Google's investing in bright ideas.
Dean Kamen, the man best known for Segway, was at TEDMED 2010 talking about all sorts of cool things.
The one that's closest to being here today is a new LED lightbulb that features lighting technology created by Cree, and produces 450 lumens from a power draw of just 7 watts. It'll retail for $25 and be sold door-to-door through Kamen's FIRST youth program.
Several hundred thousand of these bulbs are already produced, thanks to Google's support of a $3 million investment. It's not quite the Google Lightbulb, but now we know the search giant wants to help you find your stuff with better lighting.
Source: Engadget
That's a big advantage. Other advantages:
- they last much longer
- they don't flicker
- instant full-brightness ON (no warm up time)
- dimmable
Getting stuff like this finally done really should have nothing to do with being green. It's to do with how long they last and how much less it costs to use.
After all, with the old incandescents technically the light they give off is a byproduct. They really just produce heat.
There's alot of other stuff that should be done for practical reasons only. Things like hybrid cars though are pointless if you did want to be "green" since the manufacturing process for the batteries isn't green at all to begin with.
Sodium lamps (both high pressure and more so low pressure) are even more efficient.
LED's just last a lot longer.
Google is going to start branding everything now haha, that'd be cool. Like a google drink!
=63.88 Lumens/watt.
This LED bulb thing is 450 Lumens for 7 watts. 64.28 Lumens/watt.
LED technology isn't there yet! The only advantage is no mercury.
That's a big advantage. Other advantages:
- they last much longer
- they don't flicker
- instant full-brightness ON (no warm up time)
- dimmable
Agreed. However, I think this would work very well for a small desk lamp,etc.
Their two biggest problems in getting to mainstream are getting the color of the light correct, and getting them to be less directional with the light they output.
Cree's own XP-G emiters already put out 132 lumens/watt. What needs to happen is price to come down on LED products. A triple XP-G star sells for around $22 each, and needs a driver that can cost almost as much. Once prices go down, and color gets better fidelity, then LEDs will take off. That triple XP-G star can put out 1000 lumens at 9.9W, and there are other LED products like Luminus Devices' SST-90 that puts out over 2000 lumens from a single emiter... oh yeah, heat is another issue, a BIG issue to be addressed.
http://marokero.com/Riegel.LR/
I might tackle my kitchen next, as one of the CFL tubes keeps failing, and it's not nearly as bright as I'd like it to be. Not cheap, but I love building these.
I have to argee, these bulbs only put out the old equiqellent of 30 watts. Not bad for a dim bedroom mood lighting but not enough for most purposes.
Let me know when they can put out at least 800 lumens and cost about $5 (or less).