I recently built a new home for myself, earth bermed and of course, solar powered (and soon to be solar heated). Every light source in the home is LED. I did a lot of homework, testing bulbs and different fixtures, and am very happy with all of what I decided on. Kitschler makes excellent, stainless steel under cabinet lighting that spreads the light well and with a warmer color than just stark white. Most of the bulb packages these days provide information on the angle of distribution of the light produced. I did try several tube type LED's but was unsatisfied with the quality of light and how that light was distributed. FYI, Environmentallights.com sells a great little solar powered Christmas light set, complete with solar panel and Li battery. Great for off grid folks or those remote locations people might want to decorate. I am a bigfan of LED lighting. It continues to get better.
Daryl DeJoy NABCEP Certified PV installer Penobscot Solar Design > I have several LED lights, mostly AC, and I'm a big fan. > The light quality approaches that of halogens, and the watts are > noticeably lower than CFLs. > I have spot lights, floods, and rope lights that I forget to turn off > because I can. > LEDs have come along way in the past year. > I have a hand held LED flash light that is as bright as my car > headlights (1100 lumens) and I still haven't charged its Li+ battery in > 6 months. LEDs are the future amigos. > > Ray Walters > > > On 12/5/2012 8:33 PM, William Dorsett wrote: >> >> In the early days, LED's were rated by the candela and so everything >> was apples and oranges. Long time ago, I used an LED to allow boats to >> navigate into a narrow passage by lining it up with a second one a >> distance away. You didn't have to read a map by it, just see it. As >> you said Alan, with Christmas lights and candles you are only looking >> for a pretty spot of light without really thinking of lumens. At least >> now LED's are also rated in lumens. And it is still very worth the >> trouble checking lumens/watt. I was in Home Despot not long ago, >> comparing LED's with linear fluorescents and none of the LED's >> compared well. >> >> Bill Dorsett >> >> Sunwrights >> >> Manhattan, KS >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Options & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org