When the Sentry Equipment Corporation in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, was considering how to light its new factory last year, the company's president, Michael Farrell, decided to try something new: light emitting diodes, or LED's.

"I knew LED's were used in stoplights. I wondered why they can't be used in buildings," Farrell said. "So I went on a mission."

What Farrell found was a light source that many of the biggest bulb manufacturers are now convinced will supplant incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs.

By lighting all of the building's exterior and most of its interior with LED's, Sentry spent $12,000 more than the $6,000 needed to light the facility with a mixture of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. But using LED's, the company is saving $7,000 a year in energy costs, will not need to change a bulb for 20 years and will recoup its additional investment in less than two years.

For further information: International Herald Tribune