Osram Sylvania’s chief executive Charlie Jerabek said that the company’s electrodeless compact fluorescent lasts for about 15,000 hours and cost about $25 to $30 apiece, according to an interview in Investor’s Business Daily (via CNNMoney.com)
At that price, consumers can’t be a target, but retailers and other corporations could see a benefit.
“Macy’s came to us,” Jerabek said in the interview. “They wanted more light and they wanted to be able to save energy. So we took their Fashion Island store (in Orange County, Calif.) and we retrofitted 350 lamps with the electrodeless compact fluorescent. It gives out more light at the life we already spoke about, and they’re saving $5,000 a year just on one floor of one department store, in electricity.”
He also said that Osram, sales-wise, is pushing $6 billion.
Jerabek also touched on LEDs in the interview: “They’re probably, from a consumer standpoint, seven to 10 years away,” he said. “But we’re starting to use them more and more in commercial and industrial applications…We’re firmly entrenched already in LEDs – we’re the world’s second-largest producer – the first isn’t even a lighting company, it’s called Nichia. So I think we’re really well-positioned as LEDs come into play. We make the chips themselves.”