Philips Submits First L Prize Entry: LED replacement light for 60W incandescent

Over 20 years ago I worked at the GE Lighting Business Group at NELA Park in East Cleveland. At that time GE had a organization called "Lighting Research and Technical Services" basically a group of scientists and engineers who were focused on designing new lighting sources and associated manufacturing processes to make them inexpensively. Jack Welch got GE out of the Lighting research business when he refocused GE to be a Financial Services company instead of a Manufacturing company. GE became a "paper" tiger and made a lot of money for the financial managers. The result: decades later the USA is looking around the world for someone to develop a new lamp technology. So good luck Phillips. Good luck Sony. Good luck Toshiba. Too bad for America. Thanks Jack, great foresight.

I wish that we could get a bit more civil in discussions here.Some people really defend CFLs and if this is their favourite kind of bulb it is OK with me.They are in no way a future of a lighting and we all know it.Their survival rate is low and yeas I do have some that I paid much more than $5.00 for and they have aheavy choke on them.It did not help. A few barely made it to 7 years and looked like worn out fluorescent lights.It is not possible to return them for warranty exchange(thry were supposed to last 10 years).Most manufacturers request ORIGINAL PACKAGING AND RECEIPT.I would need a second house, or a pole barn to store packaging from all my toys.I have not heard about any CFL surviving 10 years.Some people just make legends...LEDs will get better.Many factories are not manufacturing CFLs anymore and EU is on a good way of discontinuing them due to a fairly high content of mercury.Germany said that they will never discontinue filament bulbs.As far as LEDs Kroger is selling 1.5W accent LED bulbs for $7.99 and they are great and come in few different varieties.So let's keep peace and go with progress.

it is easy to put a 400v diode in series and use doule wattage lamp. it will last for 20 years.

@Policebox, let's be realistic: $50 is quite costly when compared to a CFL, which has a life of 5,000 to 10,000 hours. 25,000 hours is 2.5 to 5 times a CFL, which can be purchased from a Big Box store for $0.94 (last weekend). Five CFLs will cost 10x less that your threshold (good for Phillips). Incandescent last 1000, or 2000 for long life, hours (I know, your only lasts 500) at $1.60, or $2.50. Twenty-five will cost $40; 25% less then your threshold, or 13 * $2.5 = $32.5, or 53% less than your threshold. More realistically, John Q. Public will pay a few dollars more for an LED than their standard choice of lamp. CFLs started selling when the price dropped below $5; I suspect most people will also accept an LED at $5. Hey, I just realized that $5 is about the same as 5 CFLs, so it would be a "wash" for Mr. Public, whom does not look at the energy savings. If you would like, you can compare energy savings, CFLs require 14-W to 18-W (depending on the manufacturer) and this bulb uses 10 (if it meets the criteria), and let Mr. Public know if $50 ia a value. Regards,

I say good riddance to the venerable tube. First the CRT, now the light bulb. I'll pay $50 if it's really 25x. CFL's don't live up to their lifetime promise due to thermal issues, so we'll see.

At 1/6 the power and 25x the lifespan, who cares if it costs $50. I may not be able to afford to replace all the bulbs in my home, but any new ones I put in will outlast all the old ones put together, and they will pay for themselves in either power savings or replacement life alone.