Office parks and convenience stores rely on fluorescent lights. These flickering gas-filled tubes suck down far less energy than the incandescent bulbs they replaced, but they still consume some 200 terawatts of electricity every year. This new super-efficient LED prototype from Philips, however, puts florescents to shame.
It’s a matter of lighting efficiency — how much light, measured in lumens, you can squeeze out of every watt of electricity consumed. Incandescent bulbs pull a paltry 15 lumens per watt on average, fluorescent bulbs produce maybe 100 lumens per watt. The prototype Tube LED (TLED) from Philips — 200 lumens per watt. That’s not only double what a flourescent can do, it’s nearly double what existing LEDs, like the Philips T8, can achieve as well. That would mean a 60-watt, 2700k equivalent would consume just five watts of power. And if every fluorescent in the US were replaced with these new bulbs, the company estimates savings over $US12 billion annually while preventing the release of 60 million tonnes of CO2.
“This is a major breakthrough in LED lighting and will further drive the transformation of the lighting industry,” said Rene van Schooten, Philips chief executive of light source and electronics in a press statement. The company hopes to deliver commercial and industrial versions to market by 2015 with consumer products quickly following. [BBC]
Picture: Philips