GasGlow® LED vs. Incandescent Candelabra Base Assemblies

All American Gas Lamp Works lighting fixtures can be configured for gas or electric illumination, providing you with perfect design flexibility to place various types of lighting exactly where it optimizes your outdoor lighting plan. For customers who don’t have access to natural gas in their area, or who simply prefer an electric source, our electric lamps can be the perfect solution. In general, our electric fixtures are available in two “flavors:” traditional electric incandescent (using light bulbs) and our GasGlow® LED technology (no bulbs required). This blog post is intended to help you understand the differences between the two electric lighting options offered by American Gas Lamp Works. First, electric incandescent lighting is the traditional form of electric lighting that was made practical by Thomas Edison over 130 years ago. Incandescent electric bulbs create light when electricity runs through a thin tungsten filament inside the bulbs. While this is the method we are most familiar with, it’s rather inefficient, as much of the electricity is wasted as unwanted heat instead of light.  It’s one major reason that CFL and LED light bulbs are increasingly replacing standard ones. They are simply more “green.” On the contrary, our GasGlow® LED is a propriety illumination technology developed by American Gas Lamp Works to precisely mimic the look and feel of gas mantle lighting. LED stands for “light-emitting diode” – a highly energy-efficient means of generating light by applying electric voltage to a semiconductor light source. LEDs were first produced in the 1960s, but since then, their efficiency and light output have increased many times over. Modern LED light sources are both highly energy-efficient and extremely long-lived. LEDs use only a fraction of the electrical energy necessary to produce an equivalent output of light from a traditional incandescent light bulb, thereby greatly reducing the demand for energy and the environmental impact of electrical generation. In terms of expected lifespan, LEDs are subject to very limited wear-and-tear if operated at low currents and temperatures. Many of the LEDs made in the 1970s and 1980s are still in service in the early 21st century. However, LED customers should keep in mind that LEDs and the LED drivers that power them have different expected lifespans. While typical lifetimes quoted for LEDs can range from 25,000 to 100,000 hours, the lifespan of the drivers that are incorporated into LED systems can have shorter service lives. The drivers used to power our GasGlow® LED fixtures are of the highest quality and designed to last for many years. Furthermore, our GasGlow® products are engineered such that the LED drivers are readily accessible and easily replaced, if necessary. American Gas Lamp Works is proud to offer GasGlow® LED as a state-of-the-art alternative to traditional illumination technologies. Images and videos can be viewed in our Photo and Video galleries, and please check back for additional posts detailing the economic benefits of GasGlow® LED.