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Philips Releases 100W-Equivalent LED Bulb, Runs On Just 23 Watts
MrSeb writes "The Light Fair convention kicks off in Las Vegas this week, so there will be any number of related announcements coming soon. Lighting giant Philips is starting things off early with the announcement of their 100W-equivalent LED bulb, the AmbientLED 23W. The model produces 1700 lumens, putting it at a very respectable 73.9 lm/W. The unveiling comes shortly after Philips' L Prize bulb was made available to consumers. That bulb currently sells for about $60 and is a more efficient light source, capable of 94 lm/W. The two use similar designs; for example, both take advantage of remote phosphor, but the AmbientLED 23W (it will be called the EnduraLED in non-consumer applications) is brighter and lacking in some of the performance characteristics of the L Prize winner, including luminous efficiency and color accuracy. Philips' 100W-equivalent bulb will be available some time in the fourth quarter. Pricing has yet to be announced, but it will likely be well over $30."
"Philips Releases 100W-Equivalent LED Bulb, Runs On Just 23 Watts"
They last longer than a fluro tube, they have no mercury in them, they are way smaller, they are more robust and dont break as easily.
A 100W light bulb consumes 100kWh over its rated lifetime, which is 1000 hours. Depending on the price of electricity in your part of the world, that's probably between $8 and $30. Assuming a dismal lifetime of just 5000 hours for the LED bulb, you'd need five $1 incandescent bulbs for a total cost of ownership between $5+5*$8=$45 and $4+5*$30=$154. The LED bulb (let's say $35) consumes electricity for $9 to $35, for a total cost of ownership between $35+$9=$44 and $35+$35=$70. So unless the LED doesn't last 5000 hours or your electricity costs less than $0.08, the LED bulb is cheaper, and you don't need to change the bulb as often. The law exists because most people couldn't do a simple calculation if their life depended on it.
So far, none of the Philips "Ambient LED" bulbs I've purchased has failed. I have several, in 40 and 60 watt equiv. The 60's (around 850 lumins) are not the latest prize winners, but are still quite efficient.
I --HATE-- the CFL bulbs. I have found them to be unreliable as well as uncomfortable to use for reading or working. These new LED bulbs, however, have a very nice color to them, a fairly wide spectrum, virtually no flicker at all, and as I said -- so far, I have yet to have one fail.
I actually prefer these new ones to incandescent bulbs for reading and lighting a room -- I would never have said that for any form of CFL or long tube fluorescent.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
I've got a sine-wave inverter powering my house - and if it overloads, it just shuts down. Otherwise, It's a stable 245 VAC day and night - no dips or spikes. I've had Osram, Phillips, and GE CFLs - and the Osrams have typically lasted about half their claimed lifespan.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
If only these were made by Apple and not Phillips. There would be block long lines forming to buy the latest iBulb.
Yes, off-grid since 1996. The house had 600W of PV on the roof and 580 amphours of batteries when we moved in, with a modified square-wave inverter. Immediately upgraded to a sine-wave inverter (1500W continuous, 3000W surge), and a new washing machine (Fisher & Paykel smartdrive). Circa 2000, and we replaced batteries with 1100ah, and an additional 900W of PV. In 2008, we replaced the batteries again (had 2 children by this time), and added another kilowatt of PV to the roof. We could always do with more PV, but in sunny weather we can run three or four 240 volt appliances at once without overloading the inverter or needing to top up the batteries with the backup generator, e.g. 4 computers, or 2 computers and the washing machine, etc. The house is dual-wired - 240 volt power and the lighting circuit is 24 volt and uses incandescant and halogen bi-pin bulbs, but I'm going to cut those circuits over to 240 volts to take advantage of CFL and LED lamps - 24-volt bulbs are expensive, and the inverter inefficiency will be more than offset by the reduced energy consumption of CFL/LED lamps. I've already tried CFLs in some lamps running off the 240 volt power circuit, and difference in energy consumption is amazing. I've got a 240 volt fridge, and a 24 volt freezer.
I've never had a blackout that lasted more than 2 minutes (deliberately overloaded the lighting circuit to test the safety breakers). The downside is having to run the backup generator during rainy weather.
How can I afford all this? Well, the most recent upgrade cost ~AUD$23K, and was subsidised 50%, so we only paid about AUD$11K. That's NOT free or even cheap power, but it would cost us over AUD$40K to have the mains extended to our house, so it's a no-brainer, financially speaking.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom