Lighting

The long lifetime of LED light may make the idea of a lamp outdated. Lighting-class LEDs do not fail catastrophically like light bulbs. Instead, they can provide at least 50,000 hours of useful lifetime before they gracefully degrade below 70% of their initial light output (also called lumen maintenance). Thats equal to 5.7 years if left on continuously! However, in most lighting situations, the lights are switched off regularly. This off period can extend the lifetime of the LED well past three decades, as shown in Chart 1 at right. After the years it will take for an LED luminaire to burn out, LED lighting technology will be brighter, more efficient, and probably offer TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) savings over the older LED luminaire.Fixture light loss occurs when light rays from the light source strike the fixture housing before hitting the target.