LED Bulbs: New Technology, Familiar Shape.

Yesterday was a big day for lighting at the Lightfair International Conference and Expo in New York.  New Jersey based Lighting Science Group Corporation and Royal Philips of the Netherlands both unveiled new LED (light-emitting diode) replacements for the standard incandescent bulb.  This represents a significant step forward in the fast-developing field of solid-state lighting: while LEDs are currently available for a number of residential applications, viable alternatives to the standard incandescent or compact fluorescent bulb are in short supply.

Both companies' new lights assume the shape of the most common incandescent bulb. LSG's light is set to be commercially available later this year, while Philips' replacement bulb will be released late in 2010, according to LEDs Magazine.  Designed to replace incandescent bulbs in all general indoor lighting applications, both of these LEDs are dimmable and use only about 8 watts to produce the light output of a 40-watt incandescent - making them roughly 80% more efficient than the standard incandescent, and about 20% more efficient than comparable CFLs.

It's often suggested that LEDs represent the future of residential lighting, and these developments are a step in that direction.  Despite rapid advances in CFLs, a technology that is fast solving its own problems of dimmability and light quality, LEDs are shouldering a growing share of expectations for energy efficient lighting.  They're free of mercury, and boast even greater efficiency and longevity than CFLs.  We look forward to these two new products hitting the market, and we will let you know when they do.