Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Introduction The Brazilian government considers as environmental advantages of LED lamps: they don’t contain mercury (such as compact fuorescents); the absence of heavy metals is relevant to human health and the environment during its use and when the lamp is discarded. It is considered a correct lamp throughout its life cycle (from manufacturing to disposal): it consumes little energy to produce and low energy when in use, helping to conserve natural resources, the basis of the concept of sustainability. Because it has a longer useful life, it is discarded less frequently, generating less waste for disposal in landflls. By not emitting ultraviolet and infrared rays they don’t harm the skin in continuous exposure. They are more resistant than other bulbs, being very diffcult to break, but if this occurs, it has a coating that prevents the chips from spreading while preserving the user’s health and safety. 1 The LED doesn’t attract insects, minimizing the issues associated with their combat and offers advantages of comfort (visual and in the environment), since they don’t emit ultraviolet and infrared radiation, thus being more comfortable to the eyes. Technological advantages considered by the Brazilian market are also several. The LED has a very small light dimension. This contributes to a high optical control because it is simpler to develop a system for a light output point. 2 As LED don’t emit light in all directions (such as conventional lamps), it contributes to a better targeting of the light beam, concentrating it and with less loss of luminous fux by the internal refections of the human optical system. Because LED has small dimensions, it allows a more fexible design of the luminaries. Many LED bulbs are manufactured in the same shape and nozzle as conventional bulbs, making it easy to replace them, without affecting lighting fxtures and electrical installation already existing, reducing the initial investment costs and adapting the installation and luminaries. This type of lamp has immediate lighting; the number of times and the frequency at which it is turned on and off doesn’t change its useful life. 3 Since June 30, 2016, the Federal Government has banned the sale of incandescent bulbs in Brazilian territory. But the most relevant benefts to society as a whole with the use of LED are economic and are addressed in this article in a brief example. 4 Methods As an example, this article demonstrates the replacement of traditional (incandescent and fuorescent) by LED lamps in a house with 20 light points (in total) without distinction of power between the rooms (i.e., all points of light will use a bulb with the same power). The light points are shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 Generic plant to demonstrate the economic viability of LED lamps in Brazil. The lamps used in the study have the characteristics expressed in Table 1. MOJ Civil Eng. 2019;5(1):31‒33. 31 © 2019 Massara. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. The replacement of tradiocional lamps by LED in Brazil: a case of environmental and economic sustainability (short review) Volume 5 Issue 1 - 2019 Vanessa Meloni Massara Department of Adjunct Researcher, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo, Brazil Correspondence: Vanessa Meloni Massara, Department of Adjunct Researcher, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo, Brazil, Tel +5511 97567 9973, Email Received: January 30, 2019 | Published: February 18, 2019 Abstract Background: In Brazil, at the time of the energy crisis in 2001, in order to save energy consumed by lamps, a compact fluorescent lamp was introduced in the market, which was well accepted in terms of illumination and cost. However, through technological advances, since 2015, the government recommended lamps of LED for energy saving. It is also considered that the ease in disposing of these bulbs after their useful life is a particularly relevant factor for the environment. The objective of this work is to demonstrate an example of economic gain with the exchange of old incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lamps by LED. As conclusion, it was verified that with the insertion of the LED in the Brazilian market, gains were obtained in several sectors such as: the reduction of waste production (the LED lamp has a much longer life cycle than the others) and the reduction of energy waste (reduction in the use of the national energy matrix). Keywords: LED lamps, Brazilian technical standards, reduction in energy consumption, residential electrical installations MOJ Civil Engineering Research Article Open Access