GE announces new LED bulb will last for 17 years

[wpsedgwick]

Source: Green Technology Daily

GE’s Appliances & Lighting division announced that it plans to release a new 9-watt LED bulb — a replacement for 40-watt general service incandescent bulbs – that will last for 17 years.

The new "Energy Smart" LED bulb puts out 450 lumens--about the same output as a 40-watt incandescent--while consuming 9 watts and will be available for purchase this fall or early 2011.

Because of their relative energy efficiency and durability, LED lights are expected to start replacing other technologies more rapidly this year.


Read more: http://www.greentechnologydaily.com/products/681-ge-announces-new-led-bulb-will-last-for-17-years

[sui generis]

1. and cost as much as 17 years worth of lightbulbs

adjusted for inflation.

Have you seen how much the super-long life ones cost now? $25 bucks for a lightbulb? Ridiculous.

[Statistical]

3. Have you factored in the cost of energy for 17 years?

[NoNothing]

7. At the same time

Fluorescent bulbs use as little electricity and are recycled. EDIT: And are cheaper.

[Statistical]

10. Well CFL use less but still more than LED.

60w light bulb = 60 watts
60W CFL light bulb = 13-15 watts
60W LED light bulb = 5-8 watts

I agree CFL is the best value right now but I remember when CFL were expensive also.
It takes economies of scale to bring prices down and early adopters pay for those economies of scale.
I have replaced every bulb in the house with CFL and I got about 8 spares. That should last a couple years.
Hopefully by the time by CFL start burning out LED will be cheaper and I can cut energy consumption even more.

[NoNothing]

11. Wrong

9 watt CFLs can easily emit 500+ lumens.

They are still the most efficient, lumens per watt.

LED's are only more efficient at much lower power levels, due to a nagging problem called "LED droop."

EDIT: The LED bulb talked about in the article is 9 watts. A 6-8 watt "40 watt equiv" LED bulb does not provide 450 lumens over 350+ degrees.

[Statistical]

14. Show me a CFL that is 9 watts and 500+ lumens. n/t

[NoNothing]

16. As you wish

There are many. Here is just one:

http://www.1000bulbs.com/9-Watt-2700-Kelvin-Compact-Fluorescents/39109/

CFL technology has been improving at the same time LED technology has.

[Statistical]

18. Wow either I got ripped off or these didn't exist a couple years ago.

Thanks. I might buy a couple to compare them to my current bulbs.

Your link is bad but I found them from homepage.

So do you know what these GU24 bulbs are?

[NoNothing]

23. Sorry about the link

Don't know what went wrong.

The one disadvantage most CFL bulbs have is that they still take a little time to warm up to full brightness and don't like rapid switching. Probably LED bulbs will always beat them in warm-up time and ON/OFF cycles.

The GU24 form factor addresses this somewhat, by accommodating both self-ballasted (normal CFL type) and fixture-ballasted (like normal fluorescent tubes) type lights. The fixture-ballasted lights can often warm up quicker by having a more powerful ballast.

[HopeHoops]

26. CFLs also can't be used with dimmer switches. LED bulbs can.

Some CFLs "claim" to be dimmer compatible, but they still whine like a teabagger when dimmed.

[NoNothing]

30. Fair point

Though LED bulbs mostly are not dimmable with regular dimmers either.

[pipoman]

57. -damn it, you!

:spray:

Whine like a teabagger......I love it..

[struggle4progress]

62. Not all LEDs are dimmable. And I have some dimmable candelabra base CFLs

that seems to work well in a fixture where I thought incandescents ran a bit hot for my tastes

[HopeHoops]

74. Yeah, and even with eight 25W bulbs, an 8-stick is still hitting 200W!!!

I let most of them burn out and just keep two or three live bulbs in it.

I haven't seen the CFLs in that format. I'll have to look for them.

[BootinUp]

78. That link doesn't work for me...

I was interested in seeing it too. :(

[jberryhill]

32. I don't doubt that CFL's are more efficient

...even without looking at the number.

What concerns me about CFL's is the lifecycle impact of the materials used to make them, and safety issues.

And, no, I haven't looked into any comparisons on that either, but I like a piece of solid state material over a glass tube coated with "stuff".

[daleo]

15. What about pollution

If I recall correctly, CFLs have mercury. I don't know what pollution problems LEDs present, though.

[NoNothing]

17. Trace amounts

That is why they are recycled.

[daleo]

20. Every recycling program has some leakage/wastage, though.

I have a number of CFLs in my house. I am willing to give the LEDs a tryout. It depends on the location and application.

[HopeHoops]

28. I've got a multiple LED desk lamp that runs on D cells - I love it.

I use it behind the bed as a reading lamp. Three D cells keep it running for, well, a damn long time. It is really bright and has a nice focus distance and spread.

[daleo]

34. Sounds good

A website I looked at says they work in cold weather too. It could be a good garage, garden shed application, as well as around the house.

http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/led-lighting/

[HopeHoops]

75. I've seen that too but haven't tried it. Screw using CFLs outside or in a garage!

My neighbor had two of them in his garage and one blew up when he turned on the lights last winter (one before this past one). While he was cleaning up the shattered crap all over his garage, the OTHER one blew up - all over him. He showered for about two hours after that and still didn't feel clean.

[daleo]

79. I had heard that CFLs aren't efficient in the cold

But it sounds like blowing up is another good reason to avoid them for that application.

[TheMadMonk]

84. Trace amounts = a fraction of what generating the difference in power consumed...

...from coal would release. Leakage in recovery processes is a fraction of that. Not a concern in any way shape or form. Not even a great concern if disposed of thoughtlessly in the general waste stream.

LED really is going to have to offer something wonderful to make inroads. A seventeen year life is a selling point, but the price point will have to be right too. Mass market, it would have to be sub $20 I'm thinking.

[jberryhill]

33. "that's why they are recycled"

...if people don't just throw them in the trash.

I'll plead guilty here. My kid broke one in the basement a while back. I swept it up and put it in the trash. I wouldn't even know where to take them for recycling.

[Leftist Agitator]

39. Your entire basement is now contaminated with mercury.

Just so you know.

[jberryhill]

48. Meh...

That's why I store my fish down there.

As far as I'm concerned, I like the tangy piquance it imparts to tuna.

[Nihil]

85. Well played that man!

>> Your entire basement is now contaminated with mercury
> That's why I store my fish down there.
> As far as I'm concerned, I like the tangy piquance it imparts to tuna.

That was *exactly* the right response to the previous poster's
panic-mongering!

:spray:
:toast:

[BadgerKid]

66. Check out your local home hardware store for recycle bins.

Our Home Despot takes CFL bulbs.

[Grinchie]

80. Yeah, too bad they are mostly just thrown in the Trash

As there are no funds nor training for recyclers to promote the collection of CFL's.

90% are thrown in the trash, and go into landfills, and many people don't realize that there are coated with toxic "Stuff" inside the bulb.

It would be safe to say the that LED light sources will be less toxic and more robust, need less circuitry to get them started and keep them running.

[Nihil]

86. What do you do with standard fluorescent tubes round your way?

If you just "dump them in the trash" then yeah, too bad for you
as they are worse than CFLs.

If you handle them in any other way, just put the CFLs in the same
processing chain.

:shrug:

[Grinchie]

91. I don't use them.

But in Hawaii, there is no method for CFL or Fluorescents, which is exactly the point.

This thread was about high out Light Emitting Diodes replacing CFL's in the near future.

I think CFL's are too fragile, too toxic, and too complicated for the application.

[Statistical]

94. CFL recycling locations in HI.

http://www.recyclehawaii.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=69&Itemid=75

http://www.kauai.gov/Government/Departments/PublicWorks/RecyclingPrograms/HouseholdHazardousWaste/tabid/114/Default.aspx

[Statistical]

88. Where do you buy CFL? Most places that sell them recycle them?

Light bulb burns out... go to home depot. Recycle old one and buy new one.
I even saw a CFL recycling box at Walmart of all places.

[Grinchie]

92. I don't buy them

Never had the need.

[Statistical]

93. So you are pro pollution?

Incandescent bulbs contain more harmful toxins (including mercury) when you consider the emissions from the power to light them.

The only thing that matters is total cost

Carbon from creation + carbon from powering + carbon from disposal = Total carbon cost
Pollution from creation + Pollution from powering + Pollution from disposal = Total pollution cost
Financial Cost to purchase + financial cost to power + financial cost to dispose = Total financial cost.

CFL win on all three factors.

There is no reason not to use them unless you like more CO2 release, more pollution, and spending more money.

[sui generis]

8. NPV sir, also present value of cash on hand

The ironic thing is the manufacturer is placing the burden of adoption on a select few rather than making the manufacturing process cheap enough to be readily adopted.

The reason for that is their value system is not to save energy or the environment but to make a profit on bulbs that have less of a planned obsolescence.

[Statistical]

12. Well that happens in any industry.

First Bluray players were $500 - $1000. By next year they were $200 - $300. Then came $150. Then came $100. Now they are sub $100.

Computer, cellphones, lithium ion batteries, electric vehicles, fuel cells, DVD, CD, semi-conductors, solar panels, etc.

Virtually every product follows that trend.

[sui generis]

24. yes but if they can make up profit in volume

why not start with volume? I know there are a hundred mitigating MBA reasons, but if their value system is that the technology is the clear future for energy conservation, then starting out affordably will allow NON-category killer stores to stock and sell into their markets instead of just high end customers.

Realistically, BluRays burn out or fail just as quickly as the products they replaced, while these lightbulbs won't be replaced for possibly a decade in some cases, and that's a decade worth of sales lost. It's doubtful the prices will come down - they've rationalized that people aren't buying these to save the environment but to save having to change lightbulbs.

[Statistical]

25. Prices have come down by 70% on CFL in last 5-6 years.

Risk is why you don't start in volume. Say you invest a $1bil in a production line using technology x. Next year your competitor makes a breakthrough and can sell the product for less than you can make it. Oops. Companies that do that enough end up not in business. Companies that remain learn how to manage risk.

Competition will drive down LED prices. Either that or that or nobody will buy LED and instead use CFL.

Incandescent light bulbs are banned starting in 2014 so eventually every light bulb sold will either be CFL or LED or some other low energy type.

LED has a direct competitor in CFL so I am not worried about the price angle.
Either they will get cheap or they die off.

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. So the landfill space saved is worthless? nt

[OhioChick]

6. I was just going to ask that...Will people be able to afford these? n/t

[roody]

89. Only if you enjoy changing light bulbs and paying electric bills.

[Statistical]

2. Win-Win. Less energy and less landfill waste.

I still love my Compact Florescent (CFL) though in the interim. Will be a little while before LED get cost effective

[NoNothing]

5. 450 lumens - over what arc?

Some of the LED bulbs are very misleading because they give decent brightness levels, but only in a narrow cone, like a spotlight. A 40-watt incandescent, for example, emits 450 lumens in a nearly 360 degree sphere - while the LED replacement may be that bright in a cone only 30 degrees wide!

Right now, watt-for-lumen, compact fluorescents are still the most efficient.

[liberal N proud]

13. They claim the bulb is omnidirectional

If that is true remains to be seen

[Terry in Austin]

9. But they won't know for sure until 2028

Meanwhile, I've burned out more than a few of those seven-year CF bulbs in the last couple of years!

The thing is, there are other reasons besides "consumer advantage" to switch to lower energy lighting.

[superconnected]

21. I'll stick with the 7 year bulbs for now because 40 watts is not enough light for me for anywhere in

my house.

I only use the CFL's right now because they're energy savers. I've never seen one last 7 years. In my bathroom which has 4 of them across a mirror with a double sink, they burn out ALL the time. I just had another one go and changed two at once over that mirror a few months ago. I've only owned this house a year and a half. So no, they don't even make it a year. I used CFL's for years at my apartment and saw the same thing. I suppose they may last 7 years only if you never turn them off and on, in which case the old fashioned ones lasted 100 years if that happened.

Right now I use them because they do take up less energy. That's the only reason. LED lights are not bright enough yet. 40watts - sounds like a nice fridge light but not something I will be allowing my eyes to read to.

[jeff47]

36. See sibling post (nt)

[DCKit]

47. I found some of my fixtures had defective sockets.

I've got one socket in a three light fixture in the kitchen I can't keep a light in - they burn out within a week. Next to it, in the same fixture, I've got a CFL about twelve years old - one of the really big ones.

Sounds to me like your fixture might need some work or an outright replacement. It's difficult to find quality fixtures these days.

[superconnected]

52. All of my light bulbs are CFLs and have been since about 2004.

That would mean all of my light sockets from my apartment and my house since I moved are bad.

I'm not buying it.

[Statistical]

61. Or your wiring is bad. Lots of wiring in US is horrible.

If your bulbs are constantly burning out like that likely it isn't the bulbs.

Poor wiring can allow surges in the home to happen (when refrigeration motor cuts on or off for example).

Also the power from mains in some parts of the country really sucks. Might want to invest in whole house surge protector. A good electrician can wire one up pretty cheap in an hour.

[superconnected]

64. the person down the thead answered it. Those CFL light bulbs should not be used unless

someone plans to keep them on for at least 5 mins. I'm a stickler for turning off the lights, so at my place most light bulbs only get turned on for a few mins. Including the bathroom.

[Statistical]

65. Well turning on and off any light wears it out.

So it will wear out incandescent light bulbs also.

[jeff47]

70. Yes, but the effect is GREATLY enhanced in CFLs. (nt)

[madokie]

67. Where as we replaced all 26 or so of our incandescence bulbs with clf's about 4 or so years ago

and I've replaced only one so far and it was in the bathroom where the light is turned on and off several times a day.

[jeff47]

35. A couple CFL tips:

Well, one really.

CFLs HATE being turned on and off quickly. That makes them wear out very quickly.

Only use CFLs in fixtures where the light will remain on for 5 or more minutes. Because of this they tend not to be a good choice for bathrooms or closets.

Stick with incandescents in those areas. They'll last a lot longer, and since the light is only on for short periods of time, you're not having much effect on energy usage....and you'll save a lot in energy required to make the light bulbs.

[Statistical]

42. Whats your plan for after 2014?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2007-12-16-light-bulbs_N.htm

By 2014 all light bulbs must use 30% less electricity.
By 2020 it is 70% less.

[jeff47]

69. LEDs or the new, more efficient incandescents. (nt)

[jmowreader]

82. They'll need to create a "SmartSwitch" for the bathroom

This "SmartSwitch" will have a five-minute timer in it. When you turn the light on, this thing won't let the light go out for five minutes--naturally, if you use the light for, say, ten minutes and turn it off, the light will go out. If you use the light for three minutes and turn it off, it stays on until the full five minutes is up.

[superconnected]

53. That would explain why the bathroom CFL's always burn out the most at my place

and at the apartment I had before my house.

Makes total sense.

The CFL I used outside at my apartment(back porch) and was always on as I never found a light switch to turn it off was the only CFL I never had to replace, it lasted years.

[Ghost Dog]

96. I use halogen lights in the bathrooms

and for similar applications, for this reason.

I guess these count as more efficient incandescents?

[HopeHoops]

19. What's with the damn fins on it? The main problem with LED/fluorescent bulbs is shape.

Unless they have a shell like a standard incandescent, they don't fit in most overhead fixtures and you can't use clamp-on lamp shades. The thing sounds great but the damn fins render it useless for way too many fixtures.

[struggle4progress]

60. The fins are a heatsink. LEDs degrade rapidly if too warm.

[DirkGently]

22. Color temperature?

I'm fascinated by LEDs, and they are clearly where lighting is going for a number of reasons (energy efficiency, life, non-toxic). But I had to give up on a set of dimmable LEDs I got for the bedroom (in a fixture with no shade) because the light they put out was such a sickly shade. Ditto the "warm" LED rope light I got for the porch -- ice cold. As others have pointed out, getting hung up on the cost of a superior new technology misses the point -- economies of scale and improved manufacturing techniques, etc. will take care of that.

But ugly light is tough to deal with. We need tint research, pronto.

:)

[ladywnch]

27. couldn't that be fixed by tinting the envelope of the bulb thus

employing subtractive color mixing rules?....or is there something else I'm missing?

[NoNothing]

29. No, that won't work

The reason is because LED lights by their nature only emit light in a relatively narrow band of spectrum. If you subtract that, there won't be much light left (imagine applying a blue filter to a red LED). This is different than an incandescent bulb, which produces a fair amount of light over a wide spectrum.

The different colors of LED are created not with filters but by tuning the LED to generate a specific wavelength. This is why their colors look so "pure."

[jeff47]

37. Actually, it can work.

You put in a UV-emitting LED, and wrap it with a phosphor that emits the desired color, much like a fluorescent light. You will lose some efficiency though.

[Dr. Jonas Venture]

41. That's how white LEDs work, almost

What they actually do is emit right on the blue/near UV boundary, so you dope them with a yellow broad spectrum emitter, with more phosphor producing a warmer color temp. The phosphor absorbs all of the UV and some of the blue, so you get a spectrum that has a wide hump centered in the yellow, and a spike in the blue, and this gives something that looks quite a bit like white. It's usually lacking a bit in the red and the green, since even though the phosphor emission is broad, it tends to peter out by the time you get to green and red. So, some devices that aim for really good quality light, like the Cree LR6, add red and green narrow band boosters to the light engine, and then use a nice homogenizer to produce a smooth and blended output. If you want to see a beautiful quality of light from an LED device, look at the LR6.

I think this will change soon with the advent of quantum dot based narrow band phosphors. You could take green and red narrow band phosphors, blend them with the usual broad band yellow cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet phosphor used for classic white LEDs, and get Nichia style "yellow plus blue is white" LEDs with some built in boost in the green and red. So, this would open the possibility of single package light engines with very high CRIs. I think there's also some good potential for things like Genesis Photonics dual junction design combining a green and a blue/UV junction in a single chip, and then YAG:Ce doping that chip, to achieve a good warm white with a built in green boost.

In any case, LEDs will continue to improve in color output, and there are already some very good color quality devices out there.

[DirkGently]

81. Seems like you could

. . . and yet I've not found anyone doing it successfully. The "warm" rope light came in an amber casing, but the light produced was subjectively a cold, florescent-like green.

[Dr. Jonas Venture]

31. Color temp is rapidly improving

for LEDs. It is somewhat behind the improvements in fluorescent, but right now you can buy LED arrays with color rendering indexes above 90, something that's pretty rare in fluorescents, and even single package phosphor doped LEDs can be had with CRIs over 85 now. But, you do have to shop around, and bright LEDs with good color temperature tend to be expensive.

As for what's with all the fins... that's for cooling. In LEDs the junction temperature can't exceed 150 C or lifetime becomes severely reduced. This isn't the temperature of the outside case of the device, this is the temperature of the very thin (<1 micron) junction layer consisting of the quantum wells that actually generate light. For every 10 C you go above 150, lifetime gets cut roughly in half. So, even though LEDs run cool to the touch, a whole lot of surface area is needed for cooling to keep the junction itself down to a reasonable temperature. The LEDs in a device like the GE bulb described probably have a surface area less than 50 square millimeters, and, like I said, the junction thickness itself below 1 micron, so you have 8 watts or so being consumed in a volume of around .05 cubic millimeters, which is a pretty high power density. Most of the big advancements these days in LED lifespan involve getting the heat out of the chip itself, through the heat-sinking slug on which the chips are mounted, out through the package case, through the MCPCB on which the case is mounted, into the heat sink itself, and then to the surrounding air. So, there's a lot of steps, each with an associated thermal resistance, to get heat drawn out of the junction.

LED cost per lumen is dropping rapidly, and should achieve price parity with CFLs in 3-5 years. Also, improvements in the crystalline structure of the gallium nitride material itself improves efficiency. I have personally seen prototype white phosphor corrected LEDs with an efficiency above 160 lumens per watt, which is about twice that of CFLs, and Cree has recently announced an achievement of over 200 lumens per watt. Now, these are probably not warm white LEDs, since the more phosphor conversion you use, the less efficient they become, nor are they necessarily high power devices, but they are a reasonably good white light, and as these designs ramp up to volume production, LEDs will become more efficient than fluorescent lights. The theoretical maximum for LEDs is around 260 lumens per watt, and fluorescents can't go above 80. So, LEDs will win out in the long run in price and efficiency, but it remains question of how long this will take.

My house is currently lit with a mixture of CFLs and LEDs, with most of the LEDs being prototypes from various companies I've worked on LED development projects with as well as an assortment of things I've built myself. Obviously I have a vested interest in LEDs "winning", since that's one field I've done significant work in, and I even have a small startup company developing a newer and better LED light (2000+ lumens, variable spot, 80000+ hour lifespan for the initial product, 14000 lumens for the next iteration which I'm currently building, both are being developed for the film industry), but I do have to agree that at this time CFLs are a lower cost and generally higher efficiency way of producing light. So, I expect LED adoption for general lighting will be slow over the next few years, but will eventually take off.

[Abq_Sarah]

90. Thanks for the info

I have very high hopes for the future of LED lighting. I have already switched over everything that's currently practical to LED, including all flashlight, the tail lights for 2 of my jeeps, Christmas lights and exterior solar lighting.

[iris27]

43. Totally agree.

I'm sure this is an area they're working on...but it is DEFINITELY needed. We bought LED Christmas lights for the tree a couple years ago, and to me they look like alien landing lights instead of warm, fuzzy holiday lights. Doesn't bug the husband at all, and doesn't bug me enough to want to buy new lights - but it's made me think twice about buying LEDs for use anywhere but in flashlights.

[on point]

38. Evolutionary Change to Infrastructure

Part of the purpose is to evolve into a better product and production infrastructure with less footprint and more cost efficient for society overall, including consumers. This product may not meet that need right away, but consumer spending in this direction will help drive product improvement and improve the fabrication and distribution infrastructure. Some diversion spending from new power plants to new light bulbs via incentive spending to deliver the long term NPV to customers today, plus a little regulation would help things along. Changing the terrain is probably all the help markets need to evolve the production infrastructure.

[Dr. Jonas Venture]

40. Hmmm... I just read the full article

And I'm not too impressed. Cree makes some good LEDs, but their big weakness in my opinion is thermal management. The XLamp series only has a maximum lifespan of 30K hours, and that's to L70, the point at which the LED is producing 70% of original light. There are other packages out there that have 100K hour lifespans. The main problem is the thermal resistance of the package itself. Thermal resistance from junction to the outside of the package on the XLamp series is, if I remember correctly, around 3 C/W. I've built devices that have thermal resistances below 2.5 from junction to ambient, with a heat sink capable of shedding 60 watts, and fit it all in something the size of a large soupcan. So, this highly rigged "17 years", based on 4 hours a day operation, isn't so impressive. I've got a homebrew LED light sitting right here on my workbench that, if operated 4 hours a day, would last 55 years, and that's to L90, not L70. When I first read the 17 years claim in the headline, I thought they mean 24 hours a day. That would be impressive, but 25K hours, or 17 years at four hours a day, is, honestly, very not impressive.

Still, Cree does do an excellent job of color rendering index, and the overall quality of light you get from their LEDs is among the best in the world. I just wish they'd improve their junction to package thermal resistance.

[iris27]

44. IMO, bulb longevity is a solution to a largely invented problem.

I don't remember people bitching far and wide about how often they had to change burned-out light bulbs back when incandescents were the only bulbs around. Besides, most of the wear that bulbs take is from being turned on and off repeatedly, so their lifespans are significantly shorter than the multi-year predictions given anyhow.

I'd rather LED and CFL makers focus on getting the color temperature equivalent and the comparative costs down.

[jberryhill]

49. Longevity goes with the turf

It's not as if they are concentrating their effort on longevity.

Either device is inherently going to last longer than a tungsten filament, and that includes cycling.

[Statistical]

51. Longevity of a product (any product) is directly related to the amount of waste generated. n/t

1 light bulb vs 20 light bulbs. Same amount of time, same amount of light.
Now multiply that by a billions of light bulbs in the US.

[Oregone]

45. But can you grow good bud with it?

Thats the question on everyone's mind

[Statistical]

50. Probably not. Plants need specific spectrums of light and LED rarely provide that.

Doesn't mean you couldn't make some "bud friendly" LED however it would need to be one optimized to output spectrum of light most beneficial to plants.

[Oregone]

55. There are actually grow LEDs

Some experiments have been run. The results are a bit in contention (often its about selling a product). They are expensive and are rarely going to beat MH or HPS

LED could be the new move in growing if innovations allow it to be so

[fatbuckel]

46. Ya know...some dumb-ass people will still argue

about not using anything better (or different) Those damn Repubs will argue that we should use more energy wasting products and make more pollution.(has nothing to do with the fact that they`re in bed with big oil) And God forbid we create new manufacturing jobs......idiots.

[madrchsod]

56. these bulbs would cost to much to make in the usa

remember there`s only one light bulb manufacture in the usa. they make heavy duty tungsten bulbs.

[madrchsod]

54. do`t care.....

i`ll be dead in 17yrs.....:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

58. ... expected to be in the range of $40 to $50 ...

http://www.greentechnologydaily.com/products/681-ge-announces-new-led-bulb-will-last-for-17-years

[newscott]

59. Let me guess it's made out of Plutonium!

[Honeycombe8]

63. Wow. I wonder how much it costs. If not tooooo much, I'd buy one of them. nt

[Lagomorph]

68. I use LED bulbs...

...where I can. They're pretty weak, but for night time navigation around the house it's enough. They are 10 bucks each, so I'm switching over as I can afford it.

[The Straight Story]

71. Where do you get them at? (other than the web of course)? (nt)

[librechik]

72. I found 9-bulb spots and small nightlights in plug in fixtures at the Home Depot

good for focused lighting over my keyboard and in the bathrooms. Still waiting for something to put in incandescent lamps besides those spiral mercuries...

[The Straight Story]

73. Cool, just checked local Home Depot online and they have some, thanks (nt)

[Statistical]

87. By waiting you help to emit more mecury into the atmosphere.

50% of power in this country comes from coal and coal emits mecury.

A CFL contains a tiny fraction of mercury emitted by coal plants to power energy wasting incandescent bulbs.

Plus places like Home Depot recycle CFL so that is a further reduction in mercury release.

[Lagomorph]

77. Ace Hardware.

Just down the street.

[IndianaGreen]

76. Who can afford $40-50 for a light bulb?

That's the price quoted in the story. There are millions of Americans that just don't have that kind of cash laying around.

[Lagomorph]

95. Slowly but steadily...

It pays for itself soon enough. I am buying one or two LED bulbs a month until I switch over. I'm still buying the cheaper $10 bulbs for all the multiple fixtures I have. The big suckers will come more slowly.

[bamacrat]

83. LED's are the future of everything light related..

Tvs are already being made out of them and consume less power than their LCD/Plasma counterparts and are only about an inch thick.