Most people are by now aware that traditional incandescent light bulbs are fast becoming a thing of the past and that LED (rather than CFL) alternatives represent the future of low-energy, low-cost, low-environmental impact lighting. But where to begin?

Well you could simply rush out and buy LED replacements for every light bulb you presently own but I wouldn’t advise it. First of all it would be really quite expensive, but also the odds of getting things badly wrong with this approach are quite considerable.

LED lighting is a wholly different technology to anything you might have experienced before and it takes time and a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best for your particular lighting needs. But when you get it right, the payback is more than worth it with a clean contemporary look that also delivers a massive drop in electricity costs.

So the best advice is to start with a space where the lights are switched on a lot of the time, or that has more lights than other rooms, or simply where the lighting could do with some improvement. This gives you the best chance possible of seeing tangible early results in terms of cost saving and/or quality of lighting.

It is important not to be discouraged when you take your first step trying something new such as LED lighting and these criteria for selecting a start point should help. If you decide that for you the place to start is the kitchen then you’re in the majority. Because kitchens often have a great deal of lighting that is switched on much of the time this tends to be an obvious choice (the opportunity for a fairly inexpensive makeover also figures).

The average modern kitchen tends to feature a sizeable collection of halogen spot lights (typically either recessed or set on tracks). The amount of electricity that these literally burn is quite extraordinary, yet replacing them with LED lamps that consume a fraction of the energy is no more complicated than pulling out the old halogen and pushing an LED back in its place. At least for GU10 LED lamps it is – for the low-voltage MR16 format you should also replace the existing 12v transformers with one or more LED drivers.

It’s the same story with lighting concealed in/over/under cabinets – like for like replacement. And if your kitchen was short of lighting then this present a perfect opportunity to rectify the situation. You can also fit LED strip lights under plinths, covings and kickboard recesses – this latter one can dramatically alter the look of a kitchen by lighting the floor. LED strip lights are lightweight and easy to fit, and come in both rigid and flexible formats which can be cut or joined together to fit any requirement.

Three key considerations should be borne in mind with regard to LED lighting.

1. Quality. It’s true that in general quality costs more but with LED quality counts for everything; so be prepared to pay a premium and avoid the path that leads to false economies and disappointment with cheap products. Look for recognised brand names such as Sharp Zenigata or anything using Cree LED technology. Remember, incandescent light bulbs are also cheap and yet they cost vastly more in running costs over time.

2. Cost. The real cost of lighting is the price of the bulb(s) plus the cost of the electricity. Over say 50,000 hours, a regular 50 watt halogen bulb will need to be replaced 25 times and cost 1,000 times the price of the bulb in electricity. An equivalent LED will require no replacement and cost much the same to run over all that time as it costs to buy. So over 50,000 hours the true cost of a $20 LED is likely to work out at (20 + 20) $40 and that of a $1 halogen at ((1 * 25) + (1 * 1000)) $1025.

3. Usage. An issue many people have with LED light is that it can be both blindingly bright yet unable to project luminosity over distance. An easy way around this is to direct the lighting away from direct line of sight and reflect it off walls, floors, ceilings and features in the room. The obviously accents interesting aspects in the space with the added benefit that it also produces a softer light that does then spread out well. It does however require more individual light units to create this effect than if using conventional incandescent general lighting.

For further information check out these articles that examine the subjects of Zenigata and GU10 LED bulbs in more detail.

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