Philips Light Bulbs Go On Green Lighting!!
Philips LED Light Bulb Wins the L Prize
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Philips Electronics the prestigious Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize, better known as the L Prize, for developing an LED replacement for the traditional 60-watt incandescent light bulb.
Philips submitted its LED bulb to the competition in 2009. However, winning required much more than simply producing a bulb that used less electricity.
The product faced approximately 18 months of extensive laboratory, field and performance testing. DOE evaluated efficiency, light output, color quality, durability and other performance characteristics. Ultimately, the Philips entry became the first product to successfully complete the 60-watt replacement competition.
That achievement represented an important moment for LED lighting. Consumers had relied on inexpensive incandescent bulbs for generations. Yet those bulbs converted much of their electricity into heat rather than useful light.
LED technology offered a dramatically different approach.
DOE Challenged the Lighting Industry
Congress established the L Prize competition through the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, while the U.S. Department of Energy administered the program.
The goal was ambitious. DOE wanted manufacturers to develop highly efficient replacements for some of America’s most commonly used lighting products.
Initially, the competition targeted two major categories: the traditional 60-watt incandescent bulb and the PAR 38 halogen lamp.
These products represented a major opportunity for electricity savings because millions of American homes and businesses used them every day. Therefore, even relatively small efficiency improvements could produce substantial energy savings when multiplied across the country.
However, DOE wanted more than lower electricity consumption.
Replacement bulbs also needed to deliver excellent light quality, long operating life and reliable performance. Consumers would have little reason to abandon incandescent lighting if efficient alternatives produced poor color, weak illumination or failed prematurely.
Creating a New Standard for Efficient Lighting
The L Prize pushed manufacturers to prove that energy efficiency and lighting quality could work together.
Instead of asking consumers to accept compromises, DOE established demanding performance requirements. Manufacturers needed to demonstrate that their technology could provide a realistic replacement for conventional lighting while using substantially less electricity.
Philips ultimately met that challenge with its LED design.
More importantly, the competition helped demonstrate what solid-state lighting could become. LEDs were moving beyond specialty applications and into everyday homes, offices and businesses.
The winning bulb therefore represented more than another efficient lighting product. It offered an early glimpse of a transformation that would eventually make LED lighting the mainstream choice for American consumers.
The L Prize fix the Philips Light Bulb
The L Prize will enable Philips to invest in the manufacturing and marketing of the lamp here in the US, creating clean energy jobs. In addition, the company will invest in research and development of LED lamps, looking for ways to optimize production and reduce costs. This will help increase adoption of energy-saving LED lighting by overcoming one of the major barriers to LED adoption – price.
Key Light Bulb Facts:
1. Every year it is estimated that more than 425 million 60 Watt incandescent light bulbs are sold in the United States alone, representing approximately 50% of the domestic incandescent light bulb market.
- The traditional incandescent that has been the market staple for more than a century, uses 10% of its energy output for light and wastes the other 90% as heat.
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According to the DOE, an LED replacement for the Edison bulb could save 34 terawatt-hours of electricity in one year, enough to power the lights of nearly 18 million U.S. households.
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It would also avoid 5.6 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually.
5. The 60-Watt LED Equivalent Light Bulb has a lifetime of more than 25,000 hours, which is 25X greater than a typical incandescent bulb
The L Prize
Established through the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the L Prize challenged the industry to meet its very demanding requirements – ensuring that performance, quality, lifetime, cost and availability meet expectations for widespread adoption and mass manufacturing.  However, Philips already developed and brought to market 60 and 75-watt LED equivalents for the common household bulb as a direct result of the L Prize technology, giving consumers options that can meet Energy Star guidelines and save money today.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Energy — L Prize 60W Replacement Competition
- Philips/Signify — Department of Energy Announces Philips as Winner of L Prize Competition
- National Geographic — Philips Wins L Prize, but the Race Is Still on for a Better Bulb
