GE introduces LED light bulb
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General Electric has taken the wraps off a 40W LED light bulb that it expects to make available later this year or early 2011.
GE Lighting’s new 450 lumen LED bulb is expected to consume just 9W, provide a 77 per cent energy savings and produce nearly the same light output as a 40W incandescent bulb.
The new bulb is expected to have a 25,000-hour rated life. If used for four hours per day, it is expected to last 17 years - 25 times longer than a 40W incandescent or halogen bulb and more than three times longer than a standard 8,000-hour rated life Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL).
Because it is a solid-state device it has no filament that can break and, unlike a fluorescent bulb, contains no mercury.
Although retailers will set the pricing for the bulb, GE expects that it will sell between $40 to $50 (£26 to £33).
GE will put prototypes of the bulb - outfitted with Cree XLamp XP-G LEDs - on display at two upcoming trade shows: Light+Building 2010 in Frankfurt, Germany, and LightFair 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Starting in 2012 and continuing through 2014, standard incandescent light bulbs are being phased out in the US as a result of new federal lighting efficiency standards: 100W bulbs can no longer be made come January 2012; 75W bulbs can no longer be made come January 2013; and 60W and 40W bulbs can no longer be made come January 2014.
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Readers' comments (30)
Willard Warren PE, LC, FIES | 10 Apr 2010 12:25 pm
A GE 40 w equivalent CFL lasts 10K hrs and costs only $2.
What application is the new LED for?
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Anonymous | 12 Apr 2010 3:17 pm
While commendable an achievement-what's the upside? No better power improvement over a flourescent!
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Nic Villarreal | 12 Apr 2010 3:28 pm
There must be something I'm missing. LEDs are not that expensive.
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Light Guy | 12 Apr 2010 3:34 pm
Obviously we should buy them because they're green. The LED delivers about 281K lumens per dollar while an old incandescent delivers about 1,568K lumens per dollar. The green in this case is the dollars leaving the consumers wallet.
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Craig | 12 Apr 2010 3:37 pm
I already have three LED's in my lamp at home. They were $12 and consume 2 watts. They produce more lumens than this. I also have many CFL's, some that consume 20 watts and 23 watts. But what would they like me to put outside my house where the temp drops to -30F? CFL's won't fire at that low temp.
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Ken Raven | 12 Apr 2010 3:41 pm
I have 9 off LED GU10 bulbs in the utility room. Over a two year period over half have failed and been replaced. (20 leds wired in series) I hope the new bulbs are more reliable.
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mark | 12 Apr 2010 3:49 pm
What is the total energy audit of manufacturing & running the bulb, my guess is that it takes far more energy to manufacture than an incandscent or flourescent bulb?
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Lewis Lack | 12 Apr 2010 3:50 pm
Philips already sell a very similar product - Econic Bulb - also with the same life and dimmable ... and developed in Europe!
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Simon Grim | 12 Apr 2010 3:52 pm
Like most new technologies it will be expensive until the volumes are large. Once cheaper than CFL they will dominate and should allow interesting new configuarions and colours.
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dk008 | 12 Apr 2010 4:07 pm
I recently bought a similar Philips bulb for Euro 19. Also with the usual claimed lengthy Time Before Failure. The very delicate glass bulb surrounding the LEDs broke while I was screwing it into the socket. The LEDs are however, still functioning.
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