LED bulbs in the home: So far, so good
I more or less ditched incandescent bulbs for more-efficient compact fluorescents in my house years ago. But at this point, I’m awfully close to ditching CFLs for the latest in lighting technology: LEDs.
LED lighting has got a lot going for it. The lights can be far more efficient than other types of lights, and the bulbs are supposed to last for tens of thousands of hours–enough to last 20 or 30 years depending on usage. Unlike CFLs, there’s no mercury, the light is instant, and turning lights on and off shouldn’t degrade their useful life, according to manufacturers.
An LED bulb that puts out almost as much light as a 40-watt incandescent but uses less than 9 watts.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET )
The downside of LEDs, feature-wise, has always been the light color; the blueish light LEDs traditionally have feels cold, particularly compared with the warm glow from incandescent and halogen bulbs. The other knock (or feature, depending on your usage) on LEDs has been that they direct light. That makes them great for spotlights but not good for a desk lamp. And LEDs for everyday use are pricey and unlikely to be stocked in your neighborhood hardware store.
However, all that is changing. Prodded by a federal mandate to boost lighting efficiency, consumer lighting companies are producing LED bulbs with the familiar screw-in bottom for general lighting. At this point, the amount of light that these LED bulbs produce is still a bit low, at least for my tastes, but the light quality is good. And of course, whether these bulbs last for decades as manufacturers say is still unproven.
The now-familiar curly compact florescent bulb. This one consumes about 14 watts, so it’s rated at more than a 40-watt equivalent.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET )
Florida-based Lighting Science Group, which is providing many of the LED bulbs for Home Depot’s EcoSmart line, sent me a package of its products to try out. Overall, I’ve been impressed and I’m looking forward to what comes next, particularly when you consider the pace of technology change.
Thomas Edison wouldn’t recognize most of the products in the EcoSmart line; they are cone-shaped bulbs with fins that act as heat sinks, and they have flat tops where the light source goes. These are spotlights, great for casting a beam of light from above your kitchen counter or perhaps for an outdoor flood light.
In the past year, though, lighting manufacturers have introduced LED bulbs in a shape Edison would recognize that put out a decent amount of good-quality light. They still don’t give off light from all sides as incumbent technologies do, but this latest generation of LEDs does a better job dispersing light, which means that you could use one (or a few) for overhead lighting.
A bulb Thomas Edison would love: a 40-watt incandescent.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET )
The best part is that the prices are coming down. The 40-watt equivalent general light bulb from Lighting Science Group, which is dimmable, costs just under $20. You can buy it online now and in Home Depot stores later this month, along with the LEDs from other manufacturers, including a ceiling down light from Cree.
The race: Lumens per watt per dollar
I installed the 40-watt equivalent, branded the EcoSmart A19 by Home Depot, and a couple of others around my house a few weeks ago and they’ve fit in nicely. The first thing you notice is that the light is white, not yellow like my CFLs. And they sip juice: the A19 is rated at 8.6 watts but it used just 6 watts when I tested it with my power meter. An Energy Star-qualified CFL would use 9 to 13 watts for similar output.
But here’s where I’m on the fence. The amount of light the A19 gives off–429 lumens–is just not enough for my small home office, for example. It seemed to work better in an old architect desk lamp, but it felt a tad dim from a single fixture on the ceiling.
That, too, is about to change, said Zachary Gibler, the CEO of Lighting Sciences Group. By the first quarter next year, the company will have a 60-watt equivalent available, which is the most popular type. It will be much brighter–giving off 800 lumens in order to meet the Energy Star label–yet consume only 9 watts. Other lighting companies are in the thick of this race, too, with Sylvania, Philips, GE, Lemnis Lighting, and others all planning 60-watt replacements.
Pricing hasn’t been set yet, but Gibler projects that the 60-watt equivalent will cost about $35. The savings over time will be compelling enough for some consumers, but that’s still a lot of money for a single light bulb. (That’s one reason why businesses, in the near term, are a more likely customer for LEDs since they are more apt to consider the total cost of ownership.)
