from San Francisco Chronicle
on 5.9.07

As California lawmakers push to stop the sale of incandescent lightbulbs in the foreseeable future, now might be the time to start looking for new ways to light up the home.

We know about fluorescents -- both the good and the bad. But there is another technology to consider for reducing energy consumption that could end up becoming the residential lighting of choice: LEDs.

Solid-state lighting -- commonly known as light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, for short -- was born of the semiconductor industry. On a very basic level, LEDs are about color and light transmitted to our eyes via a variety of inorganic semiconductor materials. Many LED fixtures and light bulbs come equipped with special metal heat sinks to absorb and dissipate heat -- which means energy goes into the light itself and is not lost as heat -- especially if the fixture is designed to be on for hours at a time. Some LED manufacturers say their lights will stay bright for as long as 50,000 hours. That means they will last 17 years if the lights are turned on for eight hours a day.

Download Full Article