LED’s That Look Like Incandescents

Osram Sylvania, one of the largest lighting manufacturers in the world is scheduled to come out with an LED bulb in mid August that emits as much light as a 60 watt incandescent bulb. The 60 watt output bulb will consume only 12 watts and they claim to have another one out shortly that would have a 75 watt output equivalent. LED bulbs in general are expected to last 10-12 times longer than conventional ones.

However one of its competitors, Lighting Science, recently announced that Home Depot has started selling its LED bulbs. They also said they will come out with a 50 watt equivalent bulb that only uses 9 watts with a suggested retail price in the low $30 range.

General Electric, Panasonic, Lemnis Lighting and many others have announced or already released bulbs in the $40 range. These bulbs, however, only have and output equivalent of 40 watt bulb. While this is good, the general market acceptance is for 60 watt output bulbs. Another key factor is the color output. To be successful they will need to be in the 2700 Kelvin range or better (lower) so that they more closely resemble the yellow warm glow we like about incandescent bulbs as consumers are highly sensitive to color temperature (or tone) in bulbs. Surveys show that most still prefer the warm, yellowish light of incandescent bulbs to the bluish tone of older LEDs.

Although low prices will help drive massive adoption, performance and look will also make a huge difference in which companies do well.  As you can see by the above picture Osram Sylvania deliberately tried to get its LED bulb to look as much as possible as a conventional bulb.

Cree one of the leading manufacturers of LED lighting for home and businesses unveiled this cute video just in time for Easter and the impending heat from Summer to prove a point – incandescents throw off unnecessary heat!  This may be good in the winter months however there are way less expensive methods to heat your home. A whopping 90% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb generates heat with a mere 10% used for the actual lighting! So change out your lights today to save the Easter Bunny from getting it! If not by using LEDs, then by using CFLs which also throw off  less heat, using either will save you BIG $$ with your lighting bill while also using less energy  to cool your home or business. See Cree at Creelighting.com or see the SAVING $ tab for more energy savings tips.

Promoting the widespread use of energy efficient lighting, along with conservation, is one of the best strategies available to increase our nations energy efficiency while also reducing our carbon footprint. Around 20-25% of the electricity we consume, based on various studies, is consumed to light our homes, offices and other commercial buildings. Both Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) use far less electricity per lumen than do incandescent bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs)

CFLs are  cost effective lighting technology available today; they use around one quarter of the energy as an incandescent bulb does, and they last around 10 times as long as conventional bulbs do.  They do cost a bit more than incandescent bulbs of similar power however, they will pay for themselves many times over by lowering monthly electric bills and needing to replace them less often.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

LEDs are poised to become the lighting technology standard of tomorrow. LED lighting technology has been around for a while, but has been limited to niche markets because of its high manufacturing costs and poor color quality, but this is rapidly changing. New production technologies are poised to rapidly bring down costs. Engineers are also getting LEDs to emit a warmer white color than white LEDs have done in the past.

LED lights last even longer than CFLs. They will not need replacing for 10 to 30 years depending on their rating. They also do not suddenly fail like traditional bulbs do. They begin to gradually fade giving you a clue that they need to be replaced.

Even though they do still cost much more than incandescent and more than CFLs – LED lighting is already a money saver when the total life time costs of the various alternatives are considered.

LED lights also do not suffer from the Mercury environmental problem that has dogged CFL lighting technology amongst environmentally conscious consumers.

A recent study by Carnegie Mellon University, which was published in the March 2009 edition of IEEE Spectrum Magazine, found that some LED technologies are already cheaper than most commonly used lighting technologies.

Lima Azevedo, one of the authors of the study said the following, “Lighting our houses, streets and commercial buildings constitutes more than 20 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption. Light emitting diodes (LED) can reduce consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases because of their high-efficiency conversion of electricity to visible light,”

The study also concluded that the move to this  energy efficient lighting technology will need policy interventions for the proper economic incentives and education has to be put in place to allow people the incentive and knowledge to move more rapidly to change the way they light their homes and offices.

“Even if the LED technology is cheaper on a life cycle basis, consumers are likely to stick to what they know,” Azevedo said. “We need the design of smart policies to make this transition.” President Obama recently took a bold step to practice what he preaches by ordering all government facilities to change their lighting to more efficient technologies… time will tell to see how fast this takes place.