Philips' New Green 12-Watt LED Bulbs Could Replace 425 Million 60-Watt Energy Hogs

[mod mom]

Philips' New Green 12-Watt LED Bulbs Could Replace 425 Million 60-Watt Energy Hogs
BY KIT EATONWed May 12, 2010

Philips has just unveiled what it's calling the "world's first LED replacement for most common household bulb," taking aim at the aging, inefficient 60W gizmo that's been lighting our homes since forever. This is the future of lighting, people.

Philips lifted the veil--or perhaps, pulled back the shutter--on its new EnduraLED effort at the Lightfair International tradeshow, but it'll be a few months until it's piling onto shelves in consumer hardware stores. In fact, it'll arrive right at the end of this year in the U.S., but that's still months ahead of upcoming legislation that requires more efficient lighting systems.

We've been hearing about supposedly magic LED lights for a while now, but Philips is noting that the 12W Endura unit is a direct swap-in replacement for the most common 60W bulb in use--over 425 million of which are sold in the U.S. every year, making up some 50% of the bulb sales market. These bulbs, while cheap and reliable, have a limited lifespan and such a horrendous inefficiency in turning electrical energy into useful light that they're being phased out for the sake of economic and environmental protection all around the world. They were temporarily replaced by a glut of compact fluorescent units, as you'll know ... but technologically these units aren't ideal, and the light they deliver is often un-dimmable, and very artificial-looking to the human eye.

Hence the interest in LEDs. Philips is noting it had to call in the scientists to perfect the "remote phosphor" technology (the magic that makes these units glow in soft white colors) in the new white LEDs inside the Endura bulbs, as well as working to get the optical light-casting performance of the bulbs up to standard. The resulting units are suitably high-tech looking, and each can "deliver up to 80% energy savings and last 25 times longer than its century-old predecessor." Each unit will cost much more than its glass and filament 60W incandescent ancestor, but a lifespan of some 25,000 hours (three years permanently lit, or about 10 years or so of "normal" use) combined with the electricity savings you'll make will compensate for the price.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1645193/led-bulb-philips-60w-consumer-lighting-eco-friendly-incandescent-green-12w?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+%28Fast+Company+Headlines%29

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. Phillips Press Release

http://www.lighting.philips.com/us_en/press/2010/05-12-10.php?main=us_en&parent=0&id=us_en_press&lang=en

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. We use what is the equivilent to 25 watts (I forget what the lumens is) in our boys'

study lamps/night lights. They cost $10 apiece but they were worth it. The incandescents were too hot, and the CFLs were a concern with the mercury because the guys are pretty rowdy with the pillow fights and throwing of stuffed animals. So the LEDs made perfect sense to me.

[n2doc]

3. No price given?

Until they get these things down to close to CFL prices they aren't going to sell in large numbers. I'd love to replace my CFL lights with these but I am not paying $50 a bulb to do so.

[starroute]

4. Will you be able to put them in recessed fixtures and globes?

That's been one of the big issues with the CFL's for us -- that in any fixture where the heat can't dissipate easily, they burn out as quickly as incandescents, while costing a whole lot more.

The second issue is that CFL's are inefficient if they're turned on and off 50 times a day, which makes them not so useful for places like the bathroom.

A third is the specialized bulb shapes -- spotlights over the sinks, flames and globes in some decorative fixtures -- which the CFL's can't replace at all. I wonder if they'll be able to make replicas of those shapes with LED's.

And a fourth is that the CFL's have never fit in some older lamps because they're bigger than the equivalent incandescents. I'd really expect the LED bulbs would solve that problem.

[Kolesar]

13. LED bulbs are perfect for replacing spotlights because the light is emitted at a narrow angle

Yes, there are some CFLs that cannot be mounted with the base "up" due to heat conditions.

[struggle4progress]

5. My current thinking and experience:

About $1 will buy a 14W CFL to replace a 60W incandescent

A 12W LED might be slightly more efficient as a replacement, but current retail pricing for LEDs suggests to me that Phillips will market this for $25-$50, and at that price it'll never really pay for itself: compared to the CFL, running 24/7, it would save you about $1.40 a year, so it'll take 17 years to pay for itself if it cost $25

But the big heat fin assembly on that Phillips bulb tells you that heat's a problem; heat degrades LEDs, so that sucker's really likely to lose efficiency and dim with time, and I wouldn't expect it to last 17 years to pay for itself compared to a CFL

The best deal I'll found on LEDs so far are some 5W spotlights around $12. The light is pretty unidirectional, but bounced off a wall or ceiling, the light can be useful. They aren't hot enough to need elaborate heat fins. Unfortunately, the spotlight style restricts the fixtures in which they can be used

I also have a number of 3W LEDs, purchased for $6-$10. The $6 ones are bluish; they give a rather dim light, and I think 6-8 of them would be needed to light a room well, using fixtures with translucent shades: wattage would be low, but it requires a lot of sockets; I've bought about 15 of these bluish-white 3Ws in the last several months; one is already dead

The $10 3Ws I got are nice and white; they're acceptable as desklamps, and three of them in appropriate fixtures would light a room well enough for general mucking around. I've bought about 10 of these white 3Ws in the last several months; one is already dead

The 3W and 5W don't warm up much

I experimentally bought a 12W LED spotlight for around $50: the light is bright but very unidirectional, and it runs a bit hot for my tastes, so I don't really expect it to last very long. I think it was a ripoff

[Kringle]

9. saving 48 watts, 12 v. 60 watts, saves 42 dollars a year

48 x 24 hours,
1.152 kwh per day
..............
at 10 cents per kwh,
11.52 cents
,,,,,,,,,,,,
times 365
............

42.05

[struggle4progress]

12. Of course. So I swapped out my always-on incandescent porch light for a CFL

long ago. Recently I replaced that 12W CFL porchlight with a rather dimmer but entirely adequate 3W LED; that swap will pay for itself

[tinrobot]

6. The LEDs I bought went dim after about two years

Curious as to whether Philips is addressing this common problem with LEDs.

[kestrel91316]

8. Yeah, I had some LED nightlites that failed after a couple of years.

THAT was pathetic, but at least they were cheap.

[kestrel91316]

7. I'm quite sure the hand-wringers will find SOME reason to scream and yell

about these new LED bulbs, some nonsense about poisons or harm from the light they produce, or other such drivvel..........

My only complaint so far about LED's is the failure to illuminate space. As spotlights/task lights they do fine.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Who wants to work under green light? nt

[wtmusic]

11. They come with green glasses. nt