Google Invested $3 Million in Cree LED Lightbulbs

[Marcus Yam]

Google's investing in bright ideas.

Google Invested $3 Million in Cree LED Lightbulbs : Read more

 

[alextheblue]

I'll hold out for semi-affordable 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs, thanks. These ones are too dim and too costly for most of my fixtures.

 

[nebun]

damn, i guess everyone is jumping on the "be green" bandwagon...i just hope that the light bulb does not steal my passwords, lol

 

[festerovic]

7 watts? I could run a server with that.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

[citation][nom]nebun[/nom]damn, i guess everyone is jumping on the "be green" bandwagon...[/citation]


Getting stuff like this finally done really should have nothing to do with being green. It's to do with how long they last and how much less it costs to use.

After all, with the old incandescents technically the light they give off is a byproduct. They really just produce heat.

There's alot of other stuff that should be done for practical reasons only. Things like hybrid cars though are pointless if you did want to be "green" since the manufacturing process for the batteries isn't green at all to begin with.

 

[husker]

Kind of a drop in the bucket for Google.

 

[Travis Beane]

The unfortunate thing is that LED's, at this time, aren't much more efficient than fluorescent bulbs.
Sodium lamps (both high pressure and more so low pressure) are even more efficient.
LED's just last a lot longer.

 

[claec]

ah heck, at first glance I thought it was talking about a 450 lumen flashlight for $25 and I got excited. But seriously, $25 for a lightbulb? Give me 25 CFLs! 13 watts and 825 lumens and much better lighting.

 

[KingArcher]

I'd buy it if it gave out at least 1400-1500 lumen for $8.

 

[toastninja17]

Not bad really. Pretty awesome in fact.
Google is going to start branding everything now haha, that'd be cool. Like a google drink!

 

[danwat1234]

That isn't any better than a modern spiral fluroscent bulb. I am holding in my hand a MaxLite bulb; 18 watts for 1150 Lumens.
=63.88 Lumens/watt.
This LED bulb thing is 450 Lumens for 7 watts. 64.28 Lumens/watt.

LED technology isn't there yet! The only advantage is no mercury.

 

[serkol]

> LED technology isn't there yet! The only advantage is no mercury.

That's a big advantage. Other advantages:
- they last much longer
- they don't flicker
- instant full-brightness ON (no warm up time)
- dimmable

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]AlexTheBlue[/nom]I'll hold out for semi-affordable 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs, thanks. These ones are too dim and too costly for most of my fixtures.[/citation]
Agreed. However, I think this would work very well for a small desk lamp,etc.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

[citation][nom]danwat1234[/nom]LED technology isn't there yet! The only advantage is no mercury.[/citation]

Their two biggest problems in getting to mainstream are getting the color of the light correct, and getting them to be less directional with the light they output.

 

[rubix_1011]

Light bulbs, the original search engine.

 

[marokero]

[citation][nom]danwat1234[/nom]...64.28 Lumens/watt.LED technology isn't there yet![/citation]

Cree's own XP-G emiters already put out 132 lumens/watt. What needs to happen is price to come down on LED products. A triple XP-G star sells for around $22 each, and needs a driver that can cost almost as much. Once prices go down, and color gets better fidelity, then LEDs will take off. That triple XP-G star can put out 1000 lumens at 9.9W, and there are other LED products like Luminus Devices' SST-90 that puts out over 2000 lumens from a single emiter... oh yeah, heat is another issue, a BIG issue to be addressed.

 

[Onus]

As my CFLs begin to wear out, I hope the issues of cost and diffusion on LED lighting can be addressed. As they are now, I may still buy one for a desk lamp just for the coolness factor.

 

[marokero]

Whenever I can I try to replace CFL and incandescent bulbs with an LED solution. If I can't find one, I build one. Like the Riegel.LR I built for my living room (~2000 lumens and it only uses 36W):

http://marokero.com/Riegel.LR/

I might tackle my kitchen next, as one of the CFL tubes keeps failing, and it's not nearly as bright as I'd like it to be. Not cheap, but I love building these.

 

[dark_lord69]

[citation][nom]AlexTheBlue[/nom]I'll hold out for semi-affordable 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs, thanks. These ones are too dim and too costly for most of my fixtures.[/citation]

I have to argee, these bulbs only put out the old equiqellent of 30 watts. Not bad for a dim bedroom mood lighting but not enough for most purposes.

Let me know when they can put out at least 800 lumens and cost about $5 (or less).

 

[ccx]

These are no better than the early days of CFLs. I got 3 LED lights from Sams club awhile ago in the 20-30$ range. 2 are no longer working after what I would guess is less than a few hundred hours of running and the 3rd only half the LEDs lights up. Ill buy them again but not until a major company like GE has tested them. CFLs are good enough for the time being.