Greentech Media published a great blog post yesterday titled “Why Fluorescent Lighting Isn’t Dead.” The post featured the opinions of energy-efficient lighting expert Francis Rubinstein.
We publish a number of articles about LED lighting on this blog, and are probably a little guilty of failing to grant sufficient coverage to fluorescent lighting and how much its technology has improved over the years.
The article is an excellent read. I couldn’t do it justice with a simple summary, so head over to Greentech Media to check it out! In the meantime, here’s an interesting quote I pulled from Francis Rubinstein:
Until research drives the cost of LEDs down substantially, the greatest potential for improvements in lighting energy efficiency will come from combining advanced lighting controls with hybrid [fluorescent and LED] lighting systems, and designing the lighting to fit the space and occupant requirements in which they’re used.
> “Until research drives the cost of LEDs down substantially,”
I agree that sticker shock is a big influence. But the TCO (total cost of ownership) even at today’s prices seems to say that LEDs are a good investment.
What troubles me though is that I’ve read that cooling of the new super bright LEDs is a problem. Especially where air conditioning is not an option during the hot summer months and ambient temperatures can get to the upper 90sF.