The LED Light Bulb Has Arrived

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Compact Fluorescent Bulb

After a recent visit to a big box hardware store I had to explain to my 9-year-old daughter why we had to deposit our old compact fluorescent light bulbs in the big blue container with the skull and crossbones on it. I explained that this was a hazardous material and disposing it in here was good for the environment. So without missing a beat she asked, “If that was the reason, why was it safe to use this light bulb in my bedroom?” Great question!

As with most families we stretch our budget to its limit and try to save money where we can. We have only read about the day when a quality LED lamp (bulb) would be available to the masses. So for many of us waiting, we can finally exhale since that day has arrived.

Our family is now on a mission to replace our energy wasting incandescent and toxic compact fluorescent light bulbs to safe, long-lasting LED lights.

Businesses have seen the many benefits that LED lighting provides from saving energy and operating costs for the past few years, especially as the technology has improved and a variety of retrofit options hit the market.

LED Lighting Kitchen

In my own home, if I change my exterior light bulbs, which are on for 10 hours per night, and the interior light bulbs, (extremely high family room and kitchen ceilings) I should have my payback in less than 12 months!

Philips EnduraLED

Due to the long life span of LEDs, I won’t have to chase my family around the house shutting off lights in rooms where no one is sitting, or ask my neighbor to borrow his extremely high ladder to change those hard to reach light bulbs.

Cree LED BulbRecent industry predictions that LED lamp prices would be coming down were realized when a major LED manufacturer matched it’s cost to marketplace need with a reasonably priced, quality LED light bulb aimed squarely at the residential marketplace. Offering a line of LED light bulbs to replace the 40W and 60W incandescent, they have achieved the sweet spot for many household budgets – between $10 and $13.

We can now safely install a truly green product, which is safe to handle, offers a quality light source, all for the price of a combo meal at a fast food restaurant!

For LED lighting solutions, visit the experts at LED Source – 866.900.4533

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Do Your Part On Earth Day With LED Lighting

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LED Source Faces of Climate Change

So what do Earth Day and LED Lighting have in common? To answer this question, we first must understand how Earth Day began.

Earth Day began as a grass roots campaign in the U.S. during the 1960’s and has grown to be a worldwide social and environmental awareness movement.

Earth Day participation has inspired many local and national political policies, including the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of Endangered Species Act.

Today, Earth Day is when we can reflect on our planet, the environment and find ways to become more energy-efficient and reduce our carbon footprint.

Often overlooked, LED lighting can reduce greenhouse gas carbon emissions dramatically. In fact the United States Department of Energy has stated the wide spread use of LED lighting can defer 246 million metric tons of carbon over the next several years. That is because the power plants would burn less fossil fuel to power LEDs over incandescent or fluorescent lighting used today.

For each Earth Day participant who purchases LED lighting for their home or business, the benefits are realized immediately through improved lighting conditions and energy bill savings each month.

The timing for switching to LED could not be better. Recent enactments of the Energy Policy Act have already banned the100W and 75W incandescent from production and the 60W and 40W will soon follow. LEDs also have zero levels of mercury, which is typical for compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Just imagine all the mercury that ends up in our landfills from improper disposal of these CFL bulbs. By making the switch to LED lighting, not only would less lamps end up in landfill, LEDs are recyclable and contain no mercury.

Recently LED manufacturers have helped Earth Day celebrants become energy efficient by lowering the cost of LED lighting, which can do wonders for Mother Nature. Rebates and incentives, if available, will drive the cost down even further.

So make everyday Earth Day and switch the lighting in your home or business to LED. You will not only save money, you be doing your part in helping the planet.

For more information on LED Lighting, contact the Experts at LED Source.

Paying Tribute to the City of Boston

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Miami Tower LED Lighting LED SourceTo pay tribute to the City of Boston and all those who have been affected by the senseless tragedy of yesterday’s bombings, tonight both the Miami Tower and the Bank of America building in Fort Lauderdale will shine brightly in blue and yellow thanks to LED lighting.

Boston Marathon FlagWe are runners, parents, sons and daughters and can’t even begin to imagine the impact this has had on the families that have been affected by this incident. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with those most hurt by this unthinkable act of violence. Today we mourn but tomorrow we RUN.

LED Lighting Adds Beauty, Consistency and Value

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Ashley Furniture HomeStoreMy friends have been looking at me in a funny way for the last 7 plus years.  You see, I’m in the lighting business, so every place I enter, the first thing I do is look up.  It’s a habit now that seems to drive my wife crazy.  I’m curious how the lighting looks, if all of the color temperatures match, if they have the correct lighting levels, etc.  Until I started doing this, I didn’t realize how unbelievably hard it seems to be to make a clean, beautiful lighting plan work.

If you are the owner of a franchise location (or more than one), you know the importance of keeping the image of the brands you represent consistent.  With traditional lighting technology, the color temperature, hours of life and energy usage vary based on the technology you use, how old the fixtures are, etc.  That means if you open your first location one year and a second two years later, you may not be able to match the lighting between them.  What can you do to make everything the same?

Moving into LED Lighting Solutions is the key.  With the manufacturers we work with (including Philips, Cree, Toshiba, Lighting Science Group and others) we can give you a consistent lighting look across all of your locations.  Every lamp will match, the output will be the same and we can easily take the lighting you have now, convert it to LED and save you between 50 and 75 percent of your energy cost on lighting.  Add in the benefits of long life (50,000+ hours), long warranties (up to 10 years) and absolutely color consistency and you can see that LED is ideal for operators of franchise locations.  The lighting is a huge part of making your product, both the storefront and your merchandise, look the same in the best possible manner.

Hurricane Grill & WingsEvery day that you wait to move into LED is a day of savings lost.  There is absolutely no reason to wait, especially with our LouMan Money program.  Get in touch with us today to explore how LED Source can make your business shine like never before (and for a lot less money out of your pocket each month).  Our experience with brands such as Massage Envy, Starbucks, Marriott, City Furniture, Hurricane Grill & Wings and others, has taught us a lot about how to work with a franchisee and franchisor to make it happen.  LED Source, being North America’s only LED lighting franchisor, also provides us special insight into the importance of respecting both the unit owners and the corporate higher-ups.

For more information on LED Source and our franchise opportunity please call us at 866.900.4533 or www.LEDsource.com

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Earth Hour 2013

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Earth HourEver want to do something nice for Mother Nature? Turn off those lights! Earth Hour 2013 will be talking place Saturday March 23, from 8:30 – 9:30 pm local time. For this symbolic hour, all non-essential lighting is to be turned off.

Initially organized in 2006 and originally called “ The Big Flick” by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to protest deforestation in Africa, but now Earth Hour has gone global and is celebrated from Sydney Australia, to New York City and is supported by 400 Cities and locations on all 7 Continents.

Golden Gate Bridge Earth HourBusinesses and organizations around the globe such as CB Richard Ellis Realty, the National Hockey League, Golden Gate Bridge, Manchester United, Hilton Hotels, Girl Scouts, the UN Environment Program, the International Trade Union, Empire State Building, Philips and Ikea, also do their part for Earth Hour.

Eiffel Tower Earth HourMost cities participate by “Turning off the Lights” and consequently the energy savings documented by participation in Earth Hour has been dramatic. The offset of carbon dioxide by reducing lighting energy has been in the thousands of metric tons. For conscientious citizens participating, Earth Hour has been a grass-roots movement promoting energy efficiency.

Earth Hour teaches us that reduction in energy costs associated with lighting are robust. It has a positive impact on the environment and saving energy is a concern shared by all people of all nations.

Empire State Building Earth HourAlso compelling is the inclusion of Philips Lighting on the list of supporters and endorsers. Philips has initiated a strong push to replace existing lighting around the globe with LED lighting. LED lighting can reduce lighting consumption by up to 90% and translates to a financial reward.

So go ahead turn off those lights during your local Earth Hour time and purchase a few LED lamps for your home or business. Mother Nature thanks you and so will your wallet. Maybe next year we can call this event LED hour!

For more information on LED lighting, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source.

Would LEDs Have Kept Us In The Light At The Super Bowl?

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Super Bowl Lights OutFor Baltimore Raven’s fans, today is the best day ever winning the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers 34 to 31. However, it could have easily gone the other way with help from what is now called the ‘Superdome Blackout.’

During the third quarter for more than a half-hour, the lights went out in New Orleans for what is yet another Super Bowl malfunction. For 34 minutes, officials were trying to figure out what exactly went wrong.  Why did the power go out and yet some of the lights were on for half of the stadium? Even the CBS audio for Jim Nantz and Phil Simms went down. Rumors are endless on the Internet from the 49ers causing the outage to disrupt the Raven’s lead to a possible cyber terrorist attack on the power grid.  Even going as far as saying the power was handled by a Venezuelan company called Corpoelec and they deliberately caused the outage. Others just state that Beyonce’s halftime performance was too ‘electrifying.’

Super Bowl LightsOther reports say that the stress on the New Orleans power-grid was just to demanding and simply went out, causing yet another strike against the city still struggling to regain its infamous name since hurricane Katrina. Auxiliary power kept the playing field from going total dark but escalators, credit-card machines and all the concourses were only lit by emergency lighting. Even halftime host James Brown said a ‘power surge caused the outage.’

FBI officials have since ruled out terrorism and New Orleans fire department dismissed any reports that a fire caused the outage so the question remains. Some reports go on to say that a piece of equipment from Entergy New Orleans, the city’s power company, sensed an abnormality in the system and shut itself down as a safeguard. So for now the speculation remains.

So if the power supply required was to great at the Superdome then it lends to ask why did they not use a more energy-efficient light source like LED lighting? Most stadiums currently use 1000-watt metal halide Sportslighters to light their field. LED lighting manufacturers are currently testing fixtures that will lower the wattage to around 250-watts, savings 750-watts per fixture. In addition, the LED Sportslighters are instant-on, thus no longer requiring the warm-up time of 15 minutes that is associated with the Sportslighters of today.

Let’s hope that next year the Super Bowl will make a statement and move towards LED lighting and keep us in the light instead of the dark.

For more information on LED lighting, visit the LED lighting Experts™ at LED Source.

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Bye Bye 75W Incandescent Light Bulb – Phase-out Continues

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75W Incandescent BulbThe start of 2013 marked another year closer to the ultimate demise of the Incandescent light bulb in the U.S. and around the world. So what has changed since the U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2007 to ban the bulb that Thomas Edison created? The reason for the Act was to eliminate inefficient energy sources like the incandescent bulb and slowly phase-out the various high-wattage bulb types.

The Energy Independence and Security Act set the stage in 2012 for the banning of the 100-watt incandescent bulb. While this was not enforced since funding was pulled for the Department of Energy (DOE) to police, manufacturers quickly implemented their own program to ultimately stop production. So bye-bye 100-watt bulb.

Fast-forward to 2013 and what is the next plan in the common light bulb phase-out? Say goodbye to the 75-watt bulb as of January 1st and then followed by the 60-watt and 40-watt bulb in 2014.

What is the big problem with conventional incandescent bulbs? While they provide more than adequate lighting for each of us to light our homes, they are highly inefficient. An average of 90% of the energy used to light the bulb is converted into heat, hence the reason it is on the list. Their life span is also a problem when compared to other lighting sources.

The Act mandates that all light bulbs are requiring 25% greater efficiency by 2014. The second part of the law states that by 2020 all light bulbs must be 60-70% more efficient than bulbs used in 2007 and produce a minimum of 45 lumens per watt. Some compact fluorescent (CFLs) and most light-emitting diodes (LEDs) meet these requirements today, shaving energy usage by as much as 75-85%.

There are some exceptions regarding light bulbs being banned in the Act – appliance bulbs, colored lights, plant lights and 3-way bulbs are exempt, as well as light bulbs currently less than 40-watts.

Was the incandescent bulb the only one being phased out? The answer is No. Some fluorescent lights like the T8 and T12 are also on the list. Read more here.

So why did the United States pass this legislation? The goal is to move the Country towards greater energy independence and security, increase the production of clean renewable fuels and improve energy performance while increasing the efficiency of products.

A19 LED Lamp BulbBy now you have heard the entire buzz around LED lighting and consumers are starting to take notice of the benefits, efficiency and the longevity related to this state-of-the-art technology. On average LEDs use 75% less energy, last 15 times longer than incandescent bulbs, instantly turn on, are dimmable, produce little to no heat, perform well outdoors and in cold temperatures and are extremely durable. Many LED Lamps (the word ‘Bulb’ is not commonly referred to for LED Lamps) are Energy-Star Rated and contain no toxic chemicals or gases, unlike CFLs. It is as easy as taking out the existing 100-watt or 75-watt light bulb and screwing in an LED replacement.

The stage is now set for LED lighting to dominate the marketplace. It is estimated that by 2020 over 60% of general lighting will be LED. Isn’t it time you made the switch to LED lighting?

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