LED Lighting

One of the energy-efficient components of our home is to use LED lighting where ever possible. Not only do LEDs use 1/2 the energy of a compact fluorescent light (CFL), they do not contain harmful mercury, which should be used cautiously in an indoor environment. LEDs can last anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 hours whereas even extended life CFLs can only last up to 10,000 hours under extremely ideal conditions. LEDs also give off very little heat, making them the perfect lighting choice for South Louisiana to reduce summer cooling bills.

We found LED can lighting fixtures manufactured by Cree. Visit their Website for an overview of their LED recessed down lights (cans) which fit into regular Halo housings for easy construction. These fixtures can even be retrofitted into existing harnesses for an energy efficient remodel. The Cree cans can also be controlled with a dimmer, a feature most LED bulbs haven't quite perfected yet. 1000Bulbs.com sells these lights for about $114 each, which seems like a lot for light fixtures until you figure that they last up to 20 years and use 85% less energy than typical incandescent fixtures, meaning the fixtures will pay for themselves in a couple of years. Our electrician, Ray with Acustom Electric, is getting them from a local source, but any do-it-yourself homeowner can buy these and retrofit them into existing can harnesses with Cree's simple installation instructions.

As the LED technology gets more and more refined over the next few years, we will see more applications of them throughout the residential setting. We found another Website for a company that specializes in making LED bulbs that fit regular incandescent light sockets. We've tried a few of these out and while some of them are significantly dimmer than your average 40 watt bulb, some of them are fantastic and give off a great quality light. One site is The LED Light that offers a variety of LED products. Another site C.Crane that also offers a wide variety of LED bulbs that fit standard incandescent applications. We are also installing LED track lighting in the game room, using positionable LEDs to focus light in particular areas like the pool table and shuffle board table. Another site carrying LED bulbs are LEDbulb.com.

One other neat application we're doing with LEDs is a collaborative effort between our creativity, our cabinet maker's craftsmanship and Rick's vision for our new home. Rick has been pushing us to make our house special, even when the temptation to do something the most cost effective way is driving many of our decisions. An inexpensive and creative effect in our kitchen is being created by our cabinet maker, Robert Shamburger, who is creating a faux window effect in our kitchen by building screens for these boxes that will be framed in drywall over our cooktop. Because the cooktop is on an interior wall, we'll cover the wall with drywall and have these LED fixtures behind the screens that can be controlled by a remote. These particular LEDs can be up to 12 different colors allowing us to set a mood (Purple and Gold for football season, Red and Green for Christmas) with the touch of a button in a unique kitchen building application.

I think we've just barely scraped the capability of LED technology and working to install these fixtures now will allow us to keep pace with the changes in lighting technology down the road. Not only that, we're taking advantage of the opportunity to build a truly custom home that has some unique features that we can enjoy while being "green" at the same time. For more information about LED lighting, read this recent NY Times article: Fans of LED Say This Bulb's Time Has Come. (I do take issue with some of the facts in this article, though, it wasn't very well researched as we've found very reasonably priced LED bulbs and downlights and I'm having a tough time seeing where they couldn't be applied to regular lighting with the same effect). I'd like to thank the guy who sat next to me on the red-eye from Seattle to Atlanta last October who dealt in commercial lighting and turned me on the the possiblity of LED fixtures.

I'm taking more pictures this afternoon... stop back by over the weekend!