Certainly LED lighting is going to be of great interest to all of us in the future as we come to terms with being able to get bright lighting accompanied with very low energy use ($$$). If you travel much in Europe, it is interesting to see what is happening over there, mostly due to the very high cost of energy.
The problems I see are exactly what has already been mentioned... Cost and brightness, along with reliability, and in some locations, the ability to dim.
I have been working on lighting for two factories and we finally decided to go with 6 bulb and 10 bulb T5 fixtures, as the LED lighting was just not available in a sufficient brightness and a low enough price. Having seen some other factories and workshop areas brightly lit with high quality LED fixtures, I LOVE the look and utility, but the price is just not there yet.
We tested a number of LED fixtures and found that the ones that had a better price tended to be "no-name" offshore lights that just did not live up to their specifications for lumens, or for light spread.
I do have a home shop that is currently lit with a number of different lights on multiple circuits. There is a control center that has dimmers to dim the 40 or so fixtures in varied ways depending on what is happening in the shop (hanging out watching TV or actual technical work). I have yet to see LED lights that work well in this environment. They tend to not dim very well.
At this point, I would be very interested in quality LED bulbs that are dimmable that are PAR30 replacements. I haven't found any yet that I like. The other problem is that every manufacturer is making different styles and appearance of bulbs and I don't like the look, nor do I want to worry about replacing a bulb down the road and having it appear different. In my opinion, the lack of a standard or any expectation that a manufacturer will continue making a certain style bulb is a big problem.
In my opinion, the fact that LED lighting uses such little power compared to incandescent bulbs provides the opportunity for the lighting to safely be MUCH brighter. Instead of the typical 65-75 watt LED PAR30 offsets currently offered on the market, I would LOVE to see a PAR30 LED that is at the equivalent of maybe 120-140 watts of (incandescent) light output, and it seems to me that this could be done and still have a fixture that uses a lower level of power and runs cooler than the "stock" can lighting with a 65 watt incandescent bulb. For a showroom type garage area, this could be awesome. Maybe bulbs like this are already available, but I have not found them.
I would also be interested in SUPER high intensity strip lights that could be tucked into a 1.5 inch space, as I have a cathedral ceiling in the shop and would like to hide some strips in between some of the collar tie bracing. I would think that narrow strips with high intensity would be of use in other ways for other shop owners as well. The typical small bright strips available now at hardware stores are great for lighting a shelf or cabinet area, but do very little to light up a work station with usable lighting. Those type lights are simply not bright enough. A narrow strip that still fits in a 1.5 inch maximum area but has MUCH brighter LED bulbs would be of interest, especially if it were reasonably cost effective.
Then, if dimmers become available that work as well with LED lights as they do with incandescent bulbs, that would make the situation all the better.
Just some random thoughts that I have had. I enjoyed meeting you guys at one of the previous Hot Rod Restoration shows in Indy. Continued good luck with your ideas.
