Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), “semiconductors that emit light when zapped with [positive polarity] electricity,” are on the verge of taking over the commercial and consumer sectors of the lighting industry. With greater efficiency, longer useful lives, and their “clean” nature, LEDs are the future of light, pushing traditional incandescent and fluorescent bulbs toward extinction. Only the higher production costs for LEDs have extended the existence of traditional bulbs.
When viewing the history of traditional bulbs, the higher costs associated with producing LEDs is not an insurmountable hurdle to overcome. The incandescent bulb lingered for about 70 years before supplanting “candles, oil lanterns, and gas lamps” as the main source of Petrol Station LED Light. When the first crude incandescent bulb was created in 1809 by Humphrey Davy, an English chemist, using two charcoal strips to produce light, it remained impractical. Later when the first true incandescent bulb was created by Warren De la Rue in 1820, utilizing a platinum filament to produce light, it was too expensive for commercial use. Only when Thomas Edison created an incandescent bulb utilizing a carbonized filament within a vacuum in 1879, did the incandescent bulb become practical and affordable for consumer use.