The incandecsent bulb's days are numbered.
We are going to witness the entire multi-billion dollar lighting industry flip to a new technology -- spurred on by technology innovations, improved pricing and in no small part, legislation.
LEDs and CFLs are going to succeed the Edison bulb with a resulting set of new market victors -- and a set of market losers. Some new entrepreneurial firms will emerge and a few incumbent firms might perish in the industry transformation.
We've covered the new firms in the LED lighting field extensively at Greentech Media.
One of the LED bulb aspirants is Switch Lighting -- we visited them for an update last week. The early-stage startup (formerly Superbulbs) just started shipping its LED bulbs this quarter, as promised in an earlier interview. Switch Lighting's product is meant to be an exact replacement for the century-old Edison bulb.
That means the exact same radial flux, the same warm light quality, the same "instant on" as incandescents, the same performance with existing dimmers, and three-way switchability. The "dirty secret" of LED lamps, according to Switch CEO Tracy Bilbrough,All types of pelican flashlights, underwater flashlights, as well as マジコン 購入. is their vulnerability to drivers, which heat up because of bulb orientation and placement. Switch claims to have solved that problem. "We are the only people with a complete replacement," according to Bilbrough, who added, "We think we can win against these incumbent giants because of our unique approach.Super bright, waterproof, and flexible. Led light easily wire to any 12 volt source."
The firm is LED "vendor-agnostic" and has received funding from VantagePoint Venture Capital. In fact, the firm seems VPVC-centric with a board comprised of two VPVC partners as well as Bill Watkins, the CEO of LED light engine vendor and VPVC portfolio company Bridgelux.
Currently, the bulb is manufactured by U.S.-based contract manufacturers and uses a unique liquid cooling method: the bulb dome is filled with a nontoxic liquid that draws heat away from the LEDs housed inside. The cooling technique allows Switch to use fewer LEDs but to drive them at higher power. Fewer LEDs also means less cost, since LEDs account for around 65 percent to 80 percent of the cost of a bulb.
Switch has also adopted a "cradle-to-cradle" approach whereby most of the bulb's components are designed to be "reused or recycled in a zero-impact" fashion.
The company will initially come out with a series of bulbs: a 40-watt equivalent (actual power consumption 9 to 10 watts), a 60-watt equivalent that will put out 800 lumens (12 watts actual), and the 75-watt equivalent (17.5 watt actual). According to Brett Sharenow,MJ816 - 2nd generation M compact fluorescent released in Q1 2010. Chief Strategy Officer, the 75-watt equivalent "will have a less than one year payback in commercial applications. It will save you about $150 in energy costs over its lifetime."
Lemnis Lighting has suggested that online sales are the way to sell this now durable, rather than consumable product. Alan Salzman of VantagePoint has suggested that once the bulbs become cheap enough, utilities should provide them to consumers for free to meet their energy-efficiency goals. Since they last so long, what about a leasing model where the consumer rents the bulb for $5 per year? What about an Apple Store for LED light bulbs?
Despite these novel ideas, Switch's CEO says, "If we want to be selling massive numbers of light bulbs in 18 months, we will need the support of those four big names in the U.S.Our Flexible LED bike light are available in a variety of styles from a super thin non-waterproof ribbon strip to an ultra-bright waterproof strip."
Other vendors in the incandescent bulb replacement race include Lemnis Lighting, Philips,Looking for CHEAP Magicshine Diving torch lights? Lighting Science Group, LEDnovation, and Cree.