the United States,
lighting accounts for about 6 percent of all energy use. A recent report by McKinsey & Company cited
conversion to LED
lighting as potentially the most cost effective of a number of simple approaches to tackling global
warming using existing technology.
LED
lighting was once relegated to basketball scoreboards, cellphone consoles, traffic lights and colored Christmas lights. But as a result of rapid developments in the technology, it is now poised to become common on streets and in buildings, as well as in homes and offices. Some American cities, including Ann Arbor, Mich., and Raleigh, N.C., are using the lights to
illuminate streets and parking garages, and dozens more are exploring the technology. And the
lighting now adorns the conference rooms and bars of some Renaissance hotels, a
corridor in the Pentagon and a new green building at Stanford.
LEDs are more than twice as
efficient as
compact fluorescent bulbs, currently the standard for greener
lighting. Unlike
compact fluorescents, LEDs turn on quickly and are compatible with dimmer
switches. And while fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, which requires special
disposal, LED bulbs contain no toxic elements, and last so long that
disposal is not much of an issue.
The
switch to LEDs is
proceeding far more rapidly than experts had predicted just two years ago. President Obama's
stimulus package, which offers money for "green" infrastructure investment, will
accelerate that pace, experts say. San Jose, Calif., plans to use $2 million in energy-efficiency grants to
install 1,500 LED streetlights.
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