The idea of an XL prize money on developing a light bulb may seem absurd but the amount of energy it would help save, which comes to 34 Terawatt-hours of power nationwide per year, does validate the huge offering. The entries were supposed to deliver at least 900 Lumens output, with a consumption of less than 10 watts, and a lifespan of at least 25,000 hours.

Energy saving is good, we hope they also keep the cost economics of the 21st century lighting substitute in mind.

But yesterday Philips, the Dutch electronics company, announced it would begin selling LED bulbs at the local discount chain E-mart.

Branded “Ambient LED,” the lights work in sockets for incandescent or halogen lights. Ambient LEDs last 45 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Replace one incandescent light with an LED, and it can cut 30 kilograms of carbon dixiode emissions per year, the same as planting a tree.

“With hopes of introducing high-quality lighting to consumers, we are offering LED lights at a very competitive price,” said Kim Yun-yeong, vice president of the company’s light division.

Ambient LEDs are priced around 20,000 won ($18), about half the cost of previous varieties.

LG Electronics also began selling LEDs for homes in February. The Seoul-based company announced yesterday that it received a certification from the Korea Energy Management Corporation for the product’s exceptionally high energy efficiency.

Compatible with halogen sockets, LG LEDs can be used for 12 hours daily for 10 years and cost 34,000 won.

“We plan to accelerate our LED light business in the coming days by introducing eco-friendly bulbs different from other lights,” said Kim Yong-hwan, director of the company’s solution business team.

LG plans to use those lights at its Yeouido headquarters when they are renovated this year.

Samsung Electronics, meanwhile, is adopting a wait-and-see approach, still uncertain whether LEDs will succeed in the consumer market. Samsung has been making LEDs for industrial purposes since 2007.

The new LED bulbs can last for 17 years and are expected to outperform currently available products that may be underwhelming consumers right now.

GE has claimed that their new LED bulb is better at directing the light downwards onto the intended area and produces 450 lumens whereas LED bulbs offered by other vendors can only produce 350 lumens. GE has also filed multiple patent applications for the bulb and expects it will be an ENERGYSTAR (News – Alert)-qualified LED omni-directional light bulb.

John Strainic, global product general manager at GE Lighting has commented that this is a bulb that can virtually light users’ kid’s bedroom desk lamp from birth through high school graduation. It’s an incredible advancement that’s emblematic of the imagination and innovation that GE’s applying to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Strainic added that consumers are reluctant to move away from the less efficient incandescent because they prefer the light quality they produce. The new GE Energy Smart LED bulb will address that lighting preference head-on and give consumers yet another option to light their homes and businesses.

GE will put prototypes of the bulb – outfitted with Cree (News – Alert) XLamp XP-G LEDs – on display at two upcoming trade shows: Light + Building 2010 in Frankfurt, Germany, and LightFair 2010 in Las Vegas. The high-efficiency, high-lumen-output LEDs used in the GE bulbs are Cree’s smallest and brightest lighting-class LEDs, designed specifically for general lighting.

Analysts have suggested that the introduction of high-quality retrofit light bulbs, like the GE Energy Smart LED bulb can be the next step in LED lighting revolution.

The bulb will be dimmable and will provide 806 lumens, with the potential to save up to 80% in energy consumption, compared to incandescent bulbs.

Philips said the bulb has a 25,000-hour lifetime.

With federal legislation phasing out inefficient lighting in the years to come, it’s likely that additional LED replacement bulbs will hit the shelves in 2011. Last week GE (NYSE: GE) unveiled its first–a replacement for 40-watt bulbs.

Philips also detailed broader marketing plans for its LED offerings in years to come. The company is introducing a home lighting system called LivingAmbiance, which wirelessly integrates luminaires and lamps to create different light settings–including a range of thousands of different color–with touch-button control.

In 2010, the company will introdue a product platform of outdoor luminaires that it hopes municipalities will adopt for streetlighting.

The company is currently exhibiting its new products and concepts at the Light + Building architecture fair Frankfurt Germany.

Enjoy instant-on light your home—closet, pantry, shop, garage, basement, garden shed, virtually anywhere! No fumbling for a switch—this battery-powered light detects motion and switches on automatically.

The light is simple to set up and easy to install. And the light comes on instantly and is very bright. Comes on as soon as I round the corner of my house to the front door and it actually brighten the area well.

Having husband with some mental deficiencies from head trauma, he sometimes couldn’t remember how to turn off/on light switches; now no need to worry about him not being able to see when he gets up in the dark; I have not attached them permanently to the wall, just set it on the floor next to baseboard and adjusted with swivel so light shines exactly where we want it.

Probably, though, it’s because whenever I’m in my kitchen, I am pinned beneath the clinical glare of a monstrous 45-by-16-inch fluorescent light fixture situated over my island. Just a few feet away, a second one (22 by 22 inches) stares down from above the sink. The effect is far from soothing, and in fact rather unsettling, as though my kitchen were a morgue and my island an autopsy table.

The good news, as I contemplate a kitchen overhaul in the (hopefully) near future, is that lighting in kitchens has changed a lot since the previous owner of my home remodeled the space some 15 years ago.

Kitchen designer Mary Galloway of Onesta Design in Alexandria agrees, saying she views the kitchen as a place of many scenes set, in large part, by how it is lit. “You think about someone cooking, someone eating, someone snacking at midnight,” Galloway says. ” . . . Your lighting needs change depending on the scene.”

Recessed lighting, which provides the general lighting in many kitchens these days, has come a long way, says designer Jennifer Gilmer of Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath in Chevy Chase. Most types now use smaller cans than the once-standard six-inch size, and incandescent bulbs have been replaced by more efficient lights.

Indeed, just as we’ve seen the proliferation of tiny, bright LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs on trees and roofs during the holidays, so are these energy-efficient lights making their way into the kitchen, not only in recessed lighting but also in task and accent lights.

More and more kitchens are also adding accent lights — those that draw attention to a particular appliance or decorative piece, the inside of a cabinet, or the so-called toe-kick space just above the floor — though the latter seems to have its detractors. “I would say that 50 percent of our customers love the toe-space lighting, while the other 50 percent see no point in it,” says Anderson. Its primary function (and appeal) is that it can softly light the kitchen at night, he says.

Pendant lights continue to be popular. They are “a good way to add color and some bling,” Anderson says. Gilmer says the sheer variety in styles makes pendant lighting a good option for almost any kitchen. In fact, it was a pendant light that helped solve a puzzle for one of Gilmer’s clients. “This particular person has contemporary tastes, but we needed something that would fit in with the traditional look of their Georgetown brownstone.” In the end she chose a pair of spare, vessel-shaped frosted glass and chrome pendants to hang above the sink and adjacent cream, black and gray mottled granite countertop.

“Our doors are open to commercial, industrial and residential consumers who are looking for the best selection of quality LED products to provide energy efficiency and solid state lighting,” says Greg Klepper, CEO of LED Illumination Direct.

LED Illumination Direct’s lights are recyclable, energy efficient and cost effective and emit 90% less heat than a conventional bulb. The LED low emission bulbs can be touched by the human hand, unlike that of incandescent, CFLs, and Fluorescent lights. The showroom is set up where the lights can be touched, held and controlled by anyone present.

“Greg Klepper and LED Illumination Direct produce the highest quality LED products on the market today and are the leaders of the LED lighting industry,” said Anthony Newberg, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, Dealers Electrical Supply Company. “Without LED Illumination Direct the lighting industry would not be where it is today.” Dealers Electrical Supply is the authorized distributor in Texas for LED Illumination Direct.

The technologically advanced showroom at LED Illumination Direct displays LED lighting products ranging from LED tube lights, LED high power bulbs and spotlights, LED household lights, LED PAR/Flood lights, LED flexible strips and LED Modules.

LED Lighting Types include:

• High Bay
• High Power Bulb
• Household Bulb
• Low Bay Light
• PAR Light
• Street Lights
• Tube Light
• Bi-Pin Down Light
• Growlights
• Grid Lights
• Wall Washers

This simple little light could even be used in other areas besides in your home.  It could also be grabbed for when you go camping if you need some small lights to keep you from tripping over anything.  On the light itself you can adjust the sensitivity of the motion sensor.  You can also just shut off the light entirely.  It runs on 4 AAA batteries which aren’t actually included.

Yes, these insanely efficient bulbs keep shining and shining, providing the brightness of a traditional 60-watt bulb. Of course, they won’t be cheap, with pricing set at about $40 a bulb in Japan when they hit stores in October. But seeing as they cost a mere $2 to run per year in energy costs and last 19 years, that seems like a good deal in the long run.

A fact sheet from Brodrick’s office says this about LEDs: “In the coming decade, they will become a key to affordable net-zero energy buildings, buildings that produce at least as much energy annually as they use from the grid.”

The technology is advancing quickly, and costs will continue to drop, Brodrick said. The DOE tests LEDs and sets performance and efficiency guidelines under its Energy Star program.

LEDs are directional lights, used in recessed lighting and under-counter lights, for example. They’re not yet available as bulbs that cast light all around and fit in ordinary sockets.

“There’s an enormous and exciting potential, but we have a long way to go before we see anything besides directional lighting,” said Jeffrey P. Harris, the vice president for programs at the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group that promotes energy efficiency.

Even so, LEDs already are used to light offices, hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

The DOE predicts that LEDs will have better performance capability than fluorescent lighting in the next few years, and that they’ll continue to improve after that. They’re now comparable with fluorescent fixtures in efficiency, and the DOE says its Energy Star LEDs last two to five times longer.

Cost is the biggest reason that LEDs aren’t used more widely, Brodrick said.

LEDs have other advantages: They can be dimmed, don’t emit heat, don’t contain mercury – unlike compact fluorescents – and can produce warm-toned light.

Home Depot, the world’s biggest retailer of light bulbs, is starting to stock LED bulbs this summer and plans to have 10 kinds by September, said Jorge Fernandez, who’s in charge of light bulb purchases for the company.

Philips is working on many kinds of LEDs, including one to replace a 40-watt incandescent bulb that’s scheduled to be available next year, she said.

Derrick Hall of RE/Construct Inc. in Asheville, N.C., said that residential customers weren’t asking for LEDs because of the high upfront cost. Still, he’s hearing of some nonresidential customers who are looking into LEDs for the energy savings.

LEDs are much better than other lighting options, Hall said. The quality of the light is “far superior,” they offer big energy savings and there’s no cost to society for dealing with mercury, he said. Mercury, a neurotoxin, is found in small amounts in compact fluorescent bulbs.