Recently, the Sentry Equipment Corp. in Oconomowoc, Wis., was considering how to light its new factory, the company's president, Michael Farrell decided to try LEDs. At last he chose to light the building's exterior and most of its interior with LEDs, a light source that many bulb manufacturers are now convinced will supplant incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs.
The company spent $12,000 more than the $6,000 needed to light the facility with incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. But by using LEDs, the company is saving $7,000 a year in energy costs, will not need to change a bulb for 20 years and will recoup its additional investment in less than two years.
The nation's Big Three of lighting -- General Electric, Osram Sylvania and Royal Philips Electronics -- are embracing more efficient technologies as consumers, encouraged by legislation and rising energy costs, are swapping out incandescent bulbs.
However, the bulb makers face a tough problem, their businesses were built on regular replacement of light bulbs. How do you make a profit when new lighting may commonly last 50 to 100 times as long as a standard bulb? Another challenge is the price of LEDs. A standard 60-watt incandescent costs less than $1. An equivalent compact fluorescent is about $2. But in Europe this September, the Dutch company Philips is to introduce the Ledino, its first LED replacement for a standard incandescent. Priced at $107 a bulb, it is unlikely to have more than a few takers.
While compact fluorescents are replacing incandescents in many homes, lighting executives see them as an interim technology. They say the large size of the bulbs, the inability to dim many of them, the unpleasant color of the light and the 5 milligrams of mercury in each bulb will limit their appeal.
