LEDs vs. The Lightbulb
from the the-battle-is-on dept
I’ve been fascinated by LED technology for some time now, so it’s good to see this article from MIT’s Tech Review explaining the latest in attempts to replace the light bulb with LEDs. It still sounds like it’s a long way off, but plenty of researchers are trying to tackle the remaining issues in making cheap LEDs that can finally make the old incandescent bulb completely obsolete. Places where LEDs are already in wide use (like traffic lights) have shown that it saves a tremendous amount of money over inefficient light bulbs. The article also discusses the potential battle between regular LEDs and OLEDs in providing the breakthrough technology. Update: The SF Chronicle is reprinting a NY Times article on the same subject.
Comments on “LEDs vs. The Lightbulb”
That's funny
How many works of fiction or art from the mid-20th century denigrate the light bulb, for its “hysterical,” “unnatural” light? Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 has a passage about it, Picasso has a painting that portrays the light bulb as a terrible force of modern tyranny. The assumption was that technology would always make our environment somehow more unpleasant. In a world of LED’s, how foolish would they look?
I would
?Nobody will pay 20 bucks for a light bulb?even if it lasts 500 times longer and uses half the electricity,? says Frank Steranka, vice president for research and development at Lumileds.
I would. In a heartbeat. I buy regular lightbulbs, 4 packs for ~$2.00, or about $0.50 each. If it would actually last 500 times as long, that would be $250 worth of lightbulb replacing AND I could save half off the light bill.
I started replacing the incandescent bulbs in my home with the flourescent replacement bulbs that cost up to $8 each. The first one I replaced over 10 years ago and I’ve had to replace the bulb 1 time. It’s the kind that has a replacable bulb but uses the same base unit, so the bulb only cost about $3 to replace. I purchased that light originally for my bedroom to aid in dressing in the morning. I work under flourescent lights and sometimes I would get to work to find that clothes that appeared to match under incandescent light don’t look the same under flourescent lighting.
I’ve replaced all my bathroom lights with dual 13 watt flourescent bulbs that each provide the equivalency of a 60 watt incandescent bulb which is more than adequate. Hallway lights have been repalced with 16 watt flourescents which are equivalent ot 75 watt incandescent bulbs.
I’ve noticed a significant reduction in my electric bill and I’ve not had to replace any lightbulbs for some time.
My local Menards store has 4 packs of 13 watt flourescent bulbs on sale right now for $9 which is a great investment.
Re: I would
i would pay $20 for a LED bulb after I only have to buy it once, and I could replace all the bulbs in the house one by one.
i really want to cut my power use,
eventually i want to buy bit by bit solor panals for my roof, i live in texas and the power company would have to pay us for the overflow electricity by law.
simply canceling out one bill would be worth it
Re: Re: I would
Man, if you know where I can buy a high output LED bulb for $20 let me know! LED’s are a great way to cut your electricity bill. I live in a place that has 20 hours of darkness in the winter and I can tell you how high a light bill can become!
an excellent LED site
is http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/
It’s not pretty, but he is hard-core LED.