The Solid-State Lighting revolution is coming!

Mercury is no reason to avoid CFLs, just hypocritical FUD from vested interests. The mercury emitted by coal fire power plants to produce the extra energy used by incandescent lights. If CFLs are recycled, then the mercury released into the environment is reduced even further.

We ALREADY emit large amounts of mercury into the environment. The move to CFL would actually REDUCE the emissions even if a better technology is just around the corner (which it always it, by the way).

In the immortal words of Chuck D., “Don’t believe the hype.”

That is all great, but last time I checked, LED or any other type of solid state bulbs were not on the shelf at my local Lowes store, CFs were. In fact, the only place I’ve seen LED bulbs is specialty web sites. So until I see them at Target, Home Depot or my local hardware store, myself and others will be using CFs. To pan them in favor of a technology that is not yet mature and readily available is stupid and short sighted.

jesus, are people really that lazy?

Yes

Check out the book “Brilliant: The Revolution in Lighting Technology” it is about the research and breakthroughs that are leading to SSLs and it is fascinating.

jesus, are people really that lazy?

Yes

wow.

no wonder the only sacrifice the republican administration asks people to do to support our troops is to fork over our freedom.

the iraq war would be over tomorrow if it so much as inconvenienced republicans.

The lifetime claims for these new light sources are overhyped. The key is how a failure is defined. There are LED traffic lights all around here and half of them already have dead areas that make them look ugly.

Although MTBF for a single LED might be 50K hours, when you gather hundreds together to make a light the chance of a failure rises astronomically. For best results, the LEDs should be in parallel, not series, and the light output should be diffused to accomodate a few failures.

Smartalix, that was a very well done update. I currently have CFL’s throughout my house… over 40 of them… but I’ve found that although they still save on power, they don’t last nearly as long as they claim. Typically, a CFL in an area where it’s on for 2-3 hrs a day will last 2 years. On the other hand, the bulbs I first bought for $6 each are now $2 each. I can get an 11 watt CFL (50 watt incandescent equivalent) for $1.

Chuck D, you can’t recycle CFL’s economically. They are too complex. Also, think about all the incandescent bulbs you’ve broken by accident in your lifetime. CFL’s are very sensitive to bumping. They’ll even snap if the socket is tight or you turn them in too hard. Instead of a mess of glass, you get a mess of glass and mercury… sometimes right on you.

From previous discussions on Dvorak, I get the impression that he USA is way behind Canada with energy conservation and practices.
In other words, Smartalix is way ahead of you. I have been slowly switching over to SSL’s for 2 years now. All our christmas lights ate SSL’s and some room lighting solutions (multi SSL clusters) are in the stores now.

#10 Shucks, Qually, grog was only thinking outside the bulb.

6,

I was attending the show in my “day job” role as Executive Editor of Electronic Products Magazine. Thanks for the compliments. (#12 too!)

11,

If you take some photographs of ugly traffic signs in your neighborhood I’ll post them here. I live in NYC and not only are the lights working but the city saves millions in maintenance. Wall-Mart is changing much of their display signage to SSL and they project a 10% overall savings. (Since they spend 66% of their dollar on energy that means they’ll be able to cover their fleet costs (~7%) on the savings alone.

This is nothing to soft-pedal. If we do not move aggessively into this market with products and designs we’ll lose yet another technology lead to the rest of the world.

For Bubba :
http://tinyurl.com/ynp5q2

Better than EL strips, but not in the market yet.

Remember that with daily use, EL strips won’t last past 5 years.
For that matter, neons and compact neons won’t either.

The newer LED’s are better in this respect, the problem is power distribution. Easy to distribute 120v or 240v AC, not so easy with 12v DC.

Putting transformers for LED’s at the point-of-use greatly increases cost, better to have one larger transformer with wiring just for a group of LED lamps / fixtures.

At cost price, a 1 watt Luxeon LED is roughly 8$, so a screw-in bulb that can replace a 100watt lightbulb would cost over 50$ (5×1watt).

Whereas CFL’s cost 8$ / 10$ for a 40 / 60 watt bulb remplacement.

The market for LED light bulbs are tiny, where it has to be cost effective within five years to surpass neons.

18,

BubbaRay, LED light sources are highly directional with up to 40% less backscatter. They would actually improve the nighjt sky as they would significantly reduce stray light.

19,

You wouldn’t use transformers, you’d use much smaller and lighter switching power supplies. SSL will require an entirely new way of thought in lighting design. (Not to mention the advantages of having light as an addressable instant-on/off facility subsystem.)

As far as price goes, you can now get a 100+ lumen LED now for ~$2 in OEM quantities.

#21, Alix, I agree about the LED lighting, as long as it’s directed and shielded properly. Bummer that it’s not narrow spectrum, but as long as it is not shining into the sky, thus wasting energy and contributing to light pollution, not a giant problem. It’s that wide spectrum unshielded SSL I’m worried about.

23,

In test deployments in places like parking lots and garages people polled said they felt much more secure because they could see colors. In a monochrome light environment something almost has to move before you notice it becuase many of the contrasts we require for visual cues are absent. Streets look healthier when all of the colors of the signage and people and vehicles are color-accurate.

24,

You can get dimmable LED lamps. Here’s one from 2004:
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Oct/1088474.htm

It is only the most recent generations of LEDs that are good enough for incandescent-replacement lamp applications, so I understand if there is a lot of misinformation out there. However, the emitters are now bright enough, efficient enough, and if deployed in volume cheap enough to now move into the mainstream.

Good article Alix.

A yaer and a half ago, I ordered a sample of some EL tape light (white) like the one Smartalix is holding in his first pic. I oerdered it after watching it being used in one of this “while you were out” kinda tv show. Not impressed.

Only useful for mood lighting. In fact, here’s used by some movie theatres for stair ledges inside the theatres when lights are out.

This is more of a general post, but we’ve tested Light Beam’s 5 watt solid state illuminators and it puts out more than 500 lumens, which is quite impressive. It also comes with a dimmer, so it’s easily controllable. We tested it with Lumenytes solid core fiber and we were able to light more than 175 ft. with what appeared to be little to no light loss.

http://www.lightbeaminc.com

My point is, ther are definitely technologies out there coming that can reduce CFL usage, utlize the power of LED’s and help reduce emissions at the same time.

sj