Incandescent lightbulbs are more efficient than LEDs

Yup. Now they are. Heh.

Researchers at MIT have found a way to “recycle” the energy lost in traditional lighting by surrounding the bulb filament with a special reflective crystal designed to bounce back the energy that would be lost as heat. The energy is then recycled into light. Traditional incandescent bulbs have been phased out in place of LEDs because they’ve been known to be much more efficient.

Prototype bulb. (source)
Prototype bulb. (source)

However, consumers have complained about the blue light effect that LEDs emit, which supposedly disturbs your sleep cycle.

Traditional lighting emits a warm, yellowish light that’s much more pleasant.

On the scale of efficiency, this new process of lighting beats out LEDs:

  • Traditional bulbs: 5% efficiency
  • LED bulbs: 14% efficiency
  • New incandescent: 40% efficiency

Energy savings are also estimated to cost less than half of a typical LED.

This new bulb is still in the prototype form, however.

But at least now you can go around saying that incandescent lighting is more efficient than LEDs, and be right.

 

About Andy Z.

Andy is a casual-hardcore Chrome OS fan and contributes to the site regularly. He likes computers, tech, sports cars, videogames, and of course, Chromebooks. Thinker. Introvert. Geek. You can find him on Twitter (@platytech), or send him an email (check the "Contact Us" page).

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