A 10 watt light-emitting diode, or LED, bulb has been named the greenest replacement for the time-worn 60 watt bulb. The Philips made bulb won $10 million from the Department of Energy by winning the L Prize (covered here nearly 2 years ago) for creating “high performance, energy-saving replacements” for the incandescents that still proliferate around the country.
In order to compete in the competition, Phillips had to submit 2,000 bulbs. Why so many? With a product so important to daily life as the lightbulb, rigorous tests were conducted to make sure the bulb could replace the hearty 60 watt we all know (425 million) of which are sold each year in the U.S. alone). The battery of tests included short-term and long-term performance testing carried out by independent laboratories and field assessments conducted with utilities and other partners. The product also performed exceedingly well through a series of stress tests, in which the product wassubjected to extreme conditions such as high and low temperatures, humidity, vibration, high and low voltage, and various electrical waveform distortions.
It also gives of a “warm white” light that LED bulbs have often failed to produce up till now. Bulbs not used in testing went into field assessments where 1,300 bulbs were used in supermarkets in Sacramento, residences on Martha’s Vineyard, and apartments in New Hampshire. DOE reported that people liked the light and would recommend it to others. The long term savings and reductions in pollution would be dramatic, too. DOE estimates that, “If every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the U.S. was replaced with the 10-watt L Prize winner, the nation would save about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity or $3.9 billion in one year and avoid 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions. That’s enough electricity to power the lights of nearly 18 million U.S. households, or nearly triple the annual electricity consumption in Washington, D.C.”There are some down sides, namely a price that could top $40 (Philips hasn’t said how much it will cost). For one lightbulb? Yes, but current bulbs have to be replaced ever 1-2 years where the new LED can last for 35 years. Just be sure to keep the kids’ footballs away from them.[Image]
