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Electric lighting accounts for 21% of the energy used in the commercial sector, and most businesses use fluorescent tubes as their light source. LEDs use 40% less energy than fluorescent lights for the same amount of light production. Unfortunately, LED tubes can’t simply be placed into fluorescent fixtures. Well, they couldn’t, until now.
First a little background: A fluorescent light requires a high start-up voltage in order to overcome its large initial resistance. A fluorescent fixture includes a ballast – an inductor, similar to the ignition coil in a car – to produce this high starting voltage. Once the light is on its resistance decreases and the ballast simply prevents large changes in current, in effect, regulating the current through the tube.
Incandescent lights and LEDs don’t require a ballast. While many LED tubes are available as fluorescent replacements, those tubes necessitate the removal of the ballast. This involves an electrician and about 15 minutes of labor per fixture. As you can imagine, that time and cost adds up when you’re talking about a commercial establishment. Some experts on sustainability estimate that labor represents about 40% of the cost of replacing fluorescents with LEDs, and that’s the largest obstacle in making the transition to LEDs.
RAISE Energy Solutions recently introduced an LED tube that compensates for the ballast, meaning that the tube can simply replace the fluorescent tube without removing the ballast. This saves a great deal of time and the job can be done by a maintenance worker instead of a licensed electrician, both of which drastically reduce the payback period on the investment. I contacted Tom VanZeeland, Chief Technology Officer at RAISE Energy, to ask about the product. Not surprisingly, he wouldn’t tell me how the tubes work around the ballast issue, but my guess is that there is a circuit that absorbs the short high-voltage burst that the ballast provides. Although the ballast itself remains in the circuit and uses a small amount of power, Tom assured me that the loss is less than 5W. A typical fixture that used 64 Watts with fluorescent tubes will use 36 Watts with the replacement LED tubes, ballast and all. Here he is describing the tube:
In addition to the improved energy efficiency, LEDs will last 2-3 times as long as fluorescents, resulting in lower overall maintenance costs, less waste, and lower inventories. Also, LEDs don’t use mercury like fluorescent lights, so they don’t need to be treated as hazardous materials. And as shown in the video, LED tubes are much less fragile than fluorescent light tubes.
LEDs and fluorescent lights have had a bad reputation for producing light that’s not a desirable color temperature. Recent advances in LED technology have made this a non-issue. RAISE Energy’s lights come in a variety of color temperatures, ranging from 3000 K (similar to incandescents) to 6000 K (approximating natural daylight.)
With the final phase of the incandescent bulb ban now in effect, consumers are looking at alternatives to these energy-gobbling lights. LED bulbs — an expensive novelty not too long ago — have come on to the scene in a big way over the last year. If you’re looking to replace you lights, we’ll tell you what you need to know about these incandescent alternatives.
How Do They Stack Up To CFLs?
Unloved by consumers, compact fluorescent bulbs were the first, flawed wave of energy-saving bulbs. They cast a cold-hued light, took some time to come on, and contained mercury, making them a poor alternative to incandescent bulbs. However, the energy savings were undeniable. A CFL that casts as much light as a 60-watt incandescent could draw as little as 13 watts, cutting the cost of keeping the lights on by nearly 80 percent. So how do LED bulbs stack up to CFLs? They light up instantly and can now match the warm tones of an incandescent bulb, making them a great option for those that sat out the first round of energy efficient lights. And with a typical 60-watt replacement drawing a mere 9 to 10 watts of power, they are even more efficient than CFL bulbs.
The biggest thing going against LED bulbs is the cost — with many bulbs priced at $30 to $50 when they first debuted a few years ago. But prices have fallen rapidly, and the bulb marker Cree has introduced the first LED to hit the $10 mark — still a significant cost compared to CFLs, but when you consider that they bulbs can last as long as 20 years, the price doesn’t seem so bad.
New Form Factors
Ditching a tungsten filament for future-age, solid-state technology comes with certain benefits, but these bulbs can also pose a bit of a challenge. LEDs pack a lot of technology into each bulb, and as a result, many of these lights take a slightly different shape than traditional lightbulbs, which can cause problems fitting these lights into certain spaces such as lamps or recessed light fixtures. So before you run off to replace a home’s worth of lights, buy one and make sure it will fit in your different fixtures.
However, ditching the traditional bulb shape can also open up new possibilities. Strip lights, like the Philips Friends of Hue light strip or the more affordable alternative from Ikea, can give off great ambient light, perfect for watching TV or lighting a hallway at night.
Know What You’re Buying
With incandescents, picking a bulb was pretty straightforward: choose the wattage you need to get the brightness you want. But with LED bulbs, the choice is far more varied and can be a little confusing to the uninitiated. First off, wattage is no longer a reliable indicator of brightness. Energy efficiency can vary greatly between bulbs from different manufacturers, and a bulb that uses 9 watts of power can be just as bright as a bulb that consumes 12 watts. Rather than rely on wattage for brightness, consumers should check a bulb’s lumen output. A 60-watt incandescent bulb, for instance, typically puts out 800 lumens, while a 100-watt bulb puts out 1600 lumens.
Wattage isn’t the only thing consumers can no longer take for granted. Compact fluorescent bulbs irritated many consumers, who complained that these lights cast a harsh and cold light. But with LED bulbs, consumers can now pick their preferred color temperature, which is measured on the Kelvin scale. For those looking to mimic the warm tones of incandescent bulbs, grab an LED in the 2700k-3000k range. Color temperatures higher up on the Kelvin scale, say up around 4100k, will give you a whiter, more neutral light. Fortunately for consumers, LED bulbs now bear a lighting information box on the back of the package, which spells out lumen output, bulb lifespan, color temperature and energy usage.
The Future is Smart Bulbs
While the energy savings of these bulbs are a real plus, the real future of lighting lies in smart bulbs. These wifi-connected lights allow you to control your home lighting from a smartphone or tablet. The technology is still in its infancy, but app markers are already developing cool new uses for these bulbs. For instance, you can set up your lights to come on as you approach your home, and turn off when you leave. Or maybe you want to ditch your alarm clock and program your light to turn on slowly, simulating a sunrise in the morning.
While the cost of smart bulbs is still astronomically high — a starter pack of three Philips Hue bulbs will set you back $200 and TCP’s Connected kit costs $110 — the technology is promising and consumers can expect to see prices fall in the near future.
Starting in January, traditional incandescent bulbs will be on their way out the door. A 2007 bill is setting new efficiency standards for light bulb manufacturers, stating that 40 watt bulbs must draw just 10.5 W, and 60 W bulbs can only draw 11 W.
So how does this translate? Essentially, it means that incandescents will be going dark, while newer compact fluorescents (CFLs) and LED bulbs will be lighting up.
While this move is ultimately meant to conserve the nation’s available energy, the transition may actually not be so beneficial in other aspects. Broader use of CFLs may actually come with some unwanted health risks – most notably in regards to people’s skin.
The danger lies in the CFL design. Current fluorescent bulbs house a small tube of liquid mercury, and when the light is turned on, the incoming electricity changes some of that mercury into gas. This excited vapor emits invisible ultraviolet (UV) light, which is then absorbed by the bulb’s phosphor coating. The coating serves two purposes, both re-emitting the UV rays as visible light and shielding human skin from harm.
“Ultraviolet light is similar to the ultraviolet wavelengths found in natural sunlight, and we do not want huge amounts or extra amounts of ultraviolet light on our skin because it can cause biological effects that can lead to cancer,” Dr. Elma Baron, director in the lasers and photomedicine department at UH Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told FoxNews.com. “I think the chance of that happening, having UV light emission from the new bulbs, is only present when there is a defect in the coating.”
However, it seems that these defects are a definite possibility. A 2012 study from Stony Brook University found that the twisty CFL bulbs, which also use mercury, are much more likely to leak UV light compared to traditional fluorescent bulbs.
According to the research, many of these bulbs “have cracks in the phosphor coating, probably due to the fact that the coating is brittle and has trouble making the tight bends required to make these bulbs compact," explained the study’s lead author Miriam Rafailovich, a professor of materials science and engineering at Stony Brook.
As a result, the researchers found that exposure to CFL bulbs caused damage to healthy human skin cells, similar to damage seen from ultraviolet radiation. However, it remains unclear how much exposure to a cracked CFL bulb is enough to cause serious adverse health effects.
“When you’re talking about skin effects of light, it all has to do with wavelength; what’s the wavelength being emitted?” Baron said. “A 5 Joule of UVA light may not do anything, but once you get to a 20 Joule of UVA, that might cause some redness or alter some processes in the skin. So it’s a matter of dose, and I don’t think anyone has quantified what the dose is through one of those sources if something is cracked.”
Another concern surrounding CFL light bulbs has to do with their potential to trigger migraine headaches. According to Dr. Mark Green, director of the Center for Headache and Pain Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, current fluorescent lights are reviled by many migraine suffers, who claim certain forms of lighting can prompt painful attacks.
“The reality is [fluorescent lighting] rarely does trigger migraines, but it’s possible, and the reason for that is there is a flicker rate – the lights fire off at a certain rate,” Green told FoxNews.com. “The way we trigger migraines in the lab is to give people a strobe effect, using high density lights at a high flicker rate… So we don’t like fluorescent lights in migraine people in general.”
Green said that most migraine sufferers enjoy incandescent lighting, since it doesn’t produce any flickering sensations and has a nice warm feel. But with this change, it’s going to be harder for individuals to avoid fluorescent lights, and for the 1 or 2 percent of people who experience migraines, CFLs may exacerbate their symptoms.
“We’re all going to be living in a world of fluorescent light,” Green said. “So what we do as doctors, since we can’t change the world, we just try to treat the migraines more aggressively. When you use preventive migraine therapy, you reduce sensitivity of that part of the brain. We can’t change the trigger but we can try to change the brain’s response to the trigger.”
Fortunately, there is still an option for people worried about the potential health effects from CFLs. Considered to be the future of bulb technology, LED lights don’t contain any filaments that will burn out, and they don’t heat up very much either. Instead, they are illuminated by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, causing no flickering and emitting almost no UV light.
Yet, there’s a catch. LED lights are much more costly for consumers, with a six-pack of 60-Watt LEDs from Cree selling for $77.82 – $12.97 each. So if you’re looking to make the switch to LEDs, it may burn a few holes in your pockets.
A modern day Edison has a bright idea: a way to keep the incandescent bulb burning brightly, despite a government law set to go into effect New Year’s Day that effectively outlaws the most commonly used lightbulbs.
Most bulbs, that is. Not those made by lightbulb savior Larry Birnbaum.
“When the government decided to ban incandescent lightbulbs, they left a loophole in the law. An opening,” Birnbaum told FoxNews.com. “What that was was rough service.”
A “rough service” bulb is, in Birnbaum’s words, a bulb that can take a beating, one meant for industrial purposes — imagine a lightbulb on a subway car, built to survive the jostling and vibrations of the daily commute. But despite their intended use, they work just like normal bulbs: Consumers can buy them and screw them into any ordinary lamp socket.
'You’d be shocked how many people still want incandescents.'
– Larry Birnbaum, CEO of Newcandescent
But there are a variety of exceptions to that law for specialty lighting, including bulbs with unusual bases, others meant for special display purposes, and rough service bulbs. In 2010 Birnbaum applied for a permit to build them under the new specifications: Per the government, his bulbs needed seven filaments rather than two, a brass base, and 1 millimeter thicker glass, and the bulbs had to be filled with a special mixture of argon and krypton to improve their lifespan.
“They made it very difficult for everybody. I had to do three different samples at three different times until we finally got the approval, they were so critical,” he said. “I don’t blame them.”
His bulbs, called Newcandescents, began shipping in 2010 — made in America, at a plant outside of Indianapolis by around two dozen employees.
Demand has been remarkable, Birnbaum said. After a 2012 appearance on the Rush Limbaugh show, he received $100,000 worth of orders and enough traffic to crash the website.
“You’d be shocked how many people still want incandescents,” he told FoxNews.com. Many people are unsatisfied by those twisty compact fluorescent bulbs, he said, the main alternative to incandescent bulbs. “People don’t like the color, the fact that they don’t go on right away, the fact that they have mercury.”
CFLs also pose a health risk to some: A 2012 study from Stony Brook University found them much more likely to leak UV light compared to traditional fluorescent bulbs, causing damage to healthy human skin cells.
Newer LEDs are being hailed as the next great lighting tech, long life bulbs that sip power and ultimately should reduce electric bills substantially. But for now those bulbs are costly, despite dramatic price cuts over the past year. Home Depot sells — until supplies run out — a six pack of 60-Watt incandescents from GE for $4.67, or 78 cents apiece. A six-pack of 60-Watt LEDs from Cree sells for $77.82 — $12.97 each.
Newcandescents are available at a retail store in South Hackensack and in a variety of supermarket chains, including King Kullen, Gristedes, Pioneer and more. They’re also online: Bright Lights Inc., a retailer that sells Newcandescent bulbs, lists a two pack for $2.88, or $1.44 apiece, CEO Paul Veen told FoxNews.com. His company caters to the south, distributing bulbs across Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and more.
"Over in Alabama, they need our bulbs. They blow 120 volt bulbs all the time. Their power generation is a little higher,” Veen said.
Built to be sturdier, Newcandescent bulbs run on 130 volts rather than 120, meaning they last longer on the lower voltages, he said.
“If you’ve got a ceiling fixture and you don’t want to change the bulb every 10 months, use something that’s going to last.”
Other than their strength and durability, Newcandescents are just like the old incandescents, including the higher power consumption the new rules are meant to eliminate. But many people are willing to make that trade off.
“The incandescent color is very difficult to replicate — as far as in LEDs or CFLs, it’s virtually impossible,” Birnbaum said. “And unless you were born a few weeks ago, we’re all addicted to that color. “
Lighting run in the family for Birnbaum, a third-generation bulb man.
“My grandfather and Thomas Edison were very good friends,” he said, “He gave my grandfather an original Edison bulb — and it still works today.”
Lights out for the incandescent light bulb as of Jan. 1, 2014
A 100-watt incandescent light bulb seen at Royal Lighting in Los Angeles on Jan. 21, 2011 — before the bulbs were banned by a 2007 law. (AP PHOTO)
When the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, the year ends — and so does the ordinary lightbulb.
Jan. 1. marks the end of a seven-year effort to outlaw the ordinary lightbulb, thanks to a 2007 law that raised minimum efficiency standards for traditional incandescent bulbs far beyond what the technology can manage.
It’s lights out for the traditional light bulb, in other words, which was essentially killed by that bill.
“The government started phasing out incandescents in 2012, starting with the 100-watt bulb, and then followed by the 75-watt,” explained Melissa Andresko, communications director for lighting-automation company Lutron.
“Come January 1, both the 60- and the 40-watt bulbs are going away. And that’s really going to have the most impact on consumers because those are the most popular incandescent bulb types right now,” she told FoxNews.com earlier this month.
The demise of the incandescent bulb might come as a surprise to most Americans, however. A recent study by Lutron pointed out that fewer than 1 in 3 adults (just 28 percent) were aware of the planned phase out. A similar Socket Survey by Sylvania showed slightly more awareness — 4 in 10 were aware of the phase out, it revealed.
Contrary to some reports, the 2007 law doesn’t mandate that manufacturers discontinue their bulbs, just that they improve them: 40W bulbs must draw just 10.5W, and 60W bulbs 11W. TWhe result is the same: Incandescents simply can’t keep up with those twisty compact fluorescent (CFL) and newer LED bulbs, and even retailers are buying in bulk as the calendar winds down.
Home Depot has a six-month stockpile, according to Mark Voykovic, the store’s national light bulb merchant.
“Home Depot anticipates running out of their stock of 40W to 60W bulbs six months into 2014,” he told FoxNews.com in early December. Conservative policy group The Heritage Foundation recently posted a lament for the lightbulb, noting that folks should stock up before they miss out.
“The federal government is taking decisions out of the hands of families and businesses, destroying jobs, and restricting consumer choice in the market. We all have a wide variety of preferences regarding light bulbs. It is not the role of the federal government to override those preferences with what it believes is in our best interest,” wrote Nicholas Loris.
While consumers might not appreciate the drop in choices, they should like their plunging energy bills, said the National Electrical Manufacturers Association — the main trade association for bulb builders.
“NEMA’s members are in the energy efficiency business,” Phallan Davis, a spokeswoman for NEMA, told FoxNews.com. “Electroindustry products are becoming more and more energy efficient and the systems that often manage their use add to energy and cost savings. NEMA believes that energy efficiency policies, for the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, should be a central component to any national energy policy,” she said.
Many nonetheless lament the confusing terminology of color temperatures that dictates whether CFLs emit a pale blue (5,000-6,500 Kelvin) or whiter (3,500-4,100K) light, neither of which quite matches the familiar light of an incandescent light bulb (2,700-3,000K). Savvy interior decorators were hoarding as early as two years ago.
“Every time I go to Costco, I buy more wattage,” decorator Bunny Williams told The New York Times in 2011. She said she couldn’t abide the sickly hue of a twisty compact fluorescent, the paper reported.
CFLs, one of the most common energy-efficient replacements for incandescents, have grown in popularity at the same time that colors have improved. LED-based bulbs, including newer models by manufacturers Cree and Philips, are at the forefront of bulb technology’s future.
They’re also a pricey replacement, consumers are finding, despite dramatic price cuts over the past year. Home Depot sells a six pack of 60-Watt incandescents from GE for $4.67, or 78 cents apiece. A six-pack of 60-Watt LEDs from Cree sells for an eye-watering $77.82 — $12.97 each. The tradeoff is the dramatic drop in power consumption and the much longer lifespan of the newer technologies, which can last up to 15 times longer.
Solid State and Other Energy Efficient Lighting Systems, Application Market worth US$53.5 Billion by 2015
Thursday, 02 January 2014
The global solid state and other energy efficient lighting systems market is expected to grow from $28,248.7 million in 2010 to $53,469.5 million in 2015, at an estimated CAGR of 9.7% from 2010 to 2015.
The increasing demand for energy-saving and environment-friendly lighting technology is driving the growth of the global solid state and other energy efficient lighting systems market. The global solid state and other energy efficient lighting systems market is expected to grow from $33,630.3 million in 2010 to $53,469.5 million in 2015, at an estimated CAGR of 9.7% from 2010 to 2015.
Amongst all the market segments, the compact fluorescent lamps command the largest share in terms of revenues, while light emitting diode is the second largest market due to the globally increasing demand for energy efficient lighting, which, in turn, has arisen due to the shift of the governments’ focus worldwide towards environmental concern to protect the planet from global warming. While light emitting diode contributed 31.2% to the global solid state and other energy efficient lighting systems market revenues in 2010, organic light emitting diode market is expected to have the highest CAGR of 44.0% from 2010 to 2015
The U.S offers a lucrative market to solid state and energy efficient lighting manufacturers as it is to grow at a CAGR of 10.7% from 2010 to 2015. The Asia Pacific is the largest market in the world and has 44.7% share of the global market revenues. Europe comes second in revenues and has the second highest CAGR
Industry participants with the most significant product developments include Philips, Osram, General Electrics, Nichia, Cree, Samsung, and so on. Major players also differ from one technology to other. Philips, Osram, and General Electrics are the largest players in CFL market. However, in light emitting diode market, Nichia, Osram, Lumileds, Cree, and Samsung are the largest players.
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Tucked into a 1,500-page budget bill now moving through Congress is a Republican provision that would restore the incandescent light bulbs that were phased out in favor of greener lighting technology.
But the legislation is likely to disappoint hopeful light-bulb hoarders and other haters of the new energy-efficient, squiggly tailed compact fluorescent and LED lights that replaced the iconic bulbs.
"The light bulb [provision] is mainly political theater at this point," said Kit Kennedy, a lawyer for the energy and transportation program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"The efficiency standards for lighting are in effect," Kennedy said. "The majority of U.S. manufacturers are committed to these standards, which they support, and are going to be complying with them, rider or no rider."
Since Jan. 1, it has been illegal to produce 40- or 60-watt incandescent light bulbs in the United States. The 75-watt and 100-watt bulbs were banned earlier.
Incandescent bulbs that have been in use in America since the 1800s were banned in 2007 by green-energy legislation approved by Democratic lawmakers and signed into law by Republican President George W. Bush.
Supporters of the ban say the incandescent bulbs wasted energy and that a more environmentally friendly alternative was needed.
Defenders of the traditional bulb say the government is again overreaching, that the marketplace should decide what kind of bulbs are manufactured here.
While compact fluorescent bulbs have largely replaced the traditional bulbs, consumers also can opt for LED lights, which last longer than incandescent or fluorescent but cost much more — up to 20 times more than the bulbs they replace.
The iconic incandescent bulb has become a rallying point for Republicans and when the GOP recaptured control of the House in a 2010 wave election, lawmakers made several attempts to revive it.
Led in the House by Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, Republicans tried unsuccessfully to repeal the 2007 ban and, failing that, to cut off funding for Department of Energy enforcement of the bulb ban. Burgess finally got the funding cutoff provision inserted into an energy and water spending bill that President Obama signed into law.
The provision lawmakers inserted into the 2014 bill would extend that funding cutoff for enforcement, but would do nothing to revive the production of incandescent bulbs. Burgess acknowledged the provision's limitations in an interview with the Washington Examiner, but said he's hopes the measure revives interest in the traditional bulb.
Democrats dismissed the Republican effort to revive the bulb as political grandstanding that did nothing to alter the 2007 law.
"This is just a messaging amendment for [Republicans in the] House to say they made the Senate take this thing," said a senior Democratic congressional aide. "It practically, at least in the short term, really doesn't make any difference, because everyone's following these rules anyway."
Incandescent 40- and 60-watt varieties will soon leave store shelves
BY MARY BETH BRECKENRIDGE
Akron Beacon Journal
Say goodbye to the old-style light bulb.
On Wednesday, it became illegal to manufacture or import 60- and 40-watt incandescent bulbs because of federally mandated efficiency standards signed into law in 2007 by then-President George W. Bush.
Incandescent bulbs of 75 and 100 watts were phased out in earlier stages, but the ban on 60- and 40-watt bulbs will affect consumers more because of their popularity for residential lighting, experts said.
That means the sort of general service light bulb we've used for more than a century can no longer be made in or imported into the United States.
It may not be noticeable until a few months from now, when those light bulbs are bought and not replaced, but businesses are expecting to provide a bit of education to consumers unaware of the new change.
What does that mean for you?
On the plus side, it means more choices and smaller electric bills. On the minus side, it means an end to dirt-cheap light bulbs and grab-and-go bulb shopping. Now you need to read labels.
The new lighting standards, part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, were intended to make light bulbs more efficient and reduce the amount of energy needed to power them. They've done that, but they've also left some consumers confused in the face of all the choices in the lighting aisle.
'You're used to buying that 60-watt bulb and knowing what it looks like and everything else,' said Cordell Blackmon, manager of the Batteries + Bulbs store in Ohio. Now, he said, customers who buy bulbs in haste often bring them back when they find the bulbs don't meet their expectations.
Buying the right bulb requires more attention than it used to, Blackmon said. But with a little education and guidance, he said, his customers end up with what they need.
The Jan. 1 phaseout of oldstyle 40- and 60-watt bulbs is the third step in the change to more efficient forms of lighting. The first step, in 2012, targeted 100 watt bulbs and was followed in 2013 by the elimination of traditional 75-watt bulbs.
Although the lighting law has commonly been called a ban on incandescent light bulbs, lighting experts say that's inaccurate. The law doesn't ban incandescent bulbs but only requires them to be more energy-efficient.
What's more, the law doesn't affect all incandescent light bulbs, just general service bulbs – pear-shaped bulbs with a medium base, the kind that for years were used most commonly in the home. A whole lot of bulbs are exempt, including three-way bulbs, 150-watt bulbs and bulbs with narrower candelabra bases that are often used in chandeliers.
The law may be frustrating some consumers, but many lighting specialists and sustainability advocates cheer the innovations it has spurred. The lighting standards 'have led to more lighting innovation over the past five years than we saw during the 100-plus years since Edison invented the light bulb,' Noah Horowitz, director of the National Resources Defense Council's Center for Energy Efficiency, wrote in his blog.
Now consumers have essentially three choices: compact fluorescent light bulbs, LED bulbs and halogen bulbs.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs, are long-lasting and stingy on energy use and relatively inexpensive. But they have features some people don't like, including the inclusion of a tiny amount of mercury.
LED bulbs are illuminated by light-emitting diodes. They last for decades and use even less energy than CFLs, but they're still fairly expensive.
Halogen bulbs are the most like the old familiar incandescent bulbs. They don't save nearly as much electricity or last as long as the others, but they're probably the best choice for people who really don't want to change, said Terry McGowan, director of engineering for the American Lighting Association.
Consumers will pay more upfront for LED and CFL bulbs, but the new technologies will save homeowners about 85 percent and 75 percent, respectively, on their energy bills. In addi tion, LED bulbs can last up to 23 years, and CFL bulbs last about nine years.
The lighting standards 'have led to more lighting innovation over the past five years than we saw during the 100-plus years since Edison invented the light bulb.'