Blog

As the United States make a big push to replace millions of older technology incandescent light bulbs with the newly developed LED and other types of bulbs there has been a lot of apprehension, anxiety and even resentment over the change.  People are attached to their old ways, to be sure, but letting go of the old bulbs is proving exceedingly hard. Except for Michigan, however, where LED lights have not only started to reduce their energy costs but also given the state’s economy a good push.  Yes, it seems that the new bulbs not only reduce electric waste, cut down on overall waste and last much longer than the incandescent bulbs, they also create jobs. Recently a large group of Michigan building owners and operators met in Detroit to talk about how using LED lights in their new projects will help them to greatly improve their energy consumption and lower building costs. Not only were they informed about that but they were shown how Michigan is poised to become one of the major leaders in manufacturing the new bulbs. And that is truly what needs to be pushed as the new technology is adopted.  You see the upside to switching to the new technology doesn’t stop at lowered energy consumption.  By adopting the new bulbs on a nationwide scale we will create a new industry to keep it going, with thousands of jobs in manufacturing, development, implementation, maintenance and other areas. It’s really the best of both worlds.  Cleaner, more energy efficient lighting and jobs to boot!  The Michigan Solid-State Lighting Association is a prime example.  They represent 29 companies who employ thousands of people and are set to take the lead in LED manufacturing  in the United States. Without the push made by the federal government to make the switch to newer LED bulbs they probably wouldn’t exist today, and neither would the jobs that they created. So before you bash the new bulbs as expensive remember that in the long run they’re going to save us a lot of energy and help the economy as well.  It’s hard to argue with a winning combination like that.