Technical Review on AC LEDs versus DC LEDs for the Built Environment

Session 13, Paper 1, CIBSE Technical Symposium, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool
11-12 April 2013

Despite the current DC LED lamps and tubes being reported able to deliver over 40,000 hours of life time use and much reduced carbon emissions when compared with traditional fluorescent and tungsten lamps, DC LED lamps and tubes are notoriously plagued with financial and technical issues that most clients and consultants prefer to stay away from deploying it on a whole building scale. In this paper, LED performance to manage the heat generated by both the AC and DC LEDs will be compared. The supply voltage and current to the LED by electronic drivers will be examined . In conclusion, the modeling result of a substantial reduction of carbon emissions by using LED lamps in lieu of traditional lamps in a fictitious building is presented to reflect the capability of LED lamps to contribute towards making zero carbon homes realisable.