Pharox Six-watt dimmable LED bulb, 6W (60W replacement) $39.95 after limited time $10 discount

I've seen dimmable two packs at Ranch99 Grocery stores for about $1 each pack.

Make sure you live somewhere where the price per KWH justifies a $40 bulb. Granted this would be good for the areas you don't want to have to change them but still it is steep.

DamnoIT said: Make sure you live somewhere where the price per KWH justifies a $40 bulb. Granted this would be good for the areas you don't want to have to change them but still it is steep. That and consider that this is supposed to outlast several CFL bulbs. Not just one to one purchase. If buying a bunch of these, also should do a "Time Value of Money" adjustment... 25 years is going to add up to a lot of inflation or interest on your money. If you filled your house with these and moved out, better take them with you! LOL.

3 year warranty? it's supposed to be a 50,000 hour bulb. should be at least 5 years. would be much more attractive if I could get $30 rebate per bulb.

You shouldn't need to do any TVM (time value of money) calculations, as energy prices will rise in the future, mimicking inflation/interest. Yes, energy prices will rise over time, but so will the value of money. Thus, you can use 2009 as a baseline and calculate the cost savings based on today's dollars and prices and achieve the same bottom line.

As much as the proponents want to promote the longevity of energy efficient bulbs I have seen many expensive CFLs burn out in a short period of time making for a costly replacemnt vs incadesent. I think the tech needs to be improved and of course the cost cut. What are some cheap 60w eq bulbs that anyone knows of that are non dimmable? I always want to leave my garage lights on.

I have severe doubts this is the equivalent of a 60 watt bulb, or even a 40 watt bulb. I suspect its probably more like 30W. LED setups vary in efficiency just as CFL is typically considered to be about 4x over incandescent, and LEDs are typically about as efficient as CFL, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. The 2.2x over CFL isn't real plausible.

Also, neither LEDs nor CFL are particularly efficient at generating light. They still put out way more heat than light (in fact, LEDs put out way more heat than incandescents do -- incandescents put out a huge amount of IR light that gets turned into heat when it hits an object). Like all semiconductors (but unlike say, an evacuated glass tube with a low level of gas in it), LEDs don't like heat. Most people see LEDs in a computer or electronics and see them never fail, but LEDs used for "high power" lighting have way more thermal issues, and I'm not clear that their long term reliability will be anything like they claim.

LEDs are the future, but its not a near term future, and "investing" in a bleeding edge technology isn't a good way to save money. If it were me, I'd get CFL and wait 5 years for improved reliability and lower price. You'll probably end up saving more money, even if you don't factor in the TVM (which I think you need to factor in especially since LED prices will drop).

I always thought antimatter was the deadliest substance on Earth!

chibimike said: I love the efficiency of LED's, but the price, brightness and color of them is bad.

Here's to hoping ESL bulbs (Electron Stimulated Luminescence) get here quickly and are as good as Vu1 claims.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10354160-1.html


CFL's have to go.
It is so stupid to make millions of CFL bulbs. Mercury is the most toxic substance on earth.
If you should break a CFL, here are the manufacturer recommended steps to clean it up.

1. Do not allow children or pregnant women to enter the affected area
2. Open windows and allow air to circulate to the affected area
3. First sweep up all of the glass fragments and phosphor powder (do not vacuum)
4. Then place in a plastic bag
5. Wipe the area with a damp paper towel to pick up stray shards of glass or fine particles
6. Place the used towel in the plastic bag as well
7. For proper disposal of a broken CFL bulb, contact your local authority for a community household hazardous waste collection

LED is not a monolithic technology. White LEDs can either be done by some sort of emission against phosphorous (similar to this ESL technology you are talking about), or it can be done via multiple LEDs each tuned to a different wavelength. By adjusting the wavelength and the intensity of each, the manufacturer can emulate virtually any light source and get spectacularly good results, better than virtually any other lighting technology in terms of color quality. As for "brightness", this is simply a function of how much power it consumes which boils down to efficiency and heat management. As I stated, LED efficiency is marginally the same as that of fluorescent light bulbs. In the future it may improve.

This ESL stuff sounds like its basically similar to a cathode ray tube. They claim twice the efficiency of incandescent which is half the efficiency of CFL or LED, at a much higher price. I can't see how this is a serious technology competitor. The article was written like a press release by the manufacturer, and they are comparing a $20 bulb that lasts 6000 hours and costs twice as much to operate against a $40 bulb that lasts 40k hours with half the operational cost. How is the $20 bulb a good deal?

The mercury issue is truly overblown. Most modern CFL bulbs have less than 5mg of mercury, and some have as little as 1mg. Sure mercury is toxic, but how much mercury do you think there is in the air from burning coal or in fish? How often does a CFL bulb actually break (not just fail, but break)? And if a bulb with 1mg of mercury breaks, how much do you think is released? The clean-up described just isn't that big of a deal. Put on rubber gloves, get a plastic bag, and get as much up as possible, and then wet it down and wipe up the area. There are tons of toxic substances in our houses. Its just a matter of knowing what they are and respecting the danger they pose.

I saw on TV the other day how WalMart is switching their stores to these to be more eco friendly and improve their image. Anyways, these things last WalMart NINE years! I can't imagine only buying light bulbs once a decade, sounds great/crazy

lol such a doubter. how bout you do your own research then? all you can do is criticize others' sources.

FYI there are plenty of other sources which corroborate that information. It's a well known fact (except obviously for you)

ryryfree said: My point is you should post a credible source. If there are so many sources why choose one that is not accepted well as a scholarly source? No need to be rude. I am merely asking you to provide a reasonable source to back your claim.Right, now you try to take the high road.
My point is you were rude for crying about the credibility of the source without providing any sources of your own. Why are you so lazy that you can't do your own homework? I spent the time to provide a reference. Show us what you've got. Wikipedia is in fact a credible source. You have a different opinion of it, but that doesn't change the fact that it is actually more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica. If someone were to quote EB, would you say it's not a credible source?

http://vu1corp.blogspot.com/

Last night while shopping the light products aisle of one of the largest DIY stores I saw that they had started carrying a complete line of brand-name LED lighting products. I just had to purchase the R30 LED - "Ideal for Recessed Lighting" model. So here is my complete biased assessment of the "best of breed" LED product from perhaps the world's largest lighting manufacturer.

Specifications:

• Instant on
• Mercury Free
• Rugged design (yes, seeing that it weighs in at ¾ of a lb due to
all of the cast aluminum heat sinking)
• Same size and shape as regular bulbs (No, it is actually 3.25 inches tall or more than 2 inches shorter than a standard incandescent R30. I could barely fit it into the can fixtures in my kitchen - it was too short. And my wife’s first impression was “it looks like a shower head”.)
• Quiet (hope so. It's a light bulb not a entertainment center)
• Emits virtually no heat
• Color Rendering Index of 85 (equals “poor”)
• Color temperature not specified but appears to be 4000-5000K (blue white). The color made the kitchen counter look like a morgue table.
• Replaces 50 Watt halogen Par30 bulb (No not quite, not with a lumen output of only 418 Lumens)
• Very directional, very strong glare
• 11 watts
• 25,000 hours life
• And probably the most surprising spec an energy efficacy of only 38 Lumens per watt - Less than most CFL bulbs. What happened to the 100+ lm/w we have heard touted over and over again from the super efficient new LED bulbs?
• And last but not least $49.97

The package says it will save you $97 in electrical costs if you keep it for 17 years (4 hours per day, 25,000 hours). Of course after you deduct the $50 purchare price you will have a "return on your investment" of over $2.47 per year! Oh yes, sorry - it can't be used with a dimmer

ryryfree -- hypocrite much? my emotions aren't as bad as your arbitrary hatred of Wikipedia. you still haven't given a source, so you have nothing to say.
your attacking of someone based on your assumption of whether or not they have a degree shows virtually no maturity. in fact I do have a degree, but that alone means little over someone who doesn't. one day you'll grow up and understand.