I’m a man of the fence when it comes to incandescent lights. I’m also probably one of the most dynamic users of illumination technology in all of it’s forms. I regularly use lasers, xenon, metal-halide, mercury-gas, incandescent, LED, fluorescent and plasma light sources. My applications are a weird as photo bleaching a fluorescent molecule, to illuminating a runway on landing at night. In most applications, I’d opt for a diode-based source if at all possible. In many cases LED’s can improve safety, lifetime, energy use and overall use experience. Until now, the one place I’ve hated using them is at home. Whether it’s working under a car or illuminating a room at home, I hate the high frequency pattern and weird light of a fluorescent light bulb. Add to this the oft-avoided fact that these bulbs a)last about as long as an incandescent bulb (ask me how I know…) and b) contain mercury, which isn’t exactly great for the landfill. On top of this, the US has mandated a ban incandescent bulbs, and GE has recently closed it’s last and oldest incandescent manufacturing plant in the USA. It seems like now would be a great time for a new approach to this question of lighting.
What I like about this is that the problems of the lamp temperature will be solved, as well as the problem of the mercury, and the high frequency pulse produced by CFL’s. I also like the fact that this is locally manufactured (yes, I am proud when America can manufacture a high quality product!) and that theoretically this would end up saving money in the long run. I guess time will tell!
– Austin
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