Energy efficient LED light bulbs with wifi are called smart light bulbs. Over the past ten years, rapid adoption in America has saved gigawatts of electricity. America’s shift to greener technologies began in 2007. Then, the Energy Independence and Security Act made energy conservation the highest priority. The light bulb industry responded by shifting from traditional bulbs to energy-efficient solutions. This article looks at how to incorporate this technology into a home office.
Today, most retail lighting stores mainly sell LED lights. That’s because incandescent, fluorescent, and halogen bulbs consume too much energy. Those bulbs also contain toxic heavy metals. Plus they don’t last as long. Thus, these types of lights are getting phased out.
Modern-day LED light bulbs are efficient and multifunctional. Some models come with built-in wifi. Download an app, screw on the lights, then control their functions using your phone.
What is a Smart LED light bulb?
LEDs (light-emitting diodes) generate light using electroluminescence. Compared to incandescent bulbs, Energy Star rated LEDs use 75% less energy and last 25 times longer. Today, LEDs dominate most lighting store aisles. LEDs are now available for most common light fittings.
A smart LED light bulb comes with built-in wifi. This allows the bulb to connect with a phone app or smart home hub. From there, users can control their lights remotely.
LED light bulb selling points
This skims over the main selling points of LED light bulbs for a home office.
Energy efficiency
Energy Star rated LEDs use 75% less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescent lights. That’s because LEDs are more efficient at converting electricity into light.
Lumens (lm) indicate the amount of light emitted. Watts (W) shows the light’s energy consumption. When you combine the two you get lumens per Watt (LPW). This shows the amount of light created per watt.
Incandescent bulbs generate around 10 LPW. Fluorescent lights emit between 80-100 LPW. LED lighting is the most efficient, emitting between 100 to 200 LPW.
This means that a 4 watt LED bulb can generate more light than a 75-watt incandescent.
Eco friendliness
Incandescent bulbs consume lots of energy but only give minimal light output. Excess energy converts to heat that releases into the surrounding area. This is wasted energy.
LED lights produce more light per watt without wasting energy. Energy.gov predicts that by 2027, widespread use of LEDs could save 348 TWh of electricity. That equals the annual power output of 44 large power plants producing 1000 megawatts each.
By cutting power consumption, power plants burn fewer fossil fuels. This reduces the amount of harmful CO2 emissions getting released into the air.
Beyond energy savings, LEDs are less toxic than traditional bulbs. Halogen, incandescent, and compact fluorescent (CFL) contain lead and mercury. These are two of the most toxic heavy metals in the world. Dumping these bulbs into landfills lets lead and mercury leak into groundwater supplies.
Thus, traditional bulbs consume more energy and contain toxic heavy metals. LED lights produce more light with less power consumption. Plus, LED lights do not contain any harmful metals.
Cost effective
LED bulbs are more expensive upfront, but cheaper in the long run. Heat causes bulbs to degrade faster. LEDs come with a heavy base that contains a heat sink. This pulls heat away from the LED, which slows down lumen depreciation. Today, the average consumer LED bulb available today will last 30,000+ hours.
Compare that to a typical incandescent bulb, which will last for around 1200 hours. That means you will need 25 incandescent bulbs to match the longevity of a single LED.
As a bonus, the price of LEDs has fallen sharply over the past few years. A single LED bulb used to cost over $100. Today, this 4-pack of General Electric LEDs costs , or less than $2 per bulb.
Smart LED functionality
This section looks at the key features of smart LEDs, especially those that pertain to wellness in a home office.
Dimmable bulbs
Some smart LEDs provide dimming and brightening functionality without the need for dimmer switches. All you need to do is screw a dimmable LED into an outlet and then dim or brighten using the bulb’s phone app.
For example, the Kasa Smart Wifi Light Bulb connects to your home’s wifi network. From there, you can use the Kasa Smart app to dim or brighten between 1% to 100%.
This bulb also integrates with Alexa and Google Assistant. If you have a compatible hub, you can control everything using voice commands.
Dimmable Multicolor LED Light Bulbs
Multicolor smart LED light bulbs present a world of mood lighting possibilities. Warm up the feeling in a room by changing lights to a rich yellow. Cool things down with a blue tint. Deck out your hallways in red and green for Christmas. Set bulbs to a certain color for dinner, for watching movies, or when you wake up.
A good multicolor bulb to consider is the BERENNIS Smart Light Bulb. This is a wifi bulb with 16 million colors to choose from. No hub required. You can download the Magic Home Pro to control your lights from anywhere using wifi. The app also allows you to schedule lights to turn on and off.
If you have a smart home hub, you can connect BERENNIS smart bulbs to Alexa or Google Assistant. This allows for voice-activated controls.
The BERENNIS Smart Light Bulb also includes IFTTT integration. IFTTT allows a range of added functions. These include:
- Turn on lights once you start heading home.
- Change the color of lights when it starts raining.
- Automatically turn on lights at sunset.
- Change the color of lights when your Domino’s pizza is in the oven (this uses Domino’s order tracker API).
Conclusion
Using smart LED lighting in a home office can increase comfort and reduce eye strain. Having the ability to change hues gives you more control over the working ambiance.
Working under “blue-enriched” light bulbs increases work performance. It supports mental acuity, vitality, and alertness while reducing fatigue and daytime sleepiness. Other benefits of blue light include lowering melatonin, which induces drowsiness. Lovel melatonin levels keep people alert in the same way coffee does.
In contrast, warmer tones create a sense of comfort. That works better when you want a calm and relaxed ambiance. In an office, warmer colors can make a person feel listless and drowsy.
One effective approach is to use smart LEDs to mimic the sun. Earlier in the day, adjust the lighting to be a cooler blue. As the day progresses, shift to warmer yellows.
