Why is the mark up in the states so high compaired to the overseas prices of LED components?

Because its new to the U.S., GREED inflaits the price and slows the progress as usual!!!!

Generally most white leds are blue with an orange-yellow phosphor. They tend to do a mediocre job illuminating red and green objects.

I think the Red+Green+Blue method could work better, though it probably will be less efficient.

To be fair though, most high CRI tubes tend to have less light output than cheap ones. This is mostly due to the fact that lumens are weighted to a model of the human eye, where yellow and green are picked up much brighter than red and blue.

This is the reason the orange sodium street lamps are so efficient.

I have to strongly disagree with everyone who thinks incandescent lamps should be banned, though.

1. Incandescent bulbs are very good in extreme conditions. You can’t use LED or fluorescent in an oven, and they respond very differently to cold temperatures. A standard bulb is fine in the cold. Fluorescents are hard to start, and give less light until they warm up. LEDs generally get brighter, and white ones tend to give more blue light, while the yellow light from the phosphor doesn’t increase to the same degree. CFLs (and presumably leds) shouldn’t be used in enclosed lights, because the heat build up kills the electrolytic caps that are usually in their switching circuits (in the power supply section)

2. Incandescent bulbs are a linear load, and can be built to operate at the correct voltage, without an additional power supply. (Lots of loss in the supplies/regulators, generally)

3. Incandescent bulbs take much less energy to produce. A typical bulb is about 1kWh to build IIRC, conservatively, a cfl is 10 times that. LED’s probably similar, due to supporting electronics.

4. CFLs are bad where they’re frequently turned on/off for short durations. (Bathroom light, etc) They often give poor light for a short time, and their lifespans are usually quite poor when they’re used this way.

5. Mercury (for CFL) I’m not going to get all alarmist about this one.. The amount is small, but still worth keeping in mind.

6. LED, and Fluorescent tend to flicker. (Especially led) The phosphors can be made slower which tends to help with fluorescent, but with LED there’s still going to be some colour dependent flicker, since the blue light is flickering, even if the phosphor isn’t.
A smoothed DC supply will give better light, but will add extra power loss, and noise.

I could go on forever, but I think the point is clear. High efficiency lighting is awesome, and everyone should use it where it’s appropriate, but banning incandescent is a really bad idea. Also, my apartment has electric heat, so any energy “savings” in the winter is completely null. My heating will go up an equivalent amount, and environmentally speaking, it’s worse, since energy is required to produce the “energy saving” stuff.

damn press releases:(

ENERGY SAVERS lighting upgrade audits provide an in-depth look at your current lighting system. We
• Count and identify the type of fixtures that are
currently in every room and area of the facility.
• Provide wattage information and light level
data showing over or under illumination in
every area of the facility.
• Identify areas that need new fixture design or simple retrofits.
• Provide before and after wattage per fixture type, and the annual savings of each type.
Our energy audits determine what lighting fixtures will best suit your needs. We provide a comprehensive break down of current lighting fixtures, the lighting fixtures we recommend, and the expected savings on energy costs to you after implementation of new energy efficient lighting fixtures.

By doing a thorough audit of the facility it is not unusual to estimate energy savings at well over 50% of the kW used and give you a much brighter and healthier facility.

• Obtain an accurate representation of the existing ballast & lamp types; room, fixture and fixture placement measurements; light levels; and an accounting of other related existing conditions such as wall, floor and ceiling colors (to establish reflectance estimates where an increase or decrease in existing light levels may be recommended) and any pre-existing damage to surfaces, rugs, lenses, etc.
• Recommend appropriate preliminary “go to” measures. This information provides a baseline for the project design work.
• Define baselines for existing and proposed annual hours of use. This includes interviews with building managers, maintenance people and users. It often results in engineered improvements that would not be obvious with a simple audit.
• Reconcile the lighting annual usage with the facility’s total electricity usage. ES has established guidelines for most building types.
• Measure the actual RMS watts of a fair sample of the existing circuits.
• ES’s experienced sales people, engineers and project managers are available to discuss your specific lighting needs. Request a lighting audit. We will show you how to cut costs, boost profits and enhance your working environment.
Audit Cost

A complete audit costs 3 cents a square foot, plus travel expenses. The cost for an audit will be quickly made up in energy cost savings if the suggestions are implemented.

Street lamps switched to LED would cost MORE energy. Street lamps are mostly sodium lamps (yellowish) and they are more efficient than LEDs.

And the idea of switching the whole house to 12vdc is also not particularly smart. It would decrease the efficiency of appliances, and increase the internal wire losses (there is a reason why overhead high voltage lines are in fact very high voltage).

And the idea to legally mandate the end of the incandescent is also stupid. LEDs wont work as oven lights, wont work in high quality photography, and other specialty situations.

Using Red-Green-Blue LEDs to simulate white light is also not as efficient as using “white” LEDs. Case in point, the 130 lumens/watt at the top of this article is for a “white” LED, not a Red, not a Green.

Their cost analysis shows that each LED replacement lamps pays for itself in approx 3.3 years.

2- These PWM devices can very efficiently provide dimming funcionality.

3 – Lighting companies are mixing LEDs to get the color temperature they want. Add in some amber, blue, red, even UV for effect.

4 – Hey, LED means much less mercury. Compact Flours contain Hg. Incands introduce about the same (studies show) from the additional coal burn required to power them.

LEDs last longer use less energy and introduce considerably less Hg into the soil/atmosphere.

Sign me up!

Regards,
Michael Dick