The lighting market is about to welcome two new products that use two very different energy-efficient bulb technologies in a bid to end consumers' obsession with incandescent lighting, reports The New York Times.
The two products are Finally and Vu1.
Finally creates light through induction - a technology that is used in appliance electric motors and construction cranes. The technology has not yet been used in lighting as it was difficult to fit the necessary electronics inside a bulb, the Times reports.
However, with the creation of smaller transistors and other technological advances, researchers have reduced the apparatus to a three-inch antenna wrapped in a copper wire. The assembly creates a magnetic field that "prods" mercury to create ultra violet light. The UV light, in turn creates visible light after interacting with a phosphor coating on the bulb's surface. The 14.5-watt bulb, which can be dissolved in landfills, should sell for $8 - making it directly competitive with some of the cheaper LEDs available, the paper reports.
The mercury-free Vu1 (pictured) aims to use technology similar to cathode ray tubes used in old televisions in which electrons hit phosphors on the glass and subsequently glow. The Vu1 uses less than a third of an equivalent 65-watt incandescent bulb, its makers say. It was previously available on Lowe's website, but production problems led to its withdrawal, according to the Times.
Other technology set for a launch into the marketplace include plasma and "organic LEDs," the paper reports.
Lighting installers expect to furnish more LEDs than fluorescent fixtures over the coming year for the first time, according to the Precision-Paragon report released earlier this month.
LEDs were selected as the preferred product by 49 percent of responding installers, while fluorescents were chosen by 46 percent. LED’s share almost doubled from the 26 percent that chose it as the leading technology a year ago. Strong growth has been seen in the commercial sector.
