Philips L Prize LED Bulb

While residential LED light bulbs are still very much a niche market, the technology and design behind them are rapidly advancing. The Philips L Prize LED lamp is a great example of the why LED lights are bound to become the standard for residential and commercial lighting in the years to come.

What is the L Prize?

The L Prize is a government sponsored competition, created to challenge light bulb manufacturers to 'push the envelope' of energy efficiency, and develop high-tech lights to replace the traditional incandescent bulb.

The first L Prize competition was designed to replace the 60 watt incandescent bulb and PAR38 halogen bulb, two of the most-used bulbs in the home.

And the Winner Is….
The winner of the first L Prize competition is a bulb designed by Philips, and that bulb is now poised to change the way we light our homes.

Philips has invested deeply in LED lighting technology, which is a super-efficient alternative to incandescent lights. Their EnduraLED line of LED lights are already widely available

This new bulb was awarded the L Prize due to its energy efficiency and environmental savings. If every 60 watt bulb in the U.S. was converted to the new L Prize bulb (which consumes only 10 watts), we could save approximately 35 terawatt-hours of electricity each year. That's enough power to supply Washington, D.C. for three years, and would prevent 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions. The potential for energy savings is truly astonishing.

Advantages of the Philips L Prize Bulb

The energy-efficiency of LED lighting is well-known. The strict criteria of the L Prize competition are helping to ensure that the light bulbs of tomorrow not only provide unsurpassed efficiency, but also provide a satisfying, quality light similar to today's incandescent bulbs.

The Philips L Prize LED bulb was the winner for meeting and/or exceeding all of the competition's criteria. Here are the L Prize specifications that won it the Competition:

• Bulb efficiently produces 90 lumens of light per watt of electricity
• Bulb uses 10 watts of electricity to produce same amount of light as 60 watt incandescent.
• Bulb produces a 'warm' light (2700 Kelvin), comparable to an incandescent bulb.
• Bulb designed to last 25,000 hours (25x greater than incandescent bulb)
• Bulb uses the same screw base as incandescent bulbs to fit today's light fixtures
• Bulb has dimensions comparable to an average 60 watt incandescent bulb

LED lights are the future of lighting in a world that needs to make changes in order to remain a green, healthy place to live. LEDs are much more efficient that incandescent bulbs with roughly the same efficiency as CFLs (compact fluorescent's).

LEDs improve on today's efficient CFLs in several ways. They are dimmable, have a more satisfying light quality, last much longer, and are completely free of mercury and lead.

The Philips L Prize LED bulb will be available for green consumers to buy starting in early 2012. For those who want LED bulbs NOW, the Philips EnduraLED line of retrofit bulbs is available today. *UPDATE 11/2013: New, brighter LEDs are now available that create light equivalent to a 100-watt incandescent power. Click HERE for more info!*

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