LEDS could reduce CO2 emissions by 15%
by TreeHugger 
on 05. 2.05
Professor Colin Humphreys, and his team at Cambridge University’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, are very excited about their Gallium Nitride-based lighting. He reckons we can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 15%, by moving to next generation Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Lighting in Britain and other developed nations accounts for about 20 per cent of all the electricity used. Professor Humphreys believes that lighting in developed countries uses 20% of all electricity, with it accounting for 40% in developing countries. As an example, he points to Denver, which estimates it will save $5 million USD over 10 years, from their new LED traffic lights. However the Professor thinks we might be about five+ years away from having LEDs with a more subtle white light for household use. Full story from ::ABC News Online. [by WM]
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And how much CO2 are we going to generate by replacing the hundreds of millions of light bulbs already in existence?
Well...lets see. Life of a normal incandescant bulb in a high use application is probably 1 year (way less than the 6 needed to make residential LED's cluster bulbs a commercial option). My kitchen's compact flourescents are rated at many thousands of hours but in reality they have lasted about 3 years each before going unacceptably dim or out. I can easily go through another several replacement rounds for all my bulbs before affordable LED's clusters hit Home Depot. Not a problem.
that last sentence is crazy.
"However the Professor thinks we might be it could take about five+ years away from LEDs with a more subtle white light for household use."
Thanks for being our personal online grammar checker, hijiki. Trust it makes more sense now.