Graphene Light Bulbs Coming To Stores Soon

An anonymous reader writes: A light bulb made from graphene — said by its UK developers to be the first commercially viable consumer product using the super-strong carbon — is to go on sale later this year. The dimmable LED bulb with a graphene-coated filament was designed at Manchester University, where the material was discovered in 2004. It is said to cut energy use by 10% and last longer owing to its conductivity. It is expected to be priced lower than current LED bulbs, which cost about £15 (~$22) each.

Comments

Re:okay, but LED bulbs are nowhere near $22/ea

[Moridineas]

Hmmm, interesting. I've upgraded almost my entire house to Cree bulbs over the last two years. I had one fixture that had three 40W TW (high CRI) bulbs--the only 40W crees I've used--that were all bought at the same time. Two of the bulbs died within a week of each other--they flicker off and if you tap them will turn back on. I'm assuming some solder or some other connection has weakened. I'm going to try to fix them, but that's neither here nor there.

I emailed Cree support with a picture of my receipt and a picture of the original packaging (taken at the time I purchased them). Cree immediately offered to Fedex me three new bulbs (including a replacement for the third bulb) and did not even ask for me to send the old bulbs back. I had new bulbs two days later.

I'm disappointed that the bulbs didn't last that long, but I couldn't ask for any better response out of Cree's support.

Re:Too much!

[DamonHD]

One that saves more than that in electricity within a year or two, and avoids high replacement maintenance costs on top in commercial settings.

What crazy world has people continuing to complain about the cost of petrol relative to hay while whining that the motorways seem so unfriendly for their horse and cart?

Rgds

Damon