Philips Offers its $10 million LED bulb

Recently, Philips stands as the lonely first in the would-be line of contenders vying for the $10 million prize slated by the US government for offering an energy efficient alternative to the 60 Watt light bulb.

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.

GE Developed a New Energy-saving LED Bulb

It is reported that GE Appliances & Lighting, a dealer in major appliances, lighting, systems and services for commercial, industrial and residential use, has developed a new LED bulb that consumes only 9W of power and provide 77 percent energy savings while at the same time offering the same lighting output of a 40-watt incandescent bulb.

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.

Philips Unveils a 12-watt LED Light Bulb

It is reported that Royal Philips Electronics unveiled a 12-watt LED light bulb that it will begin selling as a substitute for standard 60-watt bulbs by the end of the year.

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.

LED Flood Lights Help You to Light Up Your Closet

Did you ever feel that your cabinet is lacking light? Are you thinking of installing lights in the cupboard, but worried about the tiring installation process? Then you have an easy solution in lighting up the cabinets, cupboards or even closets.

After a while you may feel that you lack lighting in your bedroom, bathroom or even kitchen.

When you think of different lighting options, you may find these lighting options costly.

Here is an easy option in lighting up the closets, cupboards, cabinets [Cabinet Lighting] etc.

You do not need to hire a plumber or any electrician in lighting up your surroundings.

These lights are LED flood lights, which do not need any apparatus to setup. These are self-stick LED flood lights and are battery powered lights.

This light has 6-LED light bars, which rotate according to your needs and aims at certain point.

Features of LED flood lights:

* They can also light up small areas such as counter tops, closets, book shelves etc.
* The swivel head rotates according to your needs.
* They are made up of plastic.
* This works on 3 AAA batteries and the life can last up to 25 hours.
* Mounting plate can be detached from the LED flood lights.

Make Your Kitchen Glaring at You

Light has been on my mind a lot lately.

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.

Long-life Panasonic’s LED Lightbulb

How often do you change lightbulbs? Every few months, maybe? It is found that the early generation led light bulbs are pretty weak. Well, when Panasonic’s new LED bulbs hit shelves, change that time frame from months to decades.

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.

LED Era Come Soon

As we all know that LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs which will consume even less power than the CFL bulbs and once the mass production of Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs will start, its cost will go down. Gradually the era of electric bulbs will come to an end and only CFL bulbs will exist then. This will go a long way in promoting the LED bulbs among the masses,” said Venugopal, a senior member of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, on Wednesday.

The occasion was the Second Capacity Building Programme, organised by the department of Industrial and Management Engineering of IIT, Kanpur. On the second day of the six-day long programme, Dr Anoop Singh of IIT-K, Venugopal, member of DERC and others were present.

Venugopal also explained that the entire focus is on to encourage the people of the country to save power instead of adopting a careless attitude towards it. Shutting down power switches when power is not required is something which people need to inculcate in themselves as a habit.

Giving an example about reduction of the load during the lunch hours in Delhi, Venugopal said, “At the time of lunch it has been observed that there is a reduction of 150 MW to 200 MW of load in the state of Delhi. This happens due to the fact that people in offices and at other commercial establishments shut down power. Such an exercise should be followed everywhere which will help in reducing the load.”

Dr Anoop Singh, said, “Power saved is power gained. Here in IIT-K we have street lights which are timer guided. The timer attached with the street light is set on a particular time as to when the street lamp should go off. The moment the clock strikes the set time, the street lamp goes off. This not only helps in saving power but also no human being is required to go from pole to pole for switching off these lamps.”

Additionaly, street lights can be put off with the help of the remote used in TVs and in other electrical devices.

How to Make an Old House into a Modern

This artical shows you how to push a 1920s house into a modern, low-carbon age. The last few touches – appliances and rare light bulbs.

After spending the past year reducing the home’s heating bills by adding stacks of insulation, the owner has now turned her attention to slashing her electricity needs. She buy electricity from Good Energy which is a 100% renewable electricity supplier, but she would like to reduce our dependence on it, as all electricity is expensive – green or not. She monitor her energy usage with weekly measurements taken directly from both the gas and electricity utility and currently the house consumes 8kWh of electricity every day.

As part of her drive to save eneergy, She has reviewed the efficiency of all of her electrical appliances. Fridge freezers are significant consumers of electricity in the average house because they are switched on 365 days a year. As she was old, she recently replaced it with an A-rated one to minimise energy usage. Their television is an old-fashioned boxy cathrode ray tube, which is quite energy-hungry, consuming 300 watts per hour when on. The plan – when she has the money – is to change it over to a LCD type. They’ll plan their purchase with a great site called Sust-It which you can use to determine the energy cost per year of new tellies and other products.

What else? Well, she changed most of our conventional light bulbs to energy-savers several years ago. That was easy with standard bulbs, so now she is replacing the more obscure ones.

The garage security floodlight was rated at an energy-guzzling 500 watts – the equivalent of around 50 standard energy-saving bulbs. Although it produced an instant bright light , it was repeatedly set off by animals wandering into the garden at night. So she found a low-energy bulb from B&Q which, although less than half as bright, consumes just 18 watts and reaches full brightness within a few seconds. B&Q now sells a better version using an incandescent bulb for instant bright white light, but after a few seconds the more efficient but slower compact fluorescent bulb takes over.

Continuing outside, our garden lights used to consume only 6 watts each, but having eight of them she was determined to replace them with a more efficient option. Compact fluorescent bulbs don’t exist for such a small wattage so an LED light was the obvious choice. She has now replaced each of them with a very bright 1 watt LED version which nicely lights up the path to the house. A timer ensures the overall energy consumption is minimised.

She has used LED technology inside too. Earlier in the year she bought several Deltech LED bulbs from ebulbshop.com and was very impressed with its brightness and warm-white colour. It matches the incandescent GU10 bulbs (one of the most common spotlight-style fittings) very well and most importantly it has the same physical size, so it fits in her bathroom ceiling’s recessed bulb-holders. These GU10 LED bulbs consume just 5 watts each but come close to the light output from their 50 watt incandescent equivalents. They won’t pay for themselves for more than 10 years because they’re so expensive up-front, so I justify the LEDs on the grounds that their carbon payback is immediate.

Salmon DNA LED Bulbs

It is reported that the latest LED breakthrough comes from the University of Connecticut, and it uses salmon DNA to create very long-lasting white LEDs (though they can be tuned to other colors). By now a lot of cool LED technology still needs to make its way from the lab to the store, it’s exciting to see that engineers are still finding new ways to squeeze more performance out of those semiconductor diodes.

Fluorescent dyes (two different ones, spaced between 2 and 10 nanometers from each other) are added to the DNA molecules, which are then spun into nanofibers. These are very durable because DNA is a particularly strong polymer (it has to be!) (they should last 50 times longer than acrylic, for example).

A LED emitting ultra-violet light is then coated with the DNA nanofibers: “When UV light is shined on the material, one dye absorbs the energy and produces blue light. If the other dye molecule is at the right distance, it will absorb part of that blue-light energy and emit orange light.” Using DNA has the benefit of orienting the dyes “in an optimum way for efficient [fluorescence energy transfer] to occur,” according to David Walt, a chemistry professor at Tufts University.

To tune the light quality, all you need to do is vary the ratios of dye. The light can be tuned from cool white to warm white, for example.

Unfortunately, numbers on how many lumens per watt these LEDs produce haven’t been released yet (though that might just be because they’re still improving them), so it’s not clear if the main benefit from these will be the longer life, or if the extra fine tuning will also mean better light quality than other white LED (like those that use quantum dots, for example), or if energy efficiency will also be superior. But it’s a new trick that will no doubt be useful. Maybe someday we’ll have a bit of DNA in our lights.

No Shadow LED Man

If you ever wanted to see what the phase shifting of a body going through a Star Trek transporter looks like in real life, you won’t do much better than the recent exhibit by Makoto Tojiki.

The artist created this LED light sculpture called “The Man With No Shadow” and showed off his work at the recent Salone Satellite event in Italy. Tojiki reveals little about his technical methodology, but the futurist bent of the work speaks for itself. You can check out more stunning images of the LED man here.