Bench Talk

In my role I get to try out lots of cool things.

However, some of the favorite things that I get to try out are the most practical.

Several years ago the U.S. Congress and the President adopted the Energy Independence and Security Act. The goal of this legislation was an effort to move the country to becoming more environmentally friendly.

As a result of this legislation incandescent bulbs would be phased out over time.

Now the incandescent bulb has been around a long time and is a well-known and ubiquitous lighting element in people’s lives.

Because of this legislation I wanted to install a couple of as LED light bulbs as they came to market. I desired to use them every day in normal household or work circumstances so that I could see how they functioned over time.

I got my hands on two LED bulbs that I installed into two small desk lamps that I use every day. One lamp is located at home and one lamp is located at work. One has a CCT of about 3000K (warm) and the other a CCT of about 4500K (neutral). I have been using these LED bulbs every day over the past three years (> 1,000 days).

How have they worked?

I loved them!

The light they produce does not strain my eyes. This is often a problem since so much office light is fluorescent-based. I find it hard to read without eyestrain for long in this type of environment. Additionally they have not failed. We all know the claims of lifetime of 50,000 hours MTTF of many of the manufactures. This is at least an order of magnitude better than incandescent bulbs (1,000 hours MTTF). Even though I have nowhere near that many hours on them, I suspect that the incandescent type would have had to have been replaced within this time span. Additionally, because they are solid state devices they are rugged. I have knocked over my lamps and the LED bulbs survive the abuse. If it was an incandescent bulb the filament would likely have been broken.

Since this time I have even received newer bulbs that are even more impressively designed and I suspect will perform even better.

What does this all mean?

If you haven’t tried a LED light bulb yet, let me recommend that you take the plunge and check it out. I think you will be satisfied with your experience.