LifeBulb: an LED that can match a 60W incandescent?

With incandescent bulbs disappearing entirely from shops from September next year, the race is on to find suitable replacements. Energy-saving bulbs – or compact fluorescents (CFLs) – already do that job, but remain unpopular in some quarters and are not the most efficient alternative technology.

The real hopes lie with light-emitting diodes (LEDs), according to industry, environmentalists, and politicians. With the global lighting market predicted to be worth €110bn by 2020, companies such as Phillips, GE, and Osram are fighting to be first with the breakthrough in the LED field.

Samsung has just introduced a range of long-lasting LEDs in the US. But the consumer giants are up against a new breed of smaller lighting firms, including the UK-based Zeta, which earlier this year won £450,000 in a government competition to create an ultra-efficient replacement for 60W incandescents.

It won with its LifeBulb (pictured above), which will go on sale early next year for £20. I caught up with Anthony McClellan, Zeta's commercial director, to talk about the challenges and opportunities of LEDs.

Getting the LifeBulb to match the quality of incandescents was key, he says.

"The light produced [by the LifeBulb] is colour temperature 2800 - almost identical to that of the incandescent warm white colour traditionally used. The lamps do not flicker and are instant turn on - no warm-up time needed."

But who will pay £20 for a bulb? The investment pays for itself many times over, McClellan argues.

"If a house was to replace 25 60W incandescents with 25 LifeBulbs - they would save £232.25 per year in electricity alone."

Zeta's LED uses just 8W to produce the equivalent light output - 650 lumens - of a 60W incandescent, and should last 10 years. An equivalent CFL would use around 11-13W - a significant saving in energy and carbon emissions when scaled up. Around one-fifth of Europe's electricity is used for lighting.

Technically, the LED bears little relation to the tungsten filament design Edison invented in 1879, which converted just 5% of the energy it used into light. Light in LEDs is produced solely by the rush of electrons in a semiconductive material.

I asked what the technical challenges were.

"The challenge for us was matching the colour of the light - the warm colour that is desired within a domestic setting whilst also keeping a high lumens per watt value."

That also leads to its unique design, where the LED component is encased in an aluminium cage to allow air to flow through without overheating. He explained:

"The airflow required for natural cooling of both the LEDs and the driver lead us to a design the lamp with holes through the structure."

And what catches are there to LEDs - will there be a moment similar to when consumers realised there was mercury in CFLs? McClellan thinks not:

"They contain rare earths, but in incredibly tiny quantities."