The United States Department of Energy offers $15 million in cash prizes for lighting manufacturers who can create a solid-state lighting alternative for 60-watt incandescent and PAR38 lamps. Thirty-one companies nationwide have partnered with the DOE to assist in testing, selecting, and promoting the winning lamps. To ensure efficiency and complete consumer satisfaction, entries undergo multiple tests and evaluations to meet contest requirements. The DOE is looking to eliminate harmful and costly lighting products, such as incandescent and compact-fluorescent (CFL), and encourage consumers to invest in LED lamps. The L-Prize contest incentivizes manufacturers to create and promote sustainable, energy-saving solid-state lighting.
The L-Prize includes the 60-watt incandescent lamp and PAR38 lamps because they are the most commonly used and most inefficient, as they waste most of their electricity consumption on heat. The solid-state lighting products designed through this competition will significantly reduce watts while producing light similar to, or better than, the inefficient lights we use today.
According to the L-Prize requirements, the 60-watt incandescent replacement lamp must consume less than 10 watts. It also must produce more than 900 lumens. This is a benchmark of 90 lumens per watt. In comparison, current incandescent lights only produce 5-10 lumens per watt. The PAR38 halogen replacement lamp must be less than 11 watts, but produce more than 1,350 lumens and more than 123 lumens per watt. Both lamps must also have a lifetime of over 25,000 hours. L-Prize says that if every existing light were replaced with one of the winning lamps, consumers would save over 80% in lighting energy costs.
Philips Electronics has submitted the first entry in the L-Prize and is being tested in accordance with the contest rules. According to a Philips press release, the lamp has already been named “the best invention of 2009” by Time. We look forward to seeing who the following entry is and who will set the bar higher in the race to create the United States’ next most efficient solid-state lighting product.
Thanks in part to the L Prize and many forward-thinking manufacturers worldwide, the LED Light has become the future of lighting. Customers are excited by the many benefits of LED lighting, such as electricity savings, long life, and a minimized carbon footprint.
