[LibWhacker]

Hmmm . . . Now which will be better, cool tungsten light bulbs, or cool LED light bulbs? Of the LED light bulbs, I've read that the bulbs will never burn out and you could, for instance, operate a bright flashlight continuously for a month before the batteries would need to be replaced. Now that's efficient! I've already seen these LED flashlights in some of the junk mail catalogs I get. The future is gonna be interesting.

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I've got a headlamp for hiking that can use either an incandescent or an array of white LEDs. The LED array will go for 10x the amount of the incandescent bulb, but it is not as bright.

Still it is bright enough to see the trail just ahead of my feet and is not so bright that it makes seeing the stars harder.

[John Jamieson]

32 watt T8 fluorescent--85 to 95 lumens/watt
standard F40T12 cool white fluorescent--60-65 lumens/watt
compact fluorescents--low 30's to low 60's lumens per watt, usually 48-60
T3 tubular halogen--20 lumens/watt
white LED--15-19 lumens/watt
standard 100 watt incandescent--17 lumens/watt
incandescent night light bulb (7w)--6 lumens/watt
incandescent flashlight bulbs--dismal, less than 6 lumens/watt

Current white LEDS can beat flashlight bulbs, match large incandescents, but don't come close to fluorescents. They cost much more than any of them.

[Harrison Bergeron]

"I've already seen these LED flashlights in some of the junk mail catalogs I get."

There are several online suppliers of LED flashligh bulbs. Until they come down from their current $30 price (or until batteries begin costing $10 each), these will be attractive only to survivalists and special purpose users. The same logic applies to special "energy saving" bulbs and the cost of electricity. It just ain't worth my while to buy a lightbulb that takes five or six years of energy savings to pay for itself.