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Cleveland, OH — General Electric has unveiled its new 40-watt LED bulb that will last 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs, which are being phased out in the United States.
The bulb, part of GE's Energy Smart line, will last more than 25,000 hours, compared to the typical 1,000-hour lifespan of incandescent bulbs. When used for three hours a day (the average used by Energy Star for comparing bulb performance), the GE 40-watt LED would last close to 23 years. At four hours per day, the average GE uses, it would last 17 years.
The bulb consumes 9 watts of energy, produces the same amount of light as a 40-watt incandescent bulb, and was designed to direct light downward and to the sides, instead of just in one direction as some LED bulbs do.
GE plans to start selling the bulb later this year or early next year for $40-50, and it expects it to meet Energy Star criteria. The bulb produces 450 lumens, the amount required by Energy Star to be considered an equivalent of 40-watt incandescents. Most current LED bulbs produce 350 lumens.
Cree is providing the LEDs for the bulb, and the two companies will be showing off the new bulb at the upcoming Light + Building 2010 and LightFair 2010 trade shows.
?????
$40 for a light bulb??? There is nothing inside but $3-5 worth of components (and in street prices, GE's cost is much less) It's based on super-bright LEDs which are pretty cheap now.
I just wonder who's their target buyer? 10 years to get your money worth? I'm sure it will fail by then. What money-savvy consumer will pay a premium of about 4000% for potential money saver? Let's translate these numbers into something like Toyota Prius. Regular small-size sedan is let's say $17K so GE's money saving car should be selling for about cool $500,000 ??? Correct me if I'm wrong
Should this be compared to a CFL?
I don't understand why the LED mfg continue to use incandescent as the baseline. how do the economics stack up against the present technologies of CFL or Ceramic Metal Halide? Also, when predicting life spans of 20 plus years for electrical devices, how many other elements will fail first? Capacitors have a fixed life, as do other electrical components. I have trouble seeing these lengths of life spans projected without some form of analysis. I recently noticed the solar inverter people are projecting an 8 year replacement cycle for their product in calculating the ROI. I haven't seen too many plastic products that look good after 15 years, although they are getting better. So let's look at the real economics please
at 9 cents a kwh (and $40
at 9 cents a kwh (and $40 street price) the bulb would pay for itself in 9.7 years, per my calculations. And it would save another $30 before its useful life was over.
The bulb will save more in terms of CO2 than it will in dollars. over 25,000 hours it would save 775 kilowatt-hours of energy which equates to 1674 pounds of CO2 emissions avoided over the lifetime of the bulb (at a rate of 2.16 lbs/kwh which seems reasonable).
I'd have to find and recycle an extra 3893 aluminum cans or 16,740 bottles to save this much energy.
Last İ read the incandescent
Last İ read the incandescent bulbs are not being phased out.
The manufacturers are being required to make them more efficient. That is not the same thing at all.
The efficiencies are being improved from what İ read.
Sort of...
It's true that no one is banning incandescent bulbs, but the requirements (30% increase in lumens/watt efficiency) will phase out "standard" tungsten incandescent technology. Halogens will still be sold as they meet the requirements. Other technology is being looked in to as well, but right now CFLs are the dominant alternative because of price with LED bringing up the rear.
Not 40 Watt Bulb!
Its a 9 Watt bulb, not a 40 Watt like the title says.
They mean "equivalent"
They meant "40-watt equivalent." Calling a low-wattage bulb by the higher wattage is the best way for people to compare brightness. Assuming you wanted the same brightness from an incandescent, you'd buy a 40-watt bulb.
So working out the economics of it: At three hours per day (the example given in TFA) a normal 4-watt bulb would eat up 43.8 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. This bulb would give equivalent light and use 9.8 kWh. Depending on your utility costs (we'll assume 20 cents, including all fees), that's around $2 instead of $9 per year. If GE sells this for $40-50 it would take about six years for this bulb to pay for itself, but it would then go on paying for itself for 17 more years. Not a bad deal. For lights used more than three hours per day (e.g., in an office) it would pay for itself much faster.
Caveat: if you move, don't forget to bring your expensive lightbulbs. :)