LEDs vs. The Lightbulb
from the the-battle-is-on dept
I've been fascinated by LED technology for some time now, so it's good to see this article from MIT's Tech Review explaining the latest in attempts to replace the light bulb with LEDs. It still sounds like it's a long way off, but plenty of researchers are trying to tackle the remaining issues in making cheap LEDs that can finally make the old incandescent bulb completely obsolete. Places where LEDs are already in wide use (like traffic lights) have shown that it saves a tremendous amount of money over inefficient light bulbs. The article also discusses the potential battle between regular LEDs and OLEDs in providing the breakthrough technology. Update: The SF Chronicle is reprinting a NY Times article on the same subject.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
That's funny
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I would
I would. In a heartbeat. I buy regular lightbulbs, 4 packs for ~$2.00, or about $0.50 each. If it would actually last 500 times as long, that would be $250 worth of lightbulb replacing AND I could save half off the light bill.
I started replacing the incandescent bulbs in my home with the flourescent replacement bulbs that cost up to $8 each. The first one I replaced over 10 years ago and I've had to replace the bulb 1 time. It's the kind that has a replacable bulb but uses the same base unit, so the bulb only cost about $3 to replace. I purchased that light originally for my bedroom to aid in dressing in the morning. I work under flourescent lights and sometimes I would get to work to find that clothes that appeared to match under incandescent light don't look the same under flourescent lighting.
I've replaced all my bathroom lights with dual 13 watt flourescent bulbs that each provide the equivalency of a 60 watt incandescent bulb which is more than adequate. Hallway lights have been repalced with 16 watt flourescents which are equivalent ot 75 watt incandescent bulbs.
I've noticed a significant reduction in my electric bill and I've not had to replace any lightbulbs for some time.
My local Menards store has 4 packs of 13 watt flourescent bulbs on sale right now for $9 which is a great investment.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
an excellent LED site
It's not pretty, but he is hard-core LED.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I would
i really want to cut my power use,
eventually i want to buy bit by bit solor panals for my roof, i live in texas and the power company would have to pay us for the overflow electricity by law.
simply canceling out one bill would be worth it
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I would
[ link to this | view in thread ]