LEDs are again in the spotlight this week, with GE Lighting announcing today that retail powerhouse Target is installing energy-efficient light-emitting diode systems in refrigerated display cases in 500 stores nationwide. As you can see in the video below, they’ll cut energy use by approximately 60 percent compared with older fluorescent systems — and they only flick on when motion is detected. It comes as bright buzz continues to flow from Friday’s big announcement that GE is introducing a 40-watt LED bulb that can last for 17 years — “virtually lighting your kid’s bedroom desk lamp from birth through high school graduation,” as the Lighting team says.
The new system at Target operates at 29 watts per door, compared with an average of 73 watts with existing fluorescent lamps. The entire industry is rapidly investing in energy efficient lighting — with the Target technology the same one being used by 40 of the top 50 U.S. grocers and supermarkets and 19 of the top 25 convenience store chains. Globally, GE has sold more than 700,000 LED refrigerated display case lights since inventing the category in 2006.
Meanwhile, GE — which also invented the first visible LED — is drawing attention in tech circles for its new bulb. As PC Magazine describes it, “GE has unleashed a little monster of an LED bulb that does its best to imitate the common features (including brightness and lighting angles) of a conventional incandescent bulb. And since it’s based on light-emitting diodes, rather than a heated-up filament, it will use one-fourth of the typical power draw of an incandescent bulb.”
Bright idea: As the writers at The Kansas City Star quipped in their story about the bulb: “When the guys at GE got this idea, the light bulb over they heads must have looked like this.” Its 17-year life span is based on four hours of use each day. The LED bulb will last 3 times longer than a standard 8,000-hour rated life CFL and 25 times as long as an incandescent bulb.
Tech blog GreenBeat notes: “GE also plans to market the new product as safer than regular bulbs. It doesn’t contain mercury, making it easier to dispose of without worrying about toxic waste or watershed contamination. And it doesn’t need to heat up to cast off light, making it less of a fire hazard than its predecessors.”
Get down! GE has already filed multiple patent applications for the bulb, which is expected to cost $40 to $50 and will be available later this year or in early 2011.
* Read the Target announcement
* Read the LED bulb announcement
* For more information, visit www.whatsyourlightingstyle.com
* Learn more about LED quality standards
Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Bendable OLEDs and next-gen LEDs grab the spotlight”
* “Our (lighting) heroes have always been Cowboys!”
* “From geothermal power to LEDs: Two ‘firsts’”
* “Starbucks gets a ‘green’ light; Pop. Sci. picks a winner”
* “Hey, what’s your sign? At AT&T it’s GE’s LEDs”
* “GE’s LEDs: A greener sign of the times at Holiday Inn”
* “GE’s OLED research: I saw the light — and it bends!”
* “Introducing the zero energy home”