The basics of LED technology
The abbreviation LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. A diode is a positive/negative transition, which allows electrons to flow in only one direction. For the that reason a diode is called a semiconductor. The diode prevents electrons to take the same way back.

A light-emitting diode (LED) exists of an anode and a cathode, where current is flowing through, and a LED chip. LED light isn’t generated by heating a filament (that could easily break) but by electroluminescence. Electrons move through a semiconductor medium and "fall into" other energy levels during their transit of the p-n junction. When these electrons make a transition to a lower energy level, they give off a photon of light. All is covered with a transparent silicon lens, which determines the light angle. The light angle can be adjusted by the different lens types.

LED colours

The colour that LEDs produce depends on the type of materials that are used. Until the nineties only green and red LED lights existed, which were mainly used as battery indicator lights or other control lights. A breakthrough in the mid-nineties changed the applicability of LEDs. In those years the blue LED had been discovered. This colour was created by using semiconducting gallium nitride (GaN). This discovery paved the way for dozens of other LED applications. By combining a red, blue and green LED in one shell it became possible to create all colours of the rainbow, including white. An other more often used way to create white light is to use a phosphor material to convert monochromatic light from a blue LED to broad-spectrum white light. The mixture of blue light and yellow phosphor creates white light. More about LED colours

Consistent white light in three different shades
Lumoluce^® provides three shades of white LED light: cool white, natural white and warm white. A lot of people claim that LED lighting can only produce cold, sterile light. This is not true since LEDs can be created in every preferred colour, including the colour of a traditional light bulb.


Advantages of LED technology

• Considerable saving on energy costs and less heat generation
  A LED lamp is a lot more efficient than a light bulb. Considerable more energy is converted into light. A normal light bulb converts less than 5 percent of its energy into light and about 95 percent is converted into heat. LEDs on the other hand, can convert up to 40 percent of the energy into light. Thus the loss of energy is considerably lower with the same brightness. Therefore the power consumption of LEDs is a lot lower than light bulbs. For example: a LED lamp of 4 Watt can replace a light bulb of 25 Watt.
  
  

• Lifetime - up to 100x longer than a standard bulb
  The lifetime of a LED lamp is one of its strongest points (50.000 -100.000 hours) and depends on the heat emission of the LED lamp. LED lights with a higher wattage generate more heat and are thus cooled, optimizing the lifetime for those LEDs. LED lights are also very robust because they feature no filament that can be damaged due to shock and vibrations. Below you can find a lifetime comparison for different types of lamps.
  
  
  
  Overview of typical lifetimes: