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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