The daily and constant use of lighting makes it easy for us to take it for granted. We use lights at home, at work, in the car, on airplanes, literally everywhere we go there are lights and they are in continuous use. One of the only times that we step back and consider our dependency on electricity is when there is a power outage and we are forced to see and do by candlelight. Today’s blog post explores the history of the incandescent, CFL and LED light bulbs to show how far light bulbs have evolved.

The Incandescent Light

The first light bulb that was invented is one of Thomas Edison’s most famous inventions. The incandescent light bulb was created in 1879 and started the light bulb revolution. Although Edison has been given the title of the light bulb inventor, it was in 1835 that the first constant electric light was seen. The incandescent light bulbs are the least efficient light bulbs that are in the lighting market, wasting ninety percent of the energy used.

The Compact Fluorescent Light

Less than one hundred years after the incandescent light bulbs were introduced to homes, a new type of light bulb was invented. Following the 1973 oil crisis in Europe, and thus lack of fuel for oil lamps, brought upon the first fluorescent light bulb that was introduced to residential homes. In 1976, Edward Hammer created the spiral shape formation of the fluorescent light bulb, the compact fluorescent light (CFL). The CFL light bulbs are a direct replacement for the incandescent lights as they only use 20% of the energy that incandescent lights use.

The LED light

Following the invention of the incandescent and CFL light bulbs, are the most current and well-known light bulbs; the LED lights. The light-emitting diode bulbs are the most energy efficient (to date) because their use of a semiconductor that changes electricity into light. LED’s have now been introduced in most residential and commercial homes, as they are the most energy-efficient light bulbs on the market today.

The evolution of light bulbs is important to understand our current use of them. For help installing new lighting fixtures or would like some more information about our light bulbs, one of our certified electricians wil