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A new type of super-efficient household light bulb is being developed which could spell the end of regular bulbs.
Experts have found a way to make Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) brighter and use less power than energy efficient light bulbs currently on the market.
Super Efficient Household Lighting LED On The Way [news.bbc.co.uk]
I for one hope they can improve them enough, I'll be in the queue to make my house greener, and my bills smaller!
Last year I went to Jongleurs in Birmingham, a comedy club. I noticed all their spotlights were LED's, and how cool it was in the room. For once people weren't dripping with sweat.
LED light bulbs have been around for ages, the problem is they're just not bright enough yet.
But that's what this is all about ...
"Experts have found a way to make Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) brighter and use less power than energy efficient light bulbs currently on the market. The technology, used in gadgets such as mobile phones and computers, had previously not been powerful enough to be used for lighting."
But that's what this is all about ...
Yes I realise that. Like I said I hope they succeed!
It will be interesting to see what the prices are like, currently the bulbs are quite expensive, and it would cost over £100 to do the whole house. Even as low power as they are, about 2-3w each I think it will take a good while for them to pay for themselves.
[edited by: Dabrowski at 7:25 pm (utc) on Jan. 2, 2008]
[cree.com...]
and here:
[netl.doe.gov...]
Warm white is harder to do efficiently with LEDs for the moment than cool white. If find that I like both at different times, BTW, but people are more familiar with 'warm' white since it mimics the yellowish colour of current incandescent filament bulbs.
A large reason that the EU and other bodies have allowed a huge build-up of mercury-carrying CFLs into homes and businesses in a big way is, IMHO, the assumption that LEDs will pass them in 5--10 years time in efficiency and value. (For the US with 50% electricity generation from coal, which releases lots of mercury when burnt, on average they will have less mercury in the environment even if they stick with CFLs.)
Rgds
Damon
LED spot light prices are a little more expensive to the commonly used Halogen spot lights. However there are operating and environmental cost benefits
[edited by: Monkey at 3:30 pm (utc) on Jan. 3, 2008]
(For the US with 50% electricity generation from coal, which releases lots of mercury when burnt, on average they will have less mercury in the environment even if they stick with CFLs.)
Mercury emissions from coal fired power plants is minimal when comparing it to other sources:
In 1995, an estimated 5,500 tons of mercury was emitted globally from both natural and human sources. Coal-fired power plants in the United States contributed less than 1 percent of the total.
[fossil.energy.gov...]
IMHO think a 40W bulb is sufficient
Yeah, if you live in your bedroom at your Mum and Dad's!
My lounge takes about 5x 40w of ordinary bulbs to light sufficiently.
Counted 14 high wattage incandescent bulbs blazing on one nearby mansion at midnight.
Light Pollution
Bunch of damn hypocrites, do what i say not what I do.
Getting back on topic I love to see innovations like this, we've been switched over too fluorescent in our house since they were economically viable. Not specifically to be environmentally conscious but because it makes sense economically. Larger initial investment but the long term benefits far outweigh the initial cost. If they can provide the same with LED's I'll be purchasing them too if the cost benefit is there.
Even if this new generation surpasses compact fluorescents in terms of lumens per watt, the reliability and color still need to come up a bit. The oft-touted 100,000-hour life does NOT match my experience with flashlights, and traffic lights with several dead or flickering blocks of LEDs, though better driver circuitry would probably help this. As far as color, the mature compact fluorescent market offers several choices of color temperature, but I notice a lot of people still prefer incandescents over them because they claim to hate the color. White LEDs are mostly still too blue-ish, and the new warm-white type to yellow-ish for most consumers taste, for room lighting.
Keep working, engineers! You're almost there with this technology. The Light Bulb- what a commodity to rule the market in!
Would be great if all electricity companies could extend the same deal to all parts of the UK!
[edited by: Monkey at 11:48 pm (utc) on Jan. 9, 2008]
For the very small amount of energy they save (which is debatable because they cost more money and energy to produce) they are not worth the downsides.
1) They are not bright enough
2) You have to switch them on about a minute before you actually want to see properly because they take so long to "warm-up".
3) They are ugly and far too big.
In my opinion if you switch off lights when nobody is in the room then normal incandescent bulbs do not waste enough energy to worry about. I would rather skip the interim half baked solution of the energy saving bulbs and switch to LEDs as soon as they become reasonably priced. £100 for changing all the bulbs in the house doesn't seem too bad to me.
[edited by: The_Contractor at 1:03 pm (utc) on Jan. 10, 2008]
