14 DAY TRIAL // Energy efficiency and sustainability are extremely important topics nowadays (as everyone has finally started thinking a lot more about protecting the environment and our collective future), and for this reason, we're seeing a lot of developments related to these concepts being announced, the latest being a unique, new incandescent-shaped light bulb developed by GE Lighting that combines the instant brightness of halogen technology with the energy efficiency and longer rated life of compact fluorescent (CFL) technology.
The halogen capsule inside GE’s new hybrid halogen-CFL bulb comes on instantly, allowing the bulb to operate noticeably brighter in less than a half a second, while the capsule shuts off once the CFL comes to full brightness.
GE scientists engineered the bulb to operate with an exceptionally low level of mercury: 1 mg, which is quite an impressive achievement, given the fact that currently available CFLs range from 1.5 mg to 3.5 mg.
Moreover, the hybrid halogen-CFL bulbs will be RoHS compliant and offer eight times the life of incandescent bulbs (8,000 hours vs. 1,000 hours).
First to launch will be 15-watt and 20-watt hybrid halogen-CFL bulbs that are considered viable replacements for 60-watt and 75-watt incandescent bulbs, respectively. Retail pricing and specific retail store availability will be announced in the coming months.
“When you look at our prototype incandescent-shaped bulb with that little halogen capsule nestled inside our smallest compact fluorescent tube, you’re seeing a byproduct of our intense customer focus and our innovation mindset,” says Kristin Gibbs, general manager of North American consumer marketing, GE Lighting.
“We’ve constantly improved the initial brightness of our CFLs but customers haven’t been wholly satisfied.
This is a giant leap forward,” GE's official concluded.
First to launch will be 15-watt and 20-watt hybrid halogen-CFL bulbs that are considered viable replacements for 60-watt and 75-watt incandescent bulbs, respectively, with retail pricing and specific retail store availability set to be announced in the coming months.