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After being around for more than a decade, LED lighting is a mature, reliable technology that has earned its place in the mainstream lighting market.

LED lighting’s increasing popularity is based on its unique ability to provide us with dramatically more energy-efficient, sustainable and cost-effective illumination, so why have so many myths and misconceptions formed around it, and which are the main ones that require debunking?

Myth One: LEDs Are Too Expensive

Fact: No, they’re not. A common misconception that surrounds LED light bulbs is that they’re really expensive, when in fact their price has been steadily dropping for years.

In actuality, prices have fallen by a factor of ten over a remarkably short period of time. The total cost of outfitting your entire home with LED bulbs can now be as little as £100, rather than the £1,000 outlay of a couple of years ago.

Inversely, their level of quality has increased by around the same proportion, causing consumer demand to rise and competition to drive down the price still further.

Here in the UK, the demand for LED lighting products is set to rise again on the 1^st of September 2018, as incandescent bulbs and CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights) are to be phased out completely.

Myth Two: LEDs Don’t Save Energy

Fact: Yes, they do. LED lights and bulbs are incredibly energy-efficient, improving on the performance of incandescent bulbs by as much as 90%.  An LED bulb that’s very often used as a like-for-like replacement is the bestselling GU10 LED 80 SMD. This bulb produces a similar number of lumens as a 50 watt incandescent, yet only requires 3.3 watts of electricity.

Therefore, based on an average 8-hour day, at 15 pence per kWh (Kilowatts per hour), if you were to replace just one of your 50 watt incandescent bulbs with this GU10 LED, you would save a whopping £20.45 on electricity over the course of a year. Imagine the amount you’d save by replacing all your bulbs!

Myth Three: LEDs Generate No Heat

Fact: Yes, they do. No matter what you may have heard LEDs do produce heat, albeit a lot less than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, both of which become extremely hot.

This is a great safety feature that LEDs have over their traditional counterparts, and it rules out accidental burning should anyone inadvertently touch one.

Unlike halogens, LEDs don't produce any infra-red heat, which means the air around the bulb doesn't heat up. Heat in any light bulb is a wasted by-product, serving no real purpose other than to compromise its efficacy, so 90% of all LEDs energy is converted into light, the opposite of the halogen bulb.

To achieve this, LED bulbs have a super-efficient heat sink which dissipates any heat, thus ensuring its performance and longevity.

Myth Four: LEDs Don’t Last Very Long

Fact: Yes, they do. The reality is that good quality LED bulbs have an average life-expectancy of 50,000 hours.

To couch this in real terms, an LED bulb, working for 8 hours per day, will continue to do so for just over 17 years.

An incandescent bulb, with a lifespan of 1,200 hours, working for 8 hours a day, will continue to do so for 0.4 years.

Is there any reason to say more?

Myth Five: LED's Are Bad For Your Health

Fact: No, they’re not. The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), a New York City-based, non-profit international environmental advocacy group stated in a 2007 study that, during the lifetime of a CFL it would lose 100% of its 3 milligrams of Mercury (Hg), either into the atmosphere or, following incorrect disposal, into the air or soil.

Measurements have shown that the levels of mercury in the air after CFL breakage can well exceed the existing safety limits.

Mercury is not present in LED bulbs, so they’re completely harmless both to your health and to the environment, as far as toxic elements are concerned.

CFLs produce what’s known as ‘dirty electricity’ in the form of EMFs (Electro-Mangnetic Frequencies), in the frequency range of 25 to 100 kilohertz (kHz). This is the same type of radio frequency radiation pollution we’ve been warned to avoid in mobile phones, as well as being present in high-power wires and high-voltage transformers outside your home or office building.

Certain types of cancer have been associated with EMFs from all these sources, but decreasingly so the further away they are, however, CFLs are meant to be for inside use, so imagine the invisible danger posed to health by an entire home filled with them!

Don’t worry, LEDs emit no EMFs.

CFLs emit UV-B and traces of UV-C radiation. UV (Ultra-Violet) radiation is generally considered to be harmful to the skin and the eyes, while UV-C radiation, which is normally not observed in nature because it’s absorbed completely by the atmosphere, is especially harmful. 

Several studies have found that fluorescent lights increase the risk of skin cancer, and a study published in the medical journal, The Lancet, indicated a doubled risk for melanoma or skin cancer.

LEDs generate clean, non-harmful light.

Should you have any questions about anything LED light-related, why not ask our experts?  The number to ring is 0116 321 4120, or send an e-mail enquiry to cs@wled.co.uk today!