Switch Lighting claims to be the only company with the closest alternative to incandescent-quality light, announced today a brand new technology that produces the brightest warm light LED replacement bulb available. Using their “City of Light”™ technology, the bulb creates a self-cooling environment inside, allowing maximum brightness with fewer LEDs. With this technology, Switch Lighting is bringing to market the first true 75 watt equivalent warm white LED replacement bulb at an affordable price.
e a regular bulb—in all directions, in almost every light fixture and with most any dimmer,” added Mr. Lipkin.Switch Lighting, the only company with the closest alternative to incandescent-quality light, announced today a brand new technology that produces the brightest warm light LED replacement bulb available. Using their “City of Light”™ technology, the bulb creates a self-cooling environment inside, allowing maximum brightness with fewer LEDs.
With this technology, Switch Lighting is bringing to market the first true 75 watt equivalent warm white LED replacement bulb at an affordable price.“The LED lighting market is being redefined—people want sustainable, energy-efficient light sources without a compromise in incandescent light quality or design,” says Boris Lipkin, CEO of Switch Lighting. “Switch bulbs can be used just like a regular bulb—in all directions, in almost every light fixture and with most any dimmer,” added Mr. Lipkin.Switch is designing their LED bulbs to meet Cradle to Cradle® principles—continuously and cost-effectively recovering all materials from the used light bulbs and safely biodegrading or recycling them. “Components won’t necessarily be repurposed into another light bulb, but could be siphoned into the broader industrial cycle,” says William McDonough, who developed the Cradle to Cradle protocol with German chemist Michael Braungart. “The unique design of Switch bulbs signals the company’s intention to offer brilliant lighting as a service for humanity,” added McDonough.
Because of the unique cooling system, Switch light bulbs can be used in any orientation with no compromise to their 20,000 hour life (10-15 years). Based on a 75 watt-equivalent bulb used in a home for 5 hours a day, Switch has calculated energy savings of up to $140.00 per bulb over its lifetime. The Switch LED bulbs use 85% less energy than incandescent bulbs and unlike compact fluorescents, they do not contain mercury. The purchase price payback in energy cost savings is realized in about one year.“With our unique self-cooling technology, we make the brightest warm white LED light bulb available. We offer the most affordable, energy-efficient light bulb on the market that is nearly identical to the regular incandescent bulbs we’ve come to love.” says Brett Sharenow, Switch’s Chief Strategy Officer.
As Slate.com reports:
Turned off, a Switch bulb looks like an incandescent from the future. It’s got the same pear shape as a standard bulb, but it’s divided into two sections. The bottom half is composed of a wavy metallic structure that looks like the wings of a badminton birdie. Above that is a thick glass orb filled with a cooling agent and a bank of LEDs, which are semiconductors that produce light. Because LEDs use a fraction of the energy required to light up the filament in an incandescent bulb, they’re seen as the next great advance in light bulbs. LEDs have advantages over CFLs, too—they don’t contain dangerous chemicals, and they can be used in lamps with dimmer switches(only certain CFLs are dimmable). A host of start-ups, as well as many of the giants in the lighting industry, are working on LED bulbs that mimic incandescents. At the lighting industry’s annual trade show in Philadelphia in May, several companies showed off their LED technology. Switch was among a handful that unveiled prototypes of a 100-watt-equivalent LED bulb, which is considered a kind of tipping point for LEDs—if someone can make an LED bulb that looks as great as a 100-watt incandescent, the LED bulb will have finally arrived.
That seems increasingly likely. Switch will release its 60- and 75-watt equivalent bulbs to retailers in October, and its 100-watt-equivalent bulb will go on sale in December. There’s a small hitch, though: At the moment, only the 60- and 75-watt alternatives are available in “warm white,” the yellowish color that we associate with incandescents; the 100-watt-equivalent bulb will put out “neutral white,” a bluer color that more closely resembles the light from CFL bulbs. Switch will release a warm 100-watt-equivalent bulb sometime next year, Sharenow says. (The 60- and 75-watt-alternative bulbs are also available in neutral white, which Sharenow says is a popular color in many different places around the world—people in Japan, India, and other Asian countries can’t stand the yellow light we find comforting, Sharenow says.) For their entire review
