2009 is the year I saw LEDs finally come down in price, up in lumens per watt, and with a broader selection of colors. Enough so that they’ve become competitive with CFLs for the claim of the Greenest Light. But luckily for us research is being done on manufacturer’s claims of light output and longevity, and unluckily for some manufacturers the research is showing that not all LEDs are being created equally. In fact, the worst are so bad that their initial light output is a small fraction of what’s advertised and within a hundred hours of use their already small amount of light falls off to miniscule. And that’s what I want to talk about here.
The EERE – Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, an arm of the Department of Energy – has enough of a budget to contract with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to put out a report from time to time called the CALiPER or, take a deep breath now, Commercially Available LED Product Evaluation and Reporting. Say that three times fast. Started in 2006, there have been 9 research reports or rounds in which various LED and CFL lamps and fixtures were bought on the open market and then put through their paces. And if you’re nerdy enough to not be put to sleep by technical reading, you may find them fascinating. I did which makes me a Certifiable Energy Nerd.
Available to the public, you can find the series at the EERE website and, though they’re all informative, the last few here and here are more so. To sum up in a nutshell what was found, there are a LOT of brand X LEDs coming on the market of poor quality and the buyer, you, must beware. But there’s also a few that are as good as or better than their claims. How are we to know? The reports describe the LEDs that were tested but for some reason (if you know why let me know) they don’t give the Brand names. Small pictures of each product are included so you can make a vague guess as to what brand they are and apparently they tend to be the ones sold at the big box stores. The cheap ones.
Other reports, available at Home Energy Magazine and here at the EERE (it's almost 4 years old - an eon in LED development - but still apropro), lay out the possibility that the increasing marketing of the low end LEDs to the public may cause a backlash similar to the ones CFLs experienced when they first came out. I know I’m showing my age but I remember how poor the quality was of SOME of the early CFLs and how the failures of the cheap ones colored public perception of CFLs in general and set the CFL industry back a few years. I suspect LEDs are in for a similar perception unless manufacturer honesty and federal oversight of the wild marketing claims keeps the poorest performers off the market. But the major brands – Cree, Halo, and a few others – have fixtures that ARE competitive.
If your incandescent lamps are burning out or costing you an arm and half a leg to keep lit, or if you’re tired of your CFLs being so dim for the first minute they’re on and you want something better, LEDs are becoming Prime Time in 2010. And when you're in the store looking them over, remember this label:
It's a voluntary Truth in Labeling program run by the Department of Energy. Read about it here. The major manufacturers who sign on to the above labeling alliance can't afford negative publicity and their products appear to be well designed and with actual quality control.
I’m installing an increasing number of the new generation ICAT (insulation contact, air tight) LED modules and my customers are raving about them. They come on quickly, have a high enough Color Rendering Index (CRI) that objects appear as they should at night, are now available in various color temperatures (see this article for why CRI and color temperature are important), they dim adequately with standard dimmers, and the cost of the recessed lighting fixtures are similar to CFLs. Personally, I’m sold on the technology and it’s improving all the time.
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