View Full Version : Are LED bulbs really ecologically friendly?
I seem to be replacing LED bulbs fairly regularly in the kitchen, as they seem to fail way before the predicted life.
I am wondering if this is because they are E14 “candle” bulbs rated at 9W and they cannot dissipate the heat?
I am wondering if I would be better fitting GU10 adapters, as I think E27 adapters would push the bulbs out too far in the light fitting.
The other problem I had is my outdoor security flood light (30W LED) has failed, so I have to replace the entire unit, rather than just a bulb. It seems a bit wasteful to me, and not the “ecological nirvana” that was predicted?
They use a lot less power than incandescent, I think that is the 'green' aspect.
Not bought a bulb this century. Power company sent me a box of them for free in about 1999, still have two left.
Like most 'eco' stuff it's really just marketing.
My kitchen bulbs last about 2 years, because I think the wife really came from Blackpool (well, Versailles but I am not sure everybody would get the reference) and likes leaving the lights on.
I will see if it is due to the shape of the light soon.
My kitchen bulbs last about 2 years, because I think the wife really came from Blackpool (well, Versailles but I am not sure everybody would get the reference) and likes leaving the lights on.
I will see if it is due to the shape of the light soon.
Bulb in my living room light is approaching 25 years old and it's on every evening unless I'm away from home which is pretty rare.
Of course now I've mentioned it it's going to die soon.
All of the lights in my house are LED type, apart from the kitchen where it is a fluorescent tube. So that would be 14 bulbs, of which I have only had to replace 2 in about 10 years.
Pigmy Pony
03-12-2025, 16:10
All of our bulbs were replaced with LED types a few years ago, to my knowledge none have failed.
My dad has an old bulb in the cupboard that allegedly still works and it's supposedly decades old.
There are two aspects to consider when explaing LED life expectancy. The first is the light emitting device itself. These don't 'die' suddenly, what happens is the light output, or brightness decreases with time. LED lamp manufacturers quote the useful time up to the point where the brightness has fallen to 70% of its initial value. This can be as much as 50,000 hours.
The second aspect concerns the electronics used to drive the LED. The electronics can be subject to voltage spikes or surges, ether of which can damage the electronics to the point of failure. Clearly this depends on the operational environment, for example if you live near an industrial complex where factories use surge producing machinery, or if you are controlling your light with a dimmer switch. The dimmer switch has no effect on the brightness, but because it can control the brightness of an incandescent (filament) lamp through variation of the mark/space ratio, the switching action can damage the electronics.
Given the latter, life expectancy can be as short as 10,000 to 15,000 hours.
70 led bulbs and fittings in my home, I started to change from incandescent bulbs when the Chinese started flogging them cheap in the UK about 12 years ago.
My experience is that they certainly do not last the specified hours, but that largely depends on bulb quality. Pay a couple of quid for a Chinese one and expect to replace it within 2 years, but if you buy a UK or German built bulb then expect trouble free operation for 5+ years but it may cost you nearly a tenner. That sums up my experience anyway.
willbewill
04-12-2025, 12:21
Had all our bulbs changed to LED for free by Utility Warehouse (our electric etc suppliers) a good number of years ago, they also send free replacements when bulbs fail. Only had a couple of failures and they were both GU10 4.8W spot bulbs.
All my bulbs are LED, but it is only the high power E14 socket bulbs where I have the issue.
Thanks for the feedback on the GU10s.
Lawrence001
04-12-2025, 23:10
70 led bulbs and fittings in my home, I started to change from incandescent bulbs when the Chinese started flogging them cheap in the UK about 12 years ago.
My experience is that they certainly do not last the specified hours, but that largely depends on bulb quality. Pay a couple of quid for a Chinese one and expect to replace it within 2 years, but if you buy a UK or German built bulb then expect trouble free operation for 5+ years but it may cost you nearly a tenner. That sums up my experience anyway.Agree with this, cheap bulbs don't last as long, whether or not they're a false economy depends on the cost per year life I guess plus the hassle factor of changing.
One other issue I've found is that the cheaper ones are more likely to cause eye strain or headaches. I put this down to the PWM flicker, I suspect cheaper ones are lower value and can be unconsciously perceived by the brain. I'm particularly sensitive to this myself, and also to the temperature, needing the warmer colour to be able to stay long in a room.
I tried one if those "natural light" SAD lamps a while ago, horrible things I'd rather stay in my room depressed all winter than have to use that light to cheer myself up.
I take a vitamin D supplement in the winter to offset SAD. Probably placebo but it works for me. I also don't like bright or cold lights.
Pigmy Pony
05-12-2025, 16:07
I take a vitamin D supplement in the winter to offset SAD. Probably placebo but it works for me. I also don't like bright or cold lights.
Probably not a placebo, there is some science behind the vitamin D thing.
I take a vitamin D supplement in the winter to offset SAD. Probably placebo but it works for me. I also don't like bright or cold lights.
Vampires don't like bright or cold lights?:)
I use cold white, bright lights in the kitchen. I prefer it when I am cooking.
Problem with most LED lights nowadays is ensuring the lights you have in one room or match the same colour warmth as it can look a bit odd with a mix of white and warm lights or is that just my OCD?
hifi_dave
05-12-2025, 17:23
I have to take Alfacalcidol, a special type of Vit D which my transplanted Kidney can absorb. Doesn't help my SAD much or I'm too SAD to be helped..:drugs:
Lawrence001
05-12-2025, 17:55
We need to keep the thread drift going so the less discussion on LEDs the better.
We need to keep the thread drift going so the less discussion on LEDs the better.
:lol:
OK - I take calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin D tablets in winter. Not every day, but probably once a week.
(But I agree that bare LED bulbs having a different colour temperature would look odd if in the same room, but all lights in our house are shaded.)
Pigmy Pony
05-12-2025, 20:22
In our kitchen one switch turns on the ceiling lights (which are bright white and I never use), and the other switch is for the lights under the wall cupboards and worktops, which are a very warm white, but more than bright enough to work with.
They've all been in 3 years now, and so far no failures.
Probably not a placebo, there is some science behind the vitamin D thing.
It is recommended that everyone living in northern Europe take a vit D supplement as almost everyone is deficient in it. Just not getting enough sunlight.
Whether it cures SAD is a different matter. I mean it can't make it worse so there's no harm trying it.
I think Vitamin D is mainly for bone health but may benefit general well being.
All this talk about vitamins is giving me a complex.
All this talk about vitamins is giving me a complex.
No need to B concerned. :lol:
Pigmy Pony
06-12-2025, 13:06
I think Vitamin D is mainly for bone health but may benefit general well being.
Calcium is needed for bone health, but without sufficient vitamin D your body can't absorb it.
Pigmy Pony
06-12-2025, 13:08
No need to B concerned. :lol:
I C what you did there :)
I’ll line them up…
You knock them down.
;)
Wakefield Turntables
06-12-2025, 20:35
I dont take any vitamins but I do take Oxygen on a daily basis which I find keeps me healthy. :)
Too much oxygen is bad for you - it needs to be mixed with four parts nitrogen, to be healthy. Mind you, a blast of pure oxygen is guaranteed cure for a hangover. ;)
Wow!! Some proper thread drift, I just popped back I check out the LED bulb thread lol.
I now use 100% LED bulbs throughout the house and have a mixture of spotlights, lamps, ceiling lights and now Christmas tree lights.
I have toyed with different Lumin output bulbs and mistakenly used some 1100L + in a lamp. It was like being snow-blind. Great for finding vitamin pills which have dropped on the floor though. :)
I don’t think my bulbs are 100% LED, probably only a small percentage is actually LED. :eyebrows:
My doctor does prescribe me with Vitamin D3 once a month - a 50,000 IU dose.
I think this is to boost my immune system.
I don’t think my bulbs are 100% LED, probably only a small percentage is actually LED. :eyebrows:
My doctor does prescribe me with Vitamin D3 once a month - a 50,000 IU dose.
I think this is to boost my immune system.
Definitely boosts the immune system and helps heal wounds quicker. I think you have to be careful because you can overdose on Vitamin D. I was taking mega strength ones and a 50+ multivitamin and I calculated I was consuming too much!!:uhho:
My Holland & Barrett mineral and vitamin D tablets contain 100 I.U. of vitamin D3. It is expected you take one tablet a day, so that is 3,000 I.U. a month.
Bought 250 LED Christmas lights in warm white for the tree.
They look amazing, almost like the old bulbs we used to have that needed continuous maintenance and never worked straight away after you got them out the loft and needed adjusting which usually meant the occasional. :uhho:
Don't think these LED lights will ever need "adjusting" or come loose and will probably last forever!
BUT.....there is one negative. The power supply which also incorporates a variety of programs for the lights injects a lot of nasty noise into my mains which I can hear via the hifi system, particularly the phono stage. Never got this with the old lights!
So when I listen to music the Christmas light are banished!:)
We have something similar; LED lights that have a selectable variety of winking and blinking mode options. They too plug into the mains, but they don't affect the hi-fi system as that has its own completely separate ring main.
I notice you can now buy outdoor fairy lights that do not need to be plugged into the mains. They operate like night lights - a solar cell charges up a battery which then powers the lights when it gets dark. Dammned clever these Chinese!
Some of the houses around my way have gone over board with their outdoor Christmas decorations: inflatable, illuminated Santa complete with raindeer; snowmen, and hundreds of LED lights which cover the front of the house! I assume those households have young children; for which Christmas is a magical time.
Yes some folk go completely bonkers with Christmas lights etc and yes great fun for the kids.
Good point about solar, maybe need to invest in small solar panel/battery pack just for the Christmas tree lights! Then need to work out how to isolate all the other LED lamps I have on the same ring main!:doh:
dave2010
06-01-2026, 09:03
that is the 'green' aspect.
They use a lot less power than incandescent, I think.
Not bought a bulb this century. Power company sent me a box of them for free in about 1999, still have two left.
Like most 'eco' stuff it's really just marketing.With a lot of eco things there is a definite element of greenwashing, but it's not all bad.
LED bulbs definitely do seem to reduce the total electricity consumed, and that's not a bad thing. Even if you don't believe in "climate change" reducing electricity consumption is sensible - reduces the size of distribution and generation infrastructure, and also the quantities of other non renewable fuels including coal, oil and natural gas.
There could well be some issues with current LEDs though. There are different types, and it also depends on whether they are dimmable or not.
Non dimmable ones are perhaps the simplest - they are either on or off. Some may make a noise. I have had LED lights which made so much noise that I had to buy several different types before finding some which were quiet enough - and that probably isn't a "good thing" - with over production of unsatisfactory products.
Compared with other lights LEDs are generally quite good. Halogen lights often give out quite a lot of light, but also a lot of heat. The heat gives rise to problems with the fittings, and it is not uncommon for the fittings to be damaged and the halogen bulbs can be difficult to remove though they do tend to last quite a long while. Incandescent bubls don't last too long, and consume relatively a lot of power. Fluorescent bulbs use less power than incandescent, but contain chemicals which are potentially hazardous, and start up flicker is common.
Dimmable LED lights can be difficult to manage - as there are several types, and the dimmer controllers have to match the bulbs. It depends on how the lighting cycle is triggered - on the leading edge or trailing edge of an AC supply. Also dimmer controllers are quite likely to inject noise into the supply circuits because of the brightness switching.
Coloured LEDs are becoming a new thing. Actually originally I think the red lights were the easiest to make, but blue lights were very hard.
See https://youtu.be/AF8d72mA41M
The development of blue LEDs resulted in Nobel prizes for several of the researchers who managed to make them work - https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2014/nakamura/facts/
I assume that it was the development of blue LEDs which somehow led to the development of bright white LEDs. I"m not sure that the light emitted is "white", but somehow the LEDs contain light emitting elements with different spectral frequencies so that the overall effect is still while - but I really don't know. Of course coloured LEDs are useful in display units - including computer displays.
that is the 'green' aspect.With a lot of eco things there is a definite element of greenwashing, but it's not all bad.
LED bulbs definitely do seem to reduce the total electricity consumed, and that's not a bad thing. Even if you don't believe in "climate change" reducing electricity consumption is sensible - reduces the size of distribution and generation infrastructure, and also the quantities of other non renewable fuels including coal, oil and natural gas.
.
Of course the climate changes. That's not a matter of 'belief' - it's the 'man made' part I'm sceptical about although I'd agree it does make sense to reduce CO2 emissions where feasible.
That aside, on purely practical terms the bulbs do use a lot less power (my living room one uses 6 watts when it used to be 60 with incandescent) so a lot cheaper to run. Also they last a lot longer, years rather than months. So yes, they do make sense from that aspect.
I don't like blue LEDs. My power amp has one, I'd change it if it were easy to do.
I don't like blue LEDs either. I have a Simaudio Moon CDP that has a red dot-matrix display but a blue LED power indicator. They clash aesthetically and it annoys me.
Sadly you cannot simply change the device because the different colours draw a different current, meaning the series resistors need to changed as well.
I don't like blue LEDs either. I have a Simaudio Moon CDP that has a red dot-matrix display but a blue LED power indicator. They clash aesthetically and it annoys me.
Sadly you cannot simply change the device because the different colours draw a different current, meaning the series resistors need to changed as well.
The one on my power amp is thankfully not too bright. I do have a pre-amp with a blue LED that is literally dazzling in low light. I stuck some duct tape over it. It's so bright it's still visible through the tape but it dulls it enough to stop the problem.
I don't use that pre anymore anyway, the Sony I use now thankfully predates the rise of the blue LED.
When I was buying new equipment a couple of years back for my 'end game' system, presence of any blue LED meant the product was immediately dismissed from the options.
Pigmy Pony
06-01-2026, 17:16
I don't care what colour LEDs my kit has, as long as it's not too bright. My amp is all blue LEDs, but are very dim and all but invisible in the daytime. My record player has green LED, which changes to amber for 45rpm.
Not a fan of red.
Tiny white LED lights on the DAC and Tiny green lights on the Croft amps (red when the warm up lights come on).
Less is more!:)
Wee square of black electrical tape will see y'all good. :lol:
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