I have found a 60 watt replacement that is reasonably priced at $19.95. It is a 5.5 watt tube light and is so bright you can’t look at it. I got it from Super Bright. http://superbrightleds.com/edison_globe.html  part #E27-W35HF-T. If that isn’t bright enough for you, there is a 100 watt equivalent that I purchased from Luminosity, http://luminosityled.com/products/index.php/led-household-lightbulbs.html  for $36.79. It is 8.2 watts. These will really light up a room.

Thanks, Warren! I’ll be sure to check them out.

For those of you inclined to the numbers, let’s say you replace a bulb that is lit 4 hours per day with the above bulbs:

• The 60-watt equivalent will save 79.6 kilowatt hours, or almost $12 at electricity rate of $.15 per kwh. Here in Massachusetts, rates are closer to $.20 so I would save almost $15.
• The 100 watt equivalent will save 134 kwh, $20 at $.15 per kwh and nearly $27 for me.

Another way to put it is each of these bulbs will pay back the initial cost in under 2 years, but since they are likely to last at least 7 years (10,000 hours) they will save a lot of money over the lifetime.

Now that cfl’s have come down to the sub $10 range (and I often see them in the sub $5 range) I don’t think these prices are mass market yet. But they are close enough that early adopters will buy them, starting the feedback look that will increase volume and lower costs, prove the market, attract more competition, further lower prices, spur more demand, etc.

Perhaps the L-Prize , with its more modest goal of replacing a 60-watt bulb with a 10-watt LED, won’t be the primary kickstart to the market.

LED Lights at Home (LLAH): First tell us a little about yourself and your interest in LEDs.

Warren S: I am always into new technology. I am 70 years old so I figure I can’t sit around waiting for the technology to catch up to me.

LLAH: LOL! You mentioned that you have converted all the lighting in your house to LEDs. Can you tell how much money and energy you are saving?

Warren S: There is a definite improvement but it is hard to quantify. I was all fluorescent prior to doing this so it isn’t as dramatic as if I started with incandescent. Computers, TVs, appliances, and the heating system are bigger users of electricity.

LLAH: So how is the quality of the light?

Warren S: The light is very direct and will throw shadows. That is why multiple lights coming from different angles works best. On my scooter I got some SMD (surface mount device) ones which have no magnifying tips on the little LED’s. This spreads the light better but finding them for the house has been difficult.

LLAH: What about dimming? The lack of dimmable CFLs or the extra expense of them have been a drawback for that technology.

Warren S: LED manufacturer Super Bright warns against using dimmers but I have used a rheostat type dimmer with no problems. I got an electronic dimmer and burned out the dimmer. I would say use at your own risk or avoid using dimmers.

LLAH: If someone were to want to start converting to LED, but not convert every light the way you have, where should they start?

Warren S. That is a good question. Everything I have done was experimental. I have seen some at Ace Hardware for about $10. They are made by Lights of America. They are equivalent to a 40 watt and come in different styles and bright white or soft white which has a yellowish tint. It would be best to choose a spot where you use the light a lot. Some places I had to use more than one bulb to get enough light.

LLAH: What has been your approach to getting LED’s? What sources have you used?

Warren S:  For the most part I lucked out and got them cheap. I usually buy one to see how it works before I buy more. You also need to be aware that it is hard to compare them to each other because the amount of LEDs in them doesn’t always tell you how much light they put out. (LLAH comment: check packaging for the number of lumens the bulb produces. Note that a 60 watt incandescent produces about 800 lumens). 

LLAH: LED lights are still a rarity in stores. What is the hold up?

Warren S: There should be more and better lights in the future and cheaper, too. Right now the push is for CFLs. Everybody is selling them. Once the saturation point is reached they will start pushing LEDs.LLAH: Thanks for stopping by and thanks for sharing your experiences.

I stumbled upon some desk lamps at Menards. They had 36 large LEDs and they were only $17 later they were marked down to $10. I found that if you point them up at the ceiling it gives you diffused light. Then I stopped in American Science and they had a screw in bulb with 60 LEDs for $20. I bought one and it died after about 2 weeks. I went back to get another one and they had a sign saying they had a manufacturing defect that led to early failure. They were marked down to $2. I thought the problem might be lack of ventilation so I drilled holes in the side. The failures stopped. I took all they had.  (LLAH comment: The moral of the story appears to be that at this early stage, you need to be resourceful, experimental and unafraid to improvise!)

Picket Fence  One of my favorite products are slippers with LEDs in the toes!

Improvements

Brookstone which has an especially good selection of holiday decorations.