Fluorescent bulbs are made of a glass tube filled with inert mercury vapor. There is a phosphor coating within the tube. In a fluorescent light tube, an electric current drives mercury gas to release ultraviolet energy, which in turn causes the coating to glow and provide visible light.
LED is an abbreviation for “light-emitting diode,” which describes what it does. Diodes have only one direction of current flow between their two electrodes. Semiconductors are used to create LEDs. The semiconductor is essential to their operation. Excess electrons and holes are found in a semiconductor. Electrons in a semiconductor are excited by an electric current and emit light when the current passes through the material.
Both light-emitting diode (LED) and fluorescent bulbs are more energy-efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs. Commonly understood to be the standard in lighting, an incandescent bulb has been around for a long time. An incandescent lamp consists of a wire filament enclosed in glass and surrounded by a vacuum or an inert gas. An electric current is passed through the filament, which causes it to heat and emit light.
In terms of cost reductions, LED light tubes can’t be beaten. Fluorescent lights emit an omnidirectional light. That’s because their light is emitted in all directions, all the way around the bulb. Because of their directed nature, LED bulbs can only illuminate a 110-degree cone. A reflecting plate will be required for fluorescent lighting. As a direct result, the quality of the lighting is immediately decreased by 15%. Also, the ultraviolet light emitted by a fluorescent bulb is generated by heating gases containing mercury. Since light can go in any direction, this also means that any generated heat can find its way out. As a result, more energy is required for the same amount of illumination.
LEDs generate no heat in the process of lighting up a room and give out barely any heat at all. Furthermore, fluorescent lights have a warm-up period. While modern technology has enabled the creation of fast-warming florescent lights, these bulbs still take some time to achieve full brightness. Without the need to heat the lamp to a high enough temperature to release UV rays from mercury gas, LEDs are more efficient from the start. Every minute you can go without having to power lights is a minute you don’t have to pay for, as lighting accounts for about 40% of the average household’s electricity bill. When compared to fluorescent tubes, LED lights produce over 70% more light while consuming the same amount of energy due to the greater efficiency with which they convert electrical current into light, as well as the lower quantity of heat generated and reflected by the light source.
The visible light spectrum produced by LEDs is more extensive than that of fluorescent bulbs. Due to its construction, an LED’s diode may effectively represent the entire color wheel. This means that it can create any shade of colour, down to the gradations between pure white and natural light. On the other hand, fluorescent lights employ a colour scheme that centres on blue, green, and red. Such an environment is unnatural and has been linked to cases of headaches and eye strain. And the colours of the ground beneath them may be altered as well. Depending on the task at hand, such as painting, this could be problematic.
Also read: How does the LED dimming work?
