bulbs

A manufacturing breakthrough will result in lower costs for better color LEDs, LED manufacturer Cree announced Wednesday.

Cree says it's been able to apply a new method of color mixing to produce an LED light that's akin to an incandescent light bulb in color and uniformity.

The LED light uses 4 watts of power while offering 340 lumens at 3,000 degrees Kelvin (warm white) and operating at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius.

The LEDs are intended for use in fixtures that would normally take a 20- to 25-watt halogen bulb, such as track lighting, picture lights, … Read more

General Electric's new hybrid light bulbs have begun shipping to retailers and are expected to be available nationwide by April 22, Earth Day, the company announced yesterday.

The hybrid halogen-compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs, announced in October 2010, look like a spiral frosted CFL light bulb snugly fit inside a clear glass bulb shaped like a typical incandescent light bulb.

One selling point is that the bulbs don't take time to light up like many CFLs currently available. When switched on, the hybrid bulb's halogen portion lights up within a half-second. Then once the CFL portion has … Read more

The mercury reads 12 degrees outside, but it feels like minus 2 with the windchill. That's Fahrenheit--the numbers are depressingly lower in Celsius here in Canada. Still, when I hang Nokero's new N200 bulb on a tree, its solar cell recharges without a hitch.

Denver-based Nokero debuted last year with the N100 solar light bulb. It recently released an improved version, the N200, and I had a chance to try it out.

First off, the Nokero bulbs are designed to replace homemade kerosene lamps, not standard bulbs. They're aimed at hundreds of millions of people in developing … Read more

General Electric today unveiled a halogen compact fluorescent light bulb that promises the efficiency of a CFL without the annoying warm-up period.

Unlike typical compact fluorescents (CFLs), the new GE Reveal and GE Energy Smart Soft White hybrid light bulbs will not take time to heat up in order to reach full luminescence.

The bulb is actually two bulbs in one. A halogen light nestled within the bulb turns on almost instantly (half a second), then shuts off once the CFL has reached its full brightness, according to GE.

GE says its new hybrid bulb only contains 1 milligram of … Read more

Here's a bright idea for the planet. A Hong Kong-based company has introduced what it bills as the world's only solar-powered lightbulb with the hope of reaching millions of people with little or no access to electricity.

The Nokero N100 solar LED lightbulb is meant to replace kerosene lamps as a lighting source in the developing world. The company says 1.6 billion people still lack sufficient access to electricity, and many burn fossil fuels for light, which can be dangerous and expensive.

The N100 solar bulb is about the size of a standard incandescent bulb and has … Read more

Royal Philips Electronics unveiled on Wednesday an LED bulb that will be mass-produced as a replacement for the common 60-watt light bulb.

The 12-watt Endura LED, which is the fruition of the LED prototype bulb the Dutch electronics giant unveiled in 2009, looks very similar to its historic predecessor in size and shape. But the bulb cuts energy use by 80 percent and lasts 25 times longer than the common 60-watt incandescent bulb, according to Philips.

The LED bulb will last 25,000 hours compared with the 1,000 hours that consumers normally get out of the average 60-watt incandescent … Read more

Florida-based lighting company ClearLite is introducing a new CFL bulb with an unbreakable safety shell that prevents mercury from escaping, a feature that addresses some health concerns with CFLs.

The SX-4000 silicone skin remains intact even if the ArmorLite bulb inside shatters, according to ClearLite, which is rolling out its bulb in December and January.

Not everyone is aware of the danger of broken CFLs. Because of the small amount of mercury in them, current EPA guidelines call for evacuating people and pets from the area where a bulb has shattered.

They also call for the room to be aired … Read more

Panasonic has launched a new household LED lightbulb in Japan that it says lasts 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The screw-in bulbs are part of the EverLed line, and they're scheduled to hit stores in Japan on October 21, with monthly production at 50,000 units. No changes to lighting equipment used for incandescents are required.

If used an average of five and a half hours per day, the new bulbs can last up to 19 years, according to Panasonic. That's 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The bulbs use only an eighth the power of incandescents. … Read more

A new breakthrough may change the attitude that the incandescent lightbulb has had its day.

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) have unquestionably gained popularity for their energy efficiency when compared to the traditional incandescent bulb. Millions of people around the world have been encouraged by politicians, governments, energy utilities, and even lightbulb companies themselves to phase out traditional incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs (or even LEDs) to save electricity in the home.

But now researchers at the University of Rochester in New York say they've found a way to make an incandescent lightbulb more efficient.

A group led by … Read more