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Panasonic's New LED Bulbs Shine For 19 Years
Mike writes "As lighting manufacturers phase out the incandescent bulb, and CFLs look set to define the future of lighting, Panasonic recently unveiled a remarkable 60-watt household LED bulb that they claim can last up to 19 years (if used 5-1/2 hours a day). With a lifespan 40 times longer than their incandescent counterparts, Panasonic's new EverLed bulbs are the most efficient LEDs ever to be produced. They are set to debut in Japan on October 21st. Let's hope that as the technology is refined their significant cost barrier will drop — $40 still seems pretty pricey for a light bulb, even one that promises to save $23 a year in energy costs."
A 60 watt bulb burning for 5.5 hours a day uses about 120KWH a year. My non-peak electricity (i.e. night time when I would be using the lights) is $0.063/kwh. That math is $7.60/YEAR for electricity. Electric rates would have to be almost $0.18US, which is my peak rate during the summer months (it drops to about $0.086US for what passes for winter in Phoenix.) So a 6watt LED bulb would use 1/10th of electricity, saving around $7/year.And I doubt if more than 3 of the incandescent bulbs are used more than 4-5 hours on average a night.
I just bought a pack of ten 60 watt bulbs for $3. So each bulb is an upfront cost of $39.70 whenever a bulb burns out, and has a payback of over 5 years. I'm not going to keep a pack of 10 around the house, I'm going to go out and have to buy one whenever a bulb burns out. I have lived in my house now for 6 years, and just ran out of my first pack.I have a few CFLs in drawers because I don't like them, and about half of the lights we use the most are florescent.
Unless these LED lights can be used in dimmers, I won't buy them because it makes all of my dimmers (three of which are wireless RF in high ceiling fans) useless. Which is another reason I don't buy CFLs. I assume the LEDs will work in dimmers, although the article doesn't state that.
I just replaced my refrigerator because the old one finally died, and using a Kill-A-Watt meter found out it uses about $5/month in electricity. I didn't buy a high-efficiency fridge to save money on electricity, I bought a fridge that happens to be a high-efficiency fridge because it has two separate compressors that keep food SOOO much better. We are throwing out far less food now because things don't get freezer burn and produce doesn't go bad as quickly. And it's bigger, uses LED lights so it's brighter inside, and has some cool drawers and shelves that make it easier to get to the food.
I will spend money on things that are efficient, as long as the efficiencies are worth it to me. An ROI of 5 years on a light bulb isn't worth it because I can't 'see' the savings, it's buried in my electric bill which seems to keep going up and up. I've bought enough long-life light bulbs and other items in my life that didn't last to have little trust in such claims. Spending $2,400 on a refrigerator was worth it because I realized the gains immediately in food savings, something much easier to see.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
bullshit. compact fluorescents cost about AU$10 each in supermarkets where I live, compared to $0.99 each for incandescent bulbs.
And despite the claims that CF lights last longer, they fucking cark it all the time. usually in rooms where they're turned on and off a lot. eg toilets, bathrooms, hallways. For smaller form factor CFL globes (for example to fit in lamps etc) they charge around $15 each. If these new LED ones really do last 19 times longer, then it's worth it for anyone with even a little bit of forward-thinking.
The main problem with these LED lights is that I'm scared of seeing them directly even out of my peripheral vision because they all seem to have warnings of blindness written on them.
>>>he power company puts PF correction in far sooner than the power plant,
It doesn't matter. The point is that a 15 watt CFL is actually using 30 volt-amps, so it's only saving half as much energy as a 60 volt-amp traditional bulb (and no energy savings versus GE's new advanced technology incandescents).
>>>In 6 years the only CFL to die on me was from being dropped.
I've had 6 bulbs die in just this past year. Three of them were cheap Lights of America bulbs, but the other 3 were Philips which is a reputable company. They died because of being used in upside-down kitchen fixtures. I opened the bulbs, and found that the electronics had been cooked (caps bulged and the internal electrolyte oozed out).
>>>If the stairs are too dim, put in a brighter bulb
Well I had a 40 watt bulb there. In order to get a bulb that equals that same brightness after initial turnon, I'd have to get a 120-watt-equivalent. So in terms of power we're talking about 40 volt-amps versus 60 volts-amps. Where's the energy savings?
You see:
This is why I don't like talking to eitehr Religious people or Envionmentalists. It's impossible to reason with them, because they are too busy hugging trees to bother to exercise the rational part of their brains. CFLS ARE FLAWED, AND I AM SICK AND TIRED OF WASTING MY MONEY ON THEM JUST TO WATCH THEM DIE EARLY. For you to sit there and act as if my genuine observatuions are sjust a bunch of bulsl;htio si an INSULT tom me. I'm a triple-degreed electrical engineer. Not an idiot. My observations have merit, and your casual dismissal of them is not in any way acceptable.
I have wasted so much money on CFLs it's ridiculous.
Instead of helping the environment, I'm filling it
with dead bulbs that stopped working prematurely.
This is a flawed technology.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I deleted my initial response to this as I took a rather insulting tone towards his EE degrees. I'm having enough problems with him thinking I'm insulting his intelligence.
Heh. I am most certainly insulting his intelligence, I just see no need to insult his degree in order to do so. :)
For two systems transmitting the same amount of real power, the system with the lower power factor will have higher circulating currents due to energy that returns to the source from energy storage in the load. These higher currents in a practical system may produce higher losses and reduce overall transmission efficiency.
Yes, it's the "energy storage" and return that he doesn't seem to comprehend. He seems to think all power in a circuit is "burned", based on a very naive EE101 view that everything is a resistive load.
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