$50 Light Bulb That Replaces A 25¢ Bulb Got A $10 Million Government 'Prize'

American Thinker ^ | 03/12/2012 | Warren Beatty

[SeekAndFind]

Have you ever heard of the "L" Prize? The Department of Energy's (DOE) "L" Prize challenged the lighting industry to develop high performance, energy-saving replacements for conventional light bulbs that will save American consumers and businesses money. Initiated in 2008 during the George W. Bush administration, DOE's first "L" Prize category was the 60-watt bulb because it is one of the most widely used types of light bulbs by consumers.

The "L" Prize was meant to hasten manufacturers' production of more efficient light bulbs in order to ease the transition away from inefficient incandescent light bulbs to more efficient Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLED or just LED) bulbs. DOE Secretary Steven Chu said the prize was initiated to get the lighting industry to offer CFL and LED bulbs at prices "affordable for American families."

DOE announced in August, 2011, that Philips Lighting North America has won the first award under the Department's Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize ("L" Prize) competition. Philips received a $10 million cash prize as well as "L" Prize partner promotions and incentives. The new light bulb was demonstrated at the LightFair trade show in Philadelphia this week, and will go on sale next year.

All of that is well and good (if you can call awarding a $10 million cash prize "good"). But there is one slight problem with the winning light bulb -- it costs $50, and that's not a typo. That price seems a bit high, considering that the bulb it was designed to replace costs about 25¢. Similar LED bulbs that did not win the "L" Prize are less than half the cost. For example, EcoSmart offers an LED bulb, assembled in Mexico, for $23.97. And another Philips LED bulb, made in China, sells for $24.97.

[ican'tbelieveit]

Bad luck on those LEDs. We have several and they have been going well past 4 months now. I just put one in my table side lamp, and really enjoy that it doesn’t get so hot that I can’t turn off the lamp. (doesn’t get hot at all).