We are now just on the cusp of the next wave in lighting. LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes. LED light has so many advantages over virtually every other type of light bulb. They burn cooler, use less energy and can last for tens of thousands of hours. The major drawback has been trying to make an affordable LED light bulb to rival other common light bulbs. In the last few years there have been some breakthroughs made and super bright LEDs are beginning to approach the brightness needed for mass appeal.

You see LED lights all the time now used in traffic lights and taillights in automobiles. Flashlights using LED bulbs are a great product that offers extremely long bulb life and very long battery life.

One of my favorite LED products is a color changing bulb unit made for pools. There are several versions but they all create the same type of effects. The bulbs can light in several different colors and can be set to change randomly as well. It is an easy way to use your existing pool light to add some real nice effects. That brings up another advantage of LED lights. Because they are sealed units they can be used in applications where water is present such as marinas, boats and pools.

You can expect to see many more advances in LED lighting in the next few years. Just this past October 2005 a graduate student at Vanderbilt University by the name of Michael Bowers made an accidental discovery that could help make the LED light bulb we are waiting for.