Are white LEDs going to beat CFL's in 10 years?

Question

These days we gladly replace our traditional incandescent bulbs with these energy efficient lights (Compact Fluo Lights) which consume 3-4x less power for the same light

We realize how much energy we have wasted until now....

Now what about in 10 years? Is there yet another technology around the corner to consume even less electricity?

Latest white LED's produce a lot of lumens per electric Watt, will they ever make it into a bulb to consume even less than today's CFL? Will their color (white-blue) ever going to become a nice pleasant white?

Answer 1

They have them now for under Cabinet lighting.  The latest, that I haven't posted on my site yet, only use 1 to 2.1 watts.  I'm the first in the USA to get these.  2 Years they will be available as regular bulbs but they will be expensive.  My LED Strips Run $40-$60 Each but last 25000 hours.

Answer 2

yeah, and it'll happen in less than 10 years, i'm thinking.

LED's can be made to emit a light similar to the yellower daylight spectrum, though this adds to the cost. But LED's are quite cheap nowadays, available in any color imaginable, and very versatile (can be made to fit into things, unusualy installations, etc etc), as well as lasting d**n near forever.

Ikea has a set of LED bulbs that can be used as mood lighting for a furniture line. They also have LED christmas lights, as well as head/turn/taillights for cars. It's only natural for them to be available as lightbulbs soon.

(the biggest problem with LED's by the way, isn't the color, it's light spread. Because of the design, LEDs tend to focus light into a narrower beam pattern, to be effective as lightbulbs, they'd have create a series of multiple, high wattage (1-3 watt) LEDs that would be installed in some form of diffuser casing, to spread the light out in a 360 sphere (for regular globe style lightbulbs). This would likely be rather expensive.

Answer 3

I'm already seeing lighting fixtures made with LED's at the home centers and I believe we'll see much more very soon.

Answer 4

I believe in LEd , but I doubt it would be common in 10 years.   Flourescent lights have been around forever, and it's still not used in most homes.    Companies are using LED.    It is alot cheaper for them, since it cost them money to keep on changing lightbulbs.   Imagine the cost saving if they hire less people to change lightbulbs, considereing LED last a lifetime.

Answer 5

I certainly hope so. LED seem almost too good to be true-solid state light that uses almost no energy and lasts nearly forever.

they only obstacle I see is LED due to their sustainable nature are not commercially viable (once you buy you won't need to buy more for a long, long time-there is no planned obsolescence with these) so the current multi-national corporations will not be wanting to deal with LED lights in any serious way so finding them may not be easy and R&D may lag.

Answer 6

It's certainly a thought.

I don't know much about LED's - but what are we supposed to do with CFL's when they burn out? Do you know they all contain Mercury and are supposed to be handled as HazMat?

Answer 7

YES, but I perfer Mag lights it like LEDs on steroids, way brighter, but use the same amount of power as Led bulbs.

in ten years CFL's will prabily be rare.

I saw one of those LED coverd bulbs, on Mythbusters.

Answer 8

Considering the current information , definitely YES

Answer 9

For the moment I would say yes. LED's produce all that light while using less electricity and last a very, very long time. CFL's look more like a quick replacement to the common light bulb until LED production becomes more common and they produce them in larger numbers. Even thought CFL's are cheaper at times now the LED will help you in the long run on costs and efficiency.

Answer 10

CFL's have to be disposed of properly and turned into recycleing centers as they contain small amounts of MURCURY! To the best of my knowledge LED's don't contain any  toxic metals. This is where the give and take is, produces better light more efficiently but has toxic by product if disposed of improperly.

Answer 11

Candles most likely.