Re: the light bulb police are coming

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

dharper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Harper) wrote:

>While this looks interesting, the article also states that it will be 2010
>before they're ready for market and initially it will only be a 2X improvement
>over current incandescent bulbs.  Given the rate of development in LED
>technology, I wonder if the market will still be there at that time.

And they don't indicate when they think they will hit the 4X figure.

I think the impetus for this is the plant & equipment that GE (and others)
have that can be switched from making today's incandescent to the HEIs in a
minimum amount of time and with minimal investment. CFLs (which GE also
makes) and LEDs require different methods and will likely require new
investment in plant and equipment. Thus, HEIs will probably have a price
advantage and will have the same form factor as today's incandescents.

There are indications that future LEDs will be even more efficient than
either CFLs or HEIs but they really cost and arm and a leg today. There's a
Japanese plant due to come on line this year (?) that promises highly
efficient, cheap LEDs but it's not clear whether these lend themselves to
residential lighting.


http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=181503227

Wouldn't it be ironic if GE hits their goal and the decision is made to
replace all fluorescents with HEIs because of the hazardous waste issue? ;)
It's already a problem for commerce and industry where the volume is so much
higher than for a single family residence.

http://davehouston.net
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