“The “L” Prize light bulb does save electricity and power costs, but the total cost of ownership (cost for bulb plus electricity cost) shows LED and CFL bulbs to be quite a bit more expensive.”
Warren Beatty writes at American Thinker:
…In fact, it would take almost four periods (the ratio of total cost for LED versus Incandescent: $1,250.025/$318.75) of 50,000 hours for the total cost of the incandescent light bulb total cost to overtake LED total cost (the breakeven point of LED bulb ownership). Fifty thousand hours is equivalent to 5.7 years, so it would take 22.4 years (5.7 * 3.922) before incandescent bulb costs would exceed LED bulb cost. For CFL bulbs, with a cost ratio of 1.569, “only” 1.569 of the 50,000 hour periods is required, or 9 years. And those calculations are based upon having the lights on for 24 hours per day.
Chu said the prize was initiated to get the lighting industry to offer LED bulbs at prices “affordable for American families.” This is the same Steven Chu whose DOE isn’t working to lower gasoline prices.
It appears that big government is afraid to let consumers decide for themselves. But that is not how the big government socialist central decision-makers work. We consumers don’t know what’s good for us. We are too stupid to make our own decisions. So big government must intervene and tell us how to live.
DP in Comments
Yes the Philips bulb is made in Shenzen, China apparently,
and demand for those elements also keeps LED prices up,
as do increasing wages for Chinese workers,
and rising fuel/transport costs etc
See previous post on this, and comment (peter dublin):
https://junkscience.com/2012/03/09/prize-winning-green-light-bulb-costs-50/
Re Philips etc…
Philips, Osram, the UN and the World Bank:
How we will “en.lighten” the World in 2012
The worldwide en.lighten program:
Public subsidies to allow major manufacturers to dump otherwise unsold bulbs on developing countries
freedomlightbulb blogspot com/2012/02/philips-osram-and-un-how-we-will.html
.
As linked under
https://junkscience.com/2012/03/12/washtimes-obama-and-the-50-buck-light-bulb/
There seems to have been a lot of behind the scene shenanigans about this prize,
between Philips and Dept Energy
LED’s require rare earth elements and since we are clearly not going to allowing mining for them in the US all they will do is make us even more dependent on China.