LED Versus CFL LED lamps typically use less power (watts) per unit of light generated (lumens).

A good LED lamp can generate twice as many. Lumens per watt as a CFL (50-100+ versus 40-80). - Less greenhouse gas emissions from power plants - Lower electric bills LED lamps last much longer than CFLs, as much as 10x longer (50,000 hours versus 5,000 hours). - Fewer spent lamps in the landfill - Less frequent lamp purchasing/changing, especially important for hard-to-reach lamp locations LED lamps generate less heat than CFLs. - Decreased load on Air Conditioning systems - reduced danger of burns from touching lamps - reduced fire hazards LED lamps emit no Infrared or Ultraviolet radiation. CFLs (and tubular fluoresce nt lamps) generate light by exciting the Mercury vapor inside the lamp with electricity, generating Ultraviolet radiation, which stimulates the phosphor coating on the inner surface of the glass bulb, causing it to re-radiate most of the Ultraviolet radiation as visible light. LED lamps generally create "white" light by using blue LEDs and a phosphor coating which re-radiates some of the blue lig ht as longer wavelength light (yellow range of the spectrum), together appearing as white. - No personal exposure to Ultraviolet radiation, which can cause cell damage - Artwork and other sensitive items are not degraded as a result of exposure to Ultraviolet radiation LED lamps are not sensitive to frequent power cycling. The lifetime of CFLs (and tubular fluorescent lamps) is reduced by Turning them on/off more than a certain number of times per day. The "rated" lif etimes of such lamps are usually based on Assumptions that they will be left on, say 3-4 hours, each time they are turned on, rather than having that 3-4 hours be spread out over many on/off cycles. - No concern about how often you turn on/off your lights LED lamps have better control over the direction(s) in which their light is emit ted. This is advantageous in applications where you only want the light to go in one general direction (unidirectional) rather than in all directions (unidirectional). - Less wasted light LED lamps turn on instantly (reaching full brightness immediately). CFLs tend to have a warm-up period which may range from a few seconds to over a minute. During this warm-up period they are not as brigh t as they eventually become. This can lead to problems ranging from having to wait for light levels to increase to a useful le vel, wasting your time, to turning the lights on

Before you really need them, in anticipation of the warm-up period, wasting elec tricity. - no wasted time or electricity LED lamps are typically far more robust than CFLs. CFLs, with their thin glass t ubing, are easily broken, such as by dropping them on a hard surface from just a few feet up. LED lamps are solid-state device s, and as such can handle impacts with far less risk of breakage/damage. - much less easily broken