LED Light Bulbs - Much Better Than Compact Fluorescent

As we're well into the 21st. century, we're making major progress, especially in the medical and technology industries. Unfortunately, it's at a price. We make such major strides, but are wiping out natural habitat for so many animals, and cutting down the rain forests, which will (and is) affecting global climate, as well as animal habitat. Although we've known how to harness the power of the sun for many decades now, we've only just fairly recently started to put forth a major effort to manufacture solar panels at a price that is becoming affordable. With government subsidies, hopefully solar power can begin to make a real difference. The only problem, most experts agree, we're at, or nearing the point of no return in global warming. If we don't make dramatic changes, and make these changes now, global warming may very well be irreversible. Probably everyone has heard of CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulls), hopefully most have begun using them. However, there is another option, a much better option, LED light bulbs. Probably many people aren't as familiar with LED bulbs, at least for in home lighting. Although LEDs themselves have been used for decades in many applications, especially home and personal electronics, they're relatively new in the home lighting sector. Back to CFLs for a minute. You're probably thinking, 'If these LED bulbs are so great, why is everyone telling us to buy CFLs?' Well, presently, LED light bulls are still more expensive than CFLs, but there's more to the story. Although the LED bulbs are more expensive (with prices dropping) they are much more efficient than even the much touted CFL bulbs. It doesn't stop there either. Although the compact fluorescent bulbs are advertised to last for many times longer than their incandescent brethren, LED light bulbs outlast the CFLs, and by not just a little. We're actually starting to see LED devices with 'Lifetime' warranties. Combine this with the fact that they consume much less energy and don't have the Mercury like CFLs, and you start to see that the advantages of LED lighting can't be ignored. Lastly, LEDs (light emitting diodes) are solid-state devices. They don't have the glass, gas-filled, Mercury-tainted, easily breakable tube that are part of all CFL bulbs. Not to mention the fact that CFL light bulbs perform poorly in lower temperatures and have ballast failures often. Yes, we are doing better by at least finally getting away from incandescent lighting, but we have to do more, much more. Is LED lighting the area that will make the difference? Obviously not, at least by itself. It is, however, something we need utilize, and in a big way. Until we truly put forth the effort, and money it will take to utilize alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power to their fullest, we will continue our rapid decline into a world that I can only imagine none of us would really care to live in. Especially when we have such an amazing, beautiful plant filled with so many wonders. They say, 'a bucket is filled one drop at a time,' but, unfortunately, we don't have time on our side, We can't tackle this problem o global warming one light bulb at a time, unless we all are changing the light bulls, we're all turning off that light when we leave a room, we're all buying the most fuel-efficient vehicles, and we're all doing everything we can to get away from coal-fired power plants and the burning of all fossil fuels that we can. Just the smallest of changes made by millions of people can and do make massive differences, please do what you can.