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  1. #1
    Veteran DarrinS's Avatar
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    Better stock up on your incandescent bulbs

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110516/...9saXN0BHNsawNs




    NEW YORK – Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January.

    Their demonstrations at the LightFair trade show in Philadelphia this week mean that brighter LED bulbs will likely go on sale next year, but after a government ban takes effect.

    The new bulbs will also be expensive — about $50 each — so the development may not prevent consumers from hoarding traditional bulbs.

    The technology in traditional "incandescent" bulbs is more than a century old. Such bulbs waste most of the electricity that feeds them, turning it into heat. The 100-watt bulb, in particular, produces so much heat that it's used in Hasbro's Easy-Bake Oven.

    To encourage energy efficiency, Congress passed a law in 2007 mandating that bulbs producing 100 watts worth of light meet certain efficiency goals, starting in 2012. Conventional light bulbs don't meet those goals, so the law will prohibit making or importing them. The same rule will start apply to remaining bulbs 40 watts and above in 2014. Since January, California has already banned stores from restocking 100-watt incandescent bulbs. (naturally)

    Creating good alternatives to the light bulb has been more difficult than expected, especially for the very bright 100-watt bulbs. Part of the problem is that these new bulbs have to fit into lamps and ceiling fixtures designed for older technology.

    Compact fluorescents are the most obvious replacement, but they have drawbacks. They contain a small amount of toxic mercury vapor, which is released if they break or are improperly thrown away. They last longer than traditional bulbs but not as long as LEDs. Brighter models are bulky and may not fit in existing fixtures.

    Another new lighting technology, organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, has had problems reaching mass production. OLEDs are glowing sheets or tiles, rather than pinprick light sources, as LEDs are. They're used as vibrant color screens for smartphones, particularly from Samsung Electronics Co.

    But making OLEDs that are big, bright, cheap and long-lasting enough for use as light sources has proved difficult, in part because they use chemicals that are sensitive to oxygen and spoil unless sealed very carefully.

    Acuity Brands Inc., an Atlanta-based maker of light fixtures, will be showing some OLED panels at the show. They will go on sale next year, but the price will likely make them technology showpieces rather than candidates for everyday lighting.

    LEDs are efficient, durable and produced in great quan ies, but they're still expensive. An LED bulb can contain a dozen light-emitting diodes, or tiny semiconductor chips, which cost about $1 each.

    The big problem with LEDs is that although they don't produce as much heat as incandescent bulbs, the heat they do create shortens the lifespan and reduces the efficiency of the chips. Cramming a dozen chips together in a tight bulb-shaped package that fits in today's lamps and sockets makes the heat problem worse. The brighter the bulb, the bigger the problem is.

    The most powerful pear-shaped LED bulbs in stores today — the kind that fits existing lamps — produce light equivalent to a 60-watt bulb (lame), though there are more powerful ones for directional or flood lighting.

    Osram Sylvania, a unit of Germany's Siemens AG, said it has overcome the heat problem and will be showing a pear-shaped 100-watt-equivalent LED bulb this week. It doesn't have a firm launch date, but it usually shows products about a year before they hit store shelves.

    Lighting Sciences Group Corp., a Satellite Beach, Fla.-based company that specializes in LED lighting, will be showing several 100-watt-equivalent prototypes, including some that solve the problem of cooling the LEDs by using microscopic devices that move air over the chips, like miniature fans.

    Before the 100-watters, there will be 75-watters on the shelves this year. Osram Sylvania will be selling them at Lowe's starting in July. Royal Philips Electronics NV, the world's biggest lighting maker, will have them in stores late this year for $40 to $45.

    However, 60-watt bulbs are the big prize, since they're the most common. There are 425 million incandescent light bulbs in the 60-watt range in use in the U.S. today, said Zia Eftekhar, the head of Philips' North American lighting division. The energy savings that could be realized by replacing them with 10-watt LED bulbs is staggering.

    To stimulate LED development, the federal government has ins uted a $10 million "L Prize" for an energy-efficient replacement for the 60-watt bulb. Philips is so far the only entrant in testing, and Eftekhar expects the company to win it soon. But Lighting Sciences Group plans its own entry, which it will demonstrate at the trade show.

    Philips has been selling a 60-watt-equivalent bulb at Home Depot since December that's quite similar to the one submitted to the contest. But it's slightly dimmer, consumes 2 watts too much power and costs $40, whereas the L Prize target is $22. Sylvania sells a similar LED bulb at Lowe's, also for $40.

    However, LED prices are coming down quickly. The DoE expects a 60-watt equivalent LED bulb to cost $10 by 2015, putting them within striking range of the price of a compact fluorescent bulb.

    Bob Karlicek, the director of the Smart Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Ins ute in Troy, N.Y., thinks that price is achievable.

    But, he said, "it's not necessarily clear to people in the lighting industry that LED chips were ever meant to go into a bulb."

    What's really needed, he said, is a new approach to lighting — new fixtures and lamps that spread out the LEDs, avoiding the heat problem.

  2. #2
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    There is no federal mandate for LED bulbs.

  3. #3
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    Where does it say LED bulbs are mandated, Darrin?

  4. #4
    Veteran DarrinS's Avatar
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    There is no federal mandate for LED bulbs.
    Incandescent will be illegal and CFL's will probably join them.

  5. #5
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    Incandescent will be illegal and CFL's will probably join them.
    No they won't. Jesus.

  6. #6
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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  7. #7
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    Incandescent will be illegal and CFL's will probably join them.
    So the answer is no, there is no federal mandate to buy LEDs and the article states that in a few of years LED bulbs will be $10 each.

    Why do you feel the need to lie, Darrin?

  8. #8
    Independent DMX7's Avatar
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    I've already begun replacing my old bulbs with GE LEDs. No complaints here.

  9. #9
    e^(i*pi) + 1 = 0 MannyIsGod's Avatar
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    You really are a liar

  10. #10
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    I've gone back to coal-gas lanterns.

  11. #11
    Independent DMX7's Avatar
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    Darrin prefers we just burn tires for light.

  12. #12
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    We should move to lanterns that burn baby seal oil.

  13. #13
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    Saying that DarrinS lies implies prior familiarity with the truth. That's a rather big assumption, IMHO.

    It seems more likely to me that DarrinS parrots whatever conforms to his own prejudices without vetting the sources. Generalization from ignorance isn't necessarily a lie, but Darrin's gross disregard for the truth or falsity of what he says for sure points to him being a big bull ter -- not that that's any notable distinction here, but he is notably bad at it.

  14. #14
    Scrumtrulescent
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    I just fill up empty beer cans with crude oil and set them on fire. I get to make statements against Obama's liberal, enviro-wacko, radical, socialist agenda on many different levels at the same time.

  15. #15
    keep asking questions George Gervin's Afro's Avatar
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    Did you read the article? Or did you just believe the liar who wrote it?

  16. #16
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    Which blog were you parroting, Darrin?

    http://www.google.com/search?q=Feder...ient=firefox-a

  17. #17
    The D.R.A. Drachen's Avatar
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    I replaced all of the bulbs in my apartment in 2007 with CFLs, then when I moved out, I switched the incandesents back in and brought those CFLs with me to the house we bought in 2008. I still have those bulbs, all in use and doing thier jobs quite well (except one which was broken during the move and yes I took the appropriate precautions). If they last at least a year longer, I will probably replace them as they burn out with LEDs (a year to allow the LED prices to come down). I guess in about a year or so, I can sell my box of incandescents (which came out of the sockets in my house) to some luddite for a ton of cash

  18. #18
    🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 ElNono's Avatar
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    CFLs work great and produce great savings... I don't know exactly where the idea that they'll get outlawed anytime soon comes from...

  19. #19
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    Spreading fake outrage based on lies and bull is one of DarrinS's main functions in this forum.

  20. #20
    Veteran
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    Philips Lighting CEO: LED prices to drop in half


    http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20...=2547-1_3-0-20

  21. #21
    Veteran DarrinS's Avatar
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    CFLs work great and produce great savings... I don't know exactly where the idea that they'll get outlawed anytime soon comes from...

    I just figured the greens won't like all that mercury going into the landfill.


    To everyone else in this thread..... "you lie"? Really? That's what you bring? Sticks and stones, mo fo's, sticks and stones.

  22. #22
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    Your re ed OP was handed to you on a platter accompanied by your ass. That's orders of magnitude more than you brought with this idiotic thread.

  23. #23
    Veteran DarrinS's Avatar
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    Your re ed OP was handed to you on a platter accompanied by your ass. That's orders of magnitude more than you brought with this idiotic thread.

    Whatever you say.

  24. #24
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    I just figured the greens won't like all that mercury going into the landfill.


    To everyone else in this thread..... "you lie"? Really? That's what you bring? Sticks and stones, mo fo's, sticks and stones.
    What else is there to bring?

    I can't believe you expected us to overlook such a bald-faced and regurgitated lie.

    Do you really like lying that much, Darrin?

  25. #25
    I play pretty, no? TeyshaBlue's Avatar
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    Whatever you say.
    lol. It's what I saw.

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