A new green way to light up your house is fast becoming the norm for homeowners. They are called LED lights and the new technology that runs them is cleaner and greener.
"It emits very little heat. It's very soft and warm to the touch. It's much more efficient light." Phil Watson, a lighting expert, says LEDs are the next big thing.
"We're told that in the next five to ten years it will be the dominant lighting," explains Watson. LED stands for light emitting diode. It's a kind of wafer like computer chip you sometimes see in newer street lights and traffic signals. "Incandescent light has a filament in it. LEDs do not. They are just flat chips."
While these lights are a little more expensive now, the payoff comes in energy savings. "The average led today is estimated to have a life of 50,000 hours." That means leaving the LED's on for four hours a day will give you 45 years of light...but they are not quite ready for all of your lighting needs.
"They're not decorative, so you wouldn't want to put them in a chandelier unless you had a cover over them like a shade."And as for using LED's for your Christmas lights... "You don't have any heat if you are using a live Christmas tree. You are not generating any heat and they are a very long life."
(c)JUSTIN COOPER
