Why are there not more LED lights?

Question

it would save sooo much energy if all lights were all replaced with LED lights.

why don't the make led tubes that replace florescent tubes? imagine how much energy there would be saved if all the lights in all the offices were changed with that.

and even more so, if they got rid of the mercury lights that are in all street lights and parking lot lights, if they made LED bulbs that fit in there instead that maybe used 30 watts instead of 400 or whatever they use. make those darn mercury lights illegal and make a law all government lights be LED.

why isn't it like that?!?!?!

Answer 1

That would be pretty awesome. My guess is that it's currently too expensive--companies will only do what they think is most profitable for them, so if LEDs are still more expensive to manufacture than the regular ones, they probably wouldn't bother.

I've also heard they might be having some color problems with LEDs, since they have a pretty limited range of color, but I'm not sure if that's a major holdup.

Answer 2

Well, I think the biggest problem is that LEDs tend to be fairly directional.

Another problem, I think, is that the technology changes so fast that it might make people hesitant to get involved, except for simple and inexpensive things like flashlights.  I mean, 10 years ago your only choice was the Nichia LEDs.  They aren't very bright, so you needed large clusters.  Then a few years later the Luxeons came out, and they were a lot brighter.  But a few years later, the Cree XREs and Seoul P4s came out, which are even brighter and more efficient.  And that's where we are now.  It probably won't be too long before even better LEDs are out.  I know Seoul's working on one that will put out 700-900 lumens on 10 watts, which is much more than what current LEDs are capable of.  Nobody wants to make something that's obsolete as soon as it comes out, or even before it comes out.

Another problem is that color rendition isn't as good with LEDs.  By that I mean it can be harder to see things that are certain colors, particularly brown.  That's okay for flashlights, but totally unacceptable for street lights.