The first example of LED usage one may remember is the alarm clock; LEDs were used for the displays. Other uses people may recall were red and green status lights, like on a pc. They would blink rapidly, to show that your hard drive, or CD-rom, was being accessed. Some might call these “indicator” lights. By now, any home with a computer that gets on the internet via a router or DSL modem will have a room with numerous blinking and flashing LEDs – some red, some green.
LEDs are now much more common than they used to be. Just some examples are light bulbs, car brake lights, traffic lights at intersections, flash lights, lighted airport taxiways and runway, and freezers at the grocery store (the kind with the large glass doors.)
So why have LEDs become more commonplace? Well, for starters, researchers have proven the incandescent light bulb to be very inefficient. And tests have shown that LED lighting is much more energy efficient. Another reason LED lighting has increased in popularity, is that the cost to manufacture LEDs has steadily been decreasing. They might be more expensive to purchase than the alternative, but since they last longer, it’s making more and more sense to go with LED lighting.
All this tells us that LEDs will continue to be become more and more common place in our everyday lives, as advancements continue to be made.