If you are interested in getting into the 2013 LED scene and already have a T8 or T8 fixture, check out these new LED bulbs from globalmarket.com. The new LED bulbs are designed to fit directly into standard T10/T8 fluorescent fixtures with no additional equipment required.

We announced yesterday the introduction of a new T8 form-factor LED tube that, with the provided adapter, will fit into a standard T10 fixture.  These new bulbs will be available in 24, 36, and 48 lengths and no additional power source will be required - the LED tubes will run off of the T5 fixture.  The new bulbs are reported to produce 500 lumens per foot, which are 100 more lumens per foot compared to a standard fluorescent bulb. For those interested in getting into the LED arena without any hassle, these would be worth looking into further. Advanced Aquarist encourages checking with our Sponsors for availability.

How much energy will they save? Well a standard fluorescent bulb consumes about 58w, whereas the new LED bulbs consume around 20W. Therefore over the course of a year I would anticipate the energy savings to be as follows:

Thus the saving is about £10 per year per bulb.

We are currently asking suppliers to quote us for 60 bulbs, and the prices we have received so far range of £25 to £60 per bulb.

The bulbs are rated for about 50,000 hours of constant usage, which should mean they would last nearly 20 years at the rate of usage we have forecast. Standard bulbs last about 5,000 hours (2 years) and cost around £2 each. It looks like the energy saving bulbs should pay for themselves after 3 – 5 years, and return a yield of around 20% thereafter.