Incandescent light bulbs and their friendly warm golden glow are on the way out. Almost 200 years after Warren De la Rue made the first incandescent bulb, Congress passed an energy bill in 2007 that all but dooms the old stalwart. That's left manufacturers (and the public) looking for the next big thing in lights.
I wouldn't have any problem with this, if it weren't for the fact that I love the way incandescents look: they give off that nice golden warmth that's much more inviting than the sterile blue glare of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). The old school bulbs are also cheaper, running at about $0.60 per bulb compared to $3.40 for CFLs.
But the fluorescents are much more efficient. They use about four to five times less energy than their incandescent brothers, and they last ten times longer--just don't tell that to the "centennial bulb," an incandescent boss that's been running nonstop for 110 years.
So what's a warm light lover to do? One option is to snap up some LED light bulbs. They can produce usable light using a scant three watts, and they can last a really long time--up to 50,000 hours (over 5 years of continuous use). But they've also been a bit pricey, and that's where some breaking news saves the day. It was reported today that California start-up Bridgelux has revamped the way they're produced. Using a different production process that's currently utilized to make computer chips, Bridgelux estimates that the cost of producing an LED light bulb could be slashed by 75%. This would take a $40 LED light bulb, which gives off the same amount of light as a standard 60-watt incandescent, and drop it to just over $20.
How much savings would you get with such a bulb over a trusty incandescent? It would last fifty times longer than an average 60-watt incandescent--that means it would cost $.0004 ($20 / 50,000) per hour of lighting for the LED bulb compared with $.0006 ($0.60 / 1000) for the incandescent, excluding the amount of energy that would be saved through efficiency. I suppose, then, even the most durable of inventions must one day cede their place to up-and-comers. But don't feel too bad, incandescent lights: 200 years is a pretty good run.
--Brandon
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
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