LED Lights

LED lights are just coming into vogue and already LED bulbs for general room lighting have started to make an appearance, though they are by no means mainstream yet.

LED represents the future of lighting, as oil price remains high at over US$100 per barrel for the rest of the decade, and very likely beyond.

Running on very low power -- usually one-tenth of a 40W normal bulb -- the Ikea Dioder lights pay for themselves within a year of usage! Obviously as oil price shoots higher, the payback period becomes shorter.

And do you know LED lights have a lifespan of 100,000 hours? That is about 11 years of continuous lighting!!

Although strictly still not comparable in brightness or luminance to CFLs, I think it will only be a matter of time before LEDs attain (and probably surpass, since they are based on electronics) the brightness of CFLs.

One use I can imagine for LED lights is "switch-on-and-forget-it" or "convenience" lighting. That is, I can switch on the LED lights in the kitchen, bathroom or toilet when dusk falls and leave them on without the need to turn off-on as family members enter and/or leave the kitchen. Or use them as night light for the kids.


Home automation has been around for quite some time but only this year has remote-controlled lighting started to appear in retail outlets. The above-pictured Lightcraft dining lamp was launched only in mid-Mar 08. It is equipped with 1 x GU10 50W halogen bulb and 6 x R7S 100W bulbs. The latter are specialized halogen bulbs with double ends and burn very brightly.

The included remote allows you to control the fixture in several ways: 1 - 50W halogen downlight, excellent for food presentation at the dining table, 2 - Three R7S bulbs light up, casting a wide circle of light over dining table, 3 - Three R7S bulbs light up to throw light on the ceiling, and 4 - All bulbs light up.

You can also combine the various lights e.g. halogen downlight with ceiling uplight, or wide dining table light with ceiling uplight, etc.

Though I vowed never to buy light fittings that require specialized bulbs (read = bad experience), I couldn't resist the technological allure, so placed an immediate order for a set.

And the price? S$253.50 per set.