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A Wellness Approach to Dentistry
Mercury-free fillings
Safe amalgam removal
Metal-free restorations
Natural products
Non-surgical periodontal treatment
Testing for sensitivities to dental materials
In office Zoom teeth whitening
Veneers and bonding
Michaela Neagu, DDS
93 Union Street Suite 408
Newton, MA 02459
DEAR EARTH TALK:
What’s the story with LED light bulbs that are reputed to be even
more energy-efficient than compact fluorescents?
— Toby Eskridge, Little Rock, AR
Perhaps the ultimate “alternative to the alternative,” the LED (light-
emitting diode) light bulb may well dethrone the compact fluorescent (CFL) as
king of the green lighting choices. But it has a way to go yet in terms of both
affordability and brightness.
LEDs have been used widely for decades in other applications — forming
the numbers on digital clocks, lighting up watches and cell phones and, when
used in clusters, illuminating traffic lights and forming the images on large
outdoor television screens. Until recently LED lighting has been impractical
to use for most other everyday applications because it is built around costly
semiconductor technology. But the price of semiconductor materials has
dropped in recent years, opening the door for some exciting changes in energy-efficient, green friendly lighting options.
According to HowStuff Works.com, LED bulbs are lit solely by the
movement of electrons. Unlike incandescents, they have no filament that will
burn out; and unlike CFLs, they contain no mercury or other toxic substances.
Proponents say LEDs can last some 60 times longer than incandescents and
10 times longer than CFLs. And unlike incandescents, which generate a lot of
waste heat, LEDs don’t get especially hot and use a much higher percentage of
electricity for directly generating light.
But as with early CFLs, LED bulbs are not known for their brightness.
According to a January 2008 article in Science Daily, “Because of their structure
and material, much of the light in standard LEDs becomes trapped, reducing
the brightness of the light and making them unsuitable as the main lighting
source in the home.” LED makers get around this problem in some applications
by clustering many small LED bulbs together in a single casing to concentrate
Philips Color Kinetics, a Boston-based LED lighting company, cut
energy consumption by 85% at the Old North Church in Boston
by replacing a linear incandescent system with an LED alternative.
