EcoLEDs Announces Brightest Commercial LED Light Bulb Yet

Energy Daily ^ | May 23, 2007 | Staff Writers

[Ben Mugged]

Eco-friendly lighting company EcoLEDs.com has launched the brightest LED light bulb ever made available to consumers in the United States. Using just 10 watts and a single LED component made in the USA, the LED light uses just 1/10th the electricity of an incandescent light bulb and reduces CO2 emissions by 9,070 pounds over its life.

The EcoLEDs 10-watt LED light is available now. Incandescent light bulbs are now being globally recognized as extremely inefficient and outdated. Australia has already banned the energy-hungry light bulbs, and California is considering a state-wide ban. In time, all modern nations will ban incandescent lights due to their extreme inefficiency: they waste 95% of the electricity they consume as excess heat.

The mainstream push is towards compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), but consumers are not being told that CFLs contain toxic mercury. There's enough mercury in a single CFL to contaminate 7,000 gallons of fresh water, and if Americans continue to purchase CFLs -- then throw them away in local landfills -- the United States will soon be facing an unprecedented burden of toxic mercury in rivers, streams, croplands and oceans.

[TKDietz]

The light uses 10.8 watts and only produces 400 lumens. So, it gets a lackluster 37 lumens per watt, far worse than most compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

Here are the specs:
http://www.betterlifegoods.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=LED-CAT21417

[TKDietz]

“LEDs use 1/10 the amount of energy than incandescent and florescent.”

That’s not true. This one mentioned in the article uses 10.8 watts and only puts off 400 lumens. A standard 40 watt incandescent will put off about 460 lumens. The LED is getting about 37 lumens per watt compared to about 11.5 lumens per watt for the incandescent. That’s only about 3 times as efficient. A 25 watt compact fluorescent will put out closer to 60 lumens per watt, compared to the 37 lumens per watt this LED bulb gets.

LED technology is promising, and there probably will be general home lighting LED products on the market someday that really are super efficient, but for now compact fluorescent technology leaves LED technology in the dust when it comes to energy efficient home lighting products actually available to consumers. Don’t believe all the LED hype. These guys engage in some really misleading marketing practices.

Here are the specs on this LED bulb: http://www.betterlifegoods.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=LED-CAT21417

[TKDietz]

“Assuming this is a apples to apples comparison they must mean that the light output (lumens) of the 10 watt LED is equal to the light output of a 100 watt incandescent. That would be about 1700 lumens.”

It’s not an apples to apples comparison, just misleading marketing hype. This bulb uses 10.8 watts and puts off 400 lumens. That’s only about 37 lumens per watt. There are compact fluorescent bulbs available on the market that are twice as efficient. Most all compact fluorescent bulbs are a good bit more efficient than this $99 rip off.

Here are the specs:

http://www.betterlifegoods.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=LED-CAT21417

[P-40]

It’s not an apples to apples comparison, just misleading marketing hype.

I've been getting some of these LEDs and have generally been happy with them...but mostly because I am using them where I wanted the 'colder' light. Otherwise, I am happy with the CFLs. I like the LEDs in part to support the technology but also because they do seem to run for years without degradation. Have you any experience with them in that regard? I have some situations where replacing a bulb is not an easy matter and/or it may need to run on battery for some time.

[TKDietz]

I have a weak LED flashlight or two. Other than that the only LED’s in my house are those you’d find in computers and that sort of thing, colored lights that tell you what is on but that are not intended to light a room or anything like that. LED’s are fine for some purposes. For general lighting purposes though in most cases there will be a better non-LED light that puts off a better light, is more powerful, more energy efficient, and cheaper. That will probably change in the future. We’ll see much more efficient LED lights and they’ll get cheap enough that we’ll start seeing the big companies offering all sorts of general lighting LED products at grocery stores, hardware stores, discount stores, and wherever else you would buy lightbulbs. They’ll have to get a lot cheaper and a lot better before we see sales really take off though.

You’ve been buying these $100 lightbulbs? I couldn’t see myself ever paying that much for a lightbulb for my home. I don’t care if they last forever. I wouldn’t pay anywhere close to that for a lightbulb that would only replace a forty watt bulb. These they talk about in the article don’t even put off as many lumens as a standard forty watt bulb, and they are less energy efficient than most compact fluorescent lights. These are spotlights though, so they are different than standard lightbulbs. But I would bet that you could find something much cheaper to use as a low wattage spotlight, that would be more energy efficient, last a pretty good long while and put out better light.

Personally, I’m going to wait on this technology, at least when it comes to general home lighting. In a few years a light as good or better than this $100 bulb will cost $10 or less. We’ll start seeing relatively cheap LED “bulbs” that put off a nice light and actually spread it around like regular lightbulbs. They’ll probably still cost more than regular lightbulbs and even cfl’s, but as long as they aren’t too much more it will make sense to buy them because they will last so much longer.

[P-40]

I haven't paid anything like $100 for one...but some were about $40. Mostly where I have used them are where I need something that will be low power and quite reliable, like in battery backup applications, or in areas where I don't need tremendous amounts of light but where changing a bulb can get quite expensive, like some of our stairwells.

I'm gotten a few from C Crane that I have been happy with. They prices have dropped some and their selection has improved. I will be happy when they are available in Lowes and Home Depot though.

C Crane

[TKDietz]

You probably won’t see a wide selection of these things available at Home Depot and Lowes until prices come way down. And after prices drop a good bit and they start selling a wide variety of these lights at the big stores, prices will slowly but surely drop even more as the industry becomes more competitive. With prices being as high as they are and energy efficiency being so poor on these things the big stores won’t waste floor space on them because hardly anyone would buy them. Look at these lights at the site you linked me to. When you look at the number of lumens produced for each watt used, most of them aren’t much more energy efficient than a common incandescent bulb. CFL’s leave them in the dust when it comes to energy efficiency. I could maybe see using some of the cheapest low wattage ones in areas where you hardly need to add any light and where replacing burned bulbs would be particularly difficult/expensive. Otherwise, they’re a rip off, not worth the incredible premium in price. I’d use something else wherever I could and wait for places like Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart to start carrying them at much more reasonable prices. If you buy a bunch of these today at these high prices you’ll regret it in a few years when they are much more energy efficient and going for a fraction of their current price.

[P-40]

If I remember right...for the brightness we were looking for the efficiencies on the LEDs were about double that of the incandescent but half that of the CFLs. By the time we factored in the reliability, heat, and lifespan angles the LEDs were worth it. In a few years there will hopefully be much better choices out there though.

And by the way, the LED party bulb is great fun. :)