EarthLED EvoLux R LED light bulb lets you choose your lumens

The folks at Advanced Lumonics sure seem confident in their new EarthLED EvoLux R LED light bulb, with them even going so far as to flatly declare it the "world's most advanced light bulb." Helping it earn that self-proclaimed distinction is the 13 watt LED at the heart of the bulb, which provides the equivalent output of a 100 watt incandescent bulb, and its EvoDim feature, which will let switch between three different output settings (250, 750, and 950 lumens) without a special dimmer switch. Of course, all those light bulb bragging rights don't come cheap, with each bulb setting you back a hefty $100, although the company promises that'll work out to less than $6 per year by the time the bulb finally gives up. If that's a bit too much for you, you can also get non-dimmable versions $80.

[Kiwi616 @ May 22nd 2008 4:09PM]

Maybe the shape/look adds to the effectiveness of the bulb, but between this version and roller coaster looking bulbs, I can't tell which looks worse in a socket.

Can they make a bulb that looks like a normal bulb, but more efficient???

[Jandalf @ May 22nd 2008 4:17PM]

Most compact fluorescents (aka CFLs) come in standard-looking styles like the old incandescents. They just put a glass globe around the "rollercoaster."

And just in case someone yells "mercury!", I know, I know: but they are reducing mercury in CFLs and if you actually bring it back to the hardware store when it's gone out (years later) they can recycle them.

[Loonie @ May 22nd 2008 4:24PM]

Indeed. It can't be that hard to cram a 13W switch mode supply and a few of those ridiculously bright blow-your-face-off Luxeon LEDs in a discreet diffusing package.

If the CFs can do it then there's no excuse.

[Ladderless @ May 22nd 2008 9:16PM]

@ Loonie: It's all about the heat. You put that much in a small package, and you melt the LED drivers. Take a look at the CREE/LLF fixture insert, and you'll see what they had to do to get 12 watts/650 lumens of LED into a 6" round capsule (It is a cool product, though).

Heat is LED's enemy. Until they solve that, you won't see very bright LED systems in small packages.

Also - Keep in mind that as LEDs age, they shift color and get dimmer. That will become an issue for many applications.

[Colin Potter @ May 23rd 2008 2:55AM]

how bout an OLED lightbulb?

[Kenn @ Jun 5th 2008 10:40PM]

Yes. Advanced Lumonics (AL) has the CL series bulb that looks like a standard incandescent.

I've been using several of the AL products for about a year now, and although the price is a bit high the quality is great. I look forward to checking out the new Evolux and FL bulbs.

I would imagine the prices will drop over time. It's that old supply/demand and start-up tooling costs economics at work.

If one truly wants to go green and truly wants to reduce their carbon footprint spending the green up-front shouldn't be the big issue.

[jv @ May 22nd 2008 4:15PM]

Uhhhh, a 100-watt incandescent light bulb puts out somewhere in the range of 1600 lumens. A 75-watt bulb will put out over 1100 lumens. Their 975 max lumens will seem pretty dim by comparison.

[Hayst @ May 22nd 2008 4:21PM]

maybe if that ugly, 50's looking plastic wasn't covering half the bulb, it would be brighter...??

[jon @ May 22nd 2008 4:30PM]

Price is somewhat high too - 4 Cree XRE LEDs will put out about 1000 lumens for $28 retail. So I think this should be less than $40.

It should outlive 6 CFL bulbs, so that price would be about right.

[Watson @ May 22nd 2008 4:31PM]

While 975 max lumens may be considered pretty dim by comparison of other bulbs, but their main point about these bulbs is that they are more efficient in producing higher lumens with similar wattage. However, its not that much higher. A 13 watt CFL produces around 800 lumens, so an additional 175 lumen seems hardly worth the extra $99.75 cents when you can pick up CFL super cheap 4 for a dollar at some stores (Ranch99).

I can see in the long run how these bulbs can cut back on energy usage on a grand scale, but until the price of LED bulbs drop to a reasonable ($1-2?) price per bulb, I'm sticking with CFLs

[Joe @ Sep 24th 2008 2:19PM]

Where exactly can you get a 1000 lumen bulb for $28?

[Josh @ May 22nd 2008 4:17PM]

$6 a year?
then that means the bulb will work for 16.66... years?

btw, it looks like an ice cream cone.
or maybe i'm hungry :P

[ddub @ May 22nd 2008 4:22PM]

Me thinks they will have bulbs much more efficient and lower priced way before it dies in 16 years.

[Jason @ May 22nd 2008 4:30PM]

Why would you need to dim a bulb that's already dim and uses only 13-watts? Sounds like another thing that can malfunction on it. LED bulbs in general are definitely the way to go though in terms of the enviroment, and longevity.

I found a bulb that actually looks similar to a regular bulb at this site

http://www.eternaleds.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=HP%2DGLOBE+5

and it turned out to work pretty well. Most LED bulbs have a smaller angle, so they work like spotlights, but this one actually lights up my desk pretty well. I want to try the higher powered ones, but looks like they're sold out for now...

[macserv @ May 22nd 2008 4:32PM]

It looks like it's well-made, and it's expensive, so it probably wouldn't have that flicker common to LED lighting. But the fact that it's a single LED leads me to believe that the color spectrum can't be very natural, which is the same reason I don't like CFL bulbs.

I think LED lighting is probably where it's at, and I'm willing to jump on that train, but not until it can light up my life as well as long-life, natural light halogen bulbs do.

[Jandalf @ May 22nd 2008 4:50PM]

Sorry to be a CFL fanboy, but you can get full-spectrum CFLs - bluemaxlighting.com. They are cooler than the usual "soft white" bulbs most people get (duh) but I have one by my computer and love it.

[greentealeaf @ May 22nd 2008 5:10PM]

I've heard too many horror stories about broken CFLs to have any in my house, so I just either lower wattage incandescents or LED bulbs. They are a bit pricey in the beginning, so for right now, it's only in my hallway and kitchen. When I save enough on my power bill, my computer room is next.

The bulb looks interesting, but their website shows an exploded-view which has a heatsink and a fan to dissipate the heat. It looks just like the fan I have in my computer, which is completely covered with dust. So I think the failure point here won't be the LED, but rather the fan motor. Then when the fan dies, the LED overheats, and there goes $100. Good idea though. I wonder if you can crack it open to change the motor when it breaks? If the fan did last 50,000 hours (about 20 years?) it'd be great!

[coolblue @ May 23rd 2008 4:44AM]

The huge energy draw of CFLs when turning them on is a myth. I have seen a number of experiments and articles proving that the power draw is so small and the power usage when on is so low that they still use far less energy than a incandescent even if switching the CFL on and off every second. I have the spiral stype CFLs in my house and I generally prefer the light to incandescents. Plus my energy bill went down considerably.

[coolblue @ May 23rd 2008 4:46AM]

sorry replied to wrong post............

[Za @ May 23rd 2008 6:44PM]

Horror stories? Seriously? That's one I haven't heard and we have been using CFLs at my house for close to a decade now [I think the oldest bulbs have just started going out]. I can't imagine it would be all that much worse than a regular incandescent breaking? I know that there are small amounts of mercury in the thing but I can't imagine it would be enough to cause long-term harm if one were to do a decent job cleaning it. Furthermore, in my experience, CFLs use thicker glass as well - I don't think we have ever broken one, and some of them have been in fairly rough environments.

[MBS @ May 22nd 2008 5:29PM]

And how much does this cost to produce and dispose of (both in cost of capital and material use) compared to a regular incandescent bulb?

Call me old fashioned, but I'm really not getting this whole CFL or LED lighting bandwagon. Seriously, whatever happened to just turning off the friggin light when you leave the room? You do that with CFLs they will burn out in much shorter time than the claim, and then you are compounding the cost and environmental problems surrounding them since you have to replace them more often. Not to mention the increased amount of power they draw when turning them on.

Besides, for indoor lighting, most of the time you'll be using them when it's cold and you're heating your house, who really cares if some of the energy you put into a incandescent bulb goes to help heating your house if you're already running your furnace anyways?

CFLs are good for outdoor use, like a porch light that will remain on for long times and not turn on and off a lot and light quality isn't all that important. As for indoors, I'll stick with incandescents, halogens and dimmer switches.


I could possible see LED lighting become cost and energy effective if houses have separate DC wiring for lighting only, but having to have all these extra components required now in every single light bulb is just dumb.

[Chris Taylor @ May 22nd 2008 8:31PM]

I was lighting up my room with 2 150watt halogen floor lamps.

I now light it with 1800 LED bulbs. The color spectrum is far better the light dispersion is literally night and day and its brighter. Power consumption now 27 watts.

I can not use CFL's since my walls are covered in pictures and Flourescent light destroys pictures. but also they are too expensive over there life and use too much power. It would take at least 5 13watt CFL's and it would still not be as bright as it is now and using twice the power.

In theory these bulbs should last twice as long as I will last on this planet especially since I am under powering them IE lower stress nearly zero measurable heat.

Cost to run the Halogen's. I average 5 hours of light per day or 150 hours a month. 1800 a year My E costs me .000136 a watt so 1800 hours a year costs me.

$73.44 Halogen
$15.91 CFL
$6.61 LED

Actual Materials Costs every 50 years.

Halogen 1 bulb a year CFL 1 bulb every 2 years LED 1 bulb ever.

so 50 Halogens 25 CFL's and 1 LED

Halogens are $3 a pop IF you get them on sale so $150
CFL is $5 a pop for GOOD ones. The cheap $3 ones are not worth it I have to replace them every 9 months. Only GE and Sylvania have proven to me they can last 2 years. (I had 1 last 2.5 years)

CFL $125

LED $80 for the bulbs $20 for the variac. (the bulbs are overpowered and die quickly I used the variac to lower the voltage to 80volts which brought the led to there proper wattage for the cooling area they had perfect now)

LED $100

Lifetime costs

Halogen $223.44
CFL $140.91
LED $106.61

NOW keep in mind there are many other costs that this ignores. The waste and pollution to PRODUCE all these bulbs over and over again except for the LED (One bulb for life)

Also ignored is YOUR cost in gasoline (significant) and time to go GET and to REPLACE these bulbs. The cost of gasoline alone is for most people going to actually be greater than the cost of the bulbs themselves! if your local walmart or whatever is say 15 miles away your going to spend MORE than $5 in gasoline to go get that $5 CFL or $3 Halogen bulb.

The Cost of the LED bulbs includes the shipping cost to your door and you never have to do that again.

The REAL tell comes in the NEXT 50 years.

Halogen $223.44 100 years $446.88
CFL $140.91 100 years $281.82
LED $106.61 100 Years $113.22

And you never have to replace the bulb. Never have to ship another one. Never have to drive and get another one. Never have to pay tax again for those bulbs (thats not calculated in) Virtually zero fire issues no heat issues NO WASTE issues to dispose of those bulbs.

In a business environment its even more dramatic. We burn out lighting 18 hours a day. At that rate LED would pay for themselves in 8-11 months depending on the usage. Thats why I am going to switch just as soon as I can. And thats JUST in E savings. Now even counting the costs of the other bulbs of gas or time etc.. IE the LED's would be free in just Electricity Savings.

Solar also gets fascinating. When your lighting consumes 10,000 watts solar power is a pipe dream.

When your lighting consumes 400 watts suddenly its possible to think about solar/wind power on a VERY small affordable scale to offset the cost to light the place. Paypack is a little longer but you NEVER have to pay to light your place ever again.

Not possible with incans or cfl's too much power making the solar array and battery array far too expensive. but with LED its suddenly JUST possible and sensible.

Imagine what that would do to pollution if we REMOVED lighting from the electric grid as a load.

[coolblue @ May 23rd 2008 4:36AM]

The huge energy draw of CFLs when turning them on is a myth. I have seen a number of experiments and articles proving that the power draw is so small and the power usage when on is so low that they still use far less energy than a incandescent even if switching the CFL on and off every second. I have the spiral stype CFLs in my house and I generally prefer the light to incandescents. Plus my energy bill went down considerably.

[coolblue @ May 23rd 2008 4:43AM]

The huge energy draw of CFLs when turning them on is a myth. I have seen a number of experiments and articles proving that the power draw is so small and the power usage when on is so low that they still use far less energy than a incandescent even if switching the CFL on and off every second. I have the spiral stype CFLs in my house and I generally prefer the light to incandescents. Plus my energy bill went down considerably.

[fuma @ May 22nd 2008 5:46PM]

Does it come with a licenced copy of Robert Miles "Children"? I think Arista records would like some royalties on their promo vid!

Seriously though... a fan inside the unit.. what happens when it gets clogged with dust, does it get hotter and fail, or make that annoying buzzing noise most PC fans do when they get clogged with crud?

[fuma @ May 22nd 2008 5:47PM]

@MBS - its about to become law, incandencents are gone the way of the dodo (and hopefully the internal cumbustion engine will be too)

[Andrew @ May 22nd 2008 10:48PM]

Hopefully people will stop being hypocrites about internal combustion. Audi A2, guaranteed 90+ MPG (real world testing), pure gas engine, Chevy Aveo sized. All the protesting hippies are too poor and lazy to get a job to afford it though, because they made it working with Aluminum and other lightweight materials. "I want fuel efficiency! What?!? That car is WAY too much, I'm not spending my money on that, I dont care if it got over 90MPG! Oh, you say it does? WITCHCRAFT! DIE!!!".

I read a few years back something about our tungsten supply running out in like 30 years or something. Personally, I think my CRT monitor is the best light of them all. I leave it on night and day, it's the perfect light.

[Za @ May 23rd 2008 7:14PM]

Andrew, let's face it - the internal combustion engine run off fossil fuels is not sustainable. To put it in perspective, I have a glass of water - I could gulp it down and finish it 30 seconds OR I could sip it slowly and drink for 5 or 10 minutes. The end result is the same - it's just the time it takes to get there.

So bravo for Audi and their engineering mavens for helping to stave off the imminent end of oil usage by another *insert arbitrary unit of time*.

Give me a break, man.

[frebay @ May 22nd 2008 6:31PM]

article states that 13w=100w, but 950 lumens is only equivalent to 65w or 75w at best. 100w you need 1600 lumens.

[keithwwalker @ May 24th 2008 3:38AM]

Don't forget that the light quality of the LED light is much better, so that you get more white light in those rated lumens than a CFL or normal incandescent lamp.

Therefore, even though the lumens are less it is offset somewhat by the whiter light.

[BigD145 @ May 22nd 2008 6:17PM]

I don't see this fitting into standard fixtures. I also don't see this in my home when I can pick up better LED lighting for half the cost or less from Hong Kong. Based on the pictures from the site, these are made in China/HK already.

[Harlan Feinstein @ May 22nd 2008 7:20PM]

I'd bought 3 different LED lights, and unfortunately all of them are so dim that they're really only useful as a nightlight. I like the white light from them, don't see any flicker that some of you were talking about, but I'm a little wary of one that's purporting to be the equivalent of a 100-watt bulb.

[Chad @ May 22nd 2008 8:03PM]

Well that article was enlightening.

[Zal @ May 22nd 2008 10:45PM]

Boo!

[Za @ May 23rd 2008 7:15PM]

Props.

[rektide @ May 22nd 2008 8:16PM]

So instead of working with existing dimmers, it has its own? Not the wisest choice.

We have light switches precisely because they are more convenient than going over to the bulbs. Frankly even a grade A moron should be capable of replacing a on-off light switch with a dimming light switch without electrocuting themselves, so I fail to see how availability arguments hold water.

[Chris Taylor @ May 22nd 2008 8:37PM]

Well thats a price you pay. INCANS dim by increasing the size of the "0 volt dead zone" during the alternating current phases.

AC is actually DC power thats flip flopping back and forth rapidly (60hz??)

So its going from + - 120v DC to - + 120v DC

As it swings from one way to the other there is a point in the middle that is ZERO volts. Dimmers increase the size of this dead band. Dimming the lights.

LED can not do this. They are basically INSTANT on and INSTANT off so even if they could work at all with it you would VISIBLY see them BLINK on and off in this "dead zone" ie they SHOULD be rectified to DC. (the christmas light flicker is a result of no rectifier so this set of bulbs goes on during this phase of the flip and THAT set of bulbs goes on during the opposite phase flip.

with LED you need to actually LOWER the voltage itself. so no its NEVER going to work right with a dimmer.

Once they become more popular I imagine they will develop new dimmers for LED's Basically smaller variac's

Most likely you would SWITCH the brightness by toggling the light on and off like 3 way Incandescent bulbs do.

[Andrew @ May 22nd 2008 10:48PM]

If you use the old variable resistors... I dont see why it wouldnt work if you used a couple diodes and a capacitor wired right on the bulb, it would work just like an incandescent. Similar in theory how you can get DC from an electric motor...

Of course, if the dimmers are active computerized switches that intelligently change the state based on the pulsing of the AC current (lol, the new ones), and not just old-school passive veriable resistors, that thats different.

[rektide @ May 22nd 2008 10:19PM]

Yes, you'd need a charge storing device (cap) to get you past the dead zone. The dead zone shouldnt affect the regulator that lowers the mains voltage, it just has the additional task of balancing cap draw/regen against the mains. I dont see any show stoppers, but for sure there is added effort.

CFLD's also have flicker issues without rectified power, and although they are definitely less draconian in their power requirements than LED's they too managed to build power regulators that let them dim.

Its a lot of baggage, sure. Using 40kHz mains would let you massively reduce system complexity. But short of hte full-custom design, I dont see any other way of doing this. An LED bulb that doesnt fit in existing system infrastructure is no good.

[Jeff @ May 22nd 2008 11:42PM]

@Chris Taylor
Not to quibble, but the stated 120V is actually RMS voltage, so if I read your comparison to DC correctly as talking about max/min levels, it would be more appropriately given as approximately +/-169.7V

[happy_penguin @ May 22nd 2008 11:09PM]

$6/year... Okay, so when this thing pukes out a mere four years after you buy it, and it's out of warranty or better yet, this company has gone under and you have zero recourse, you're out $76. No thanks.

[jamesFF @ May 22nd 2008 11:37PM]

The lifespan of these bulbs is still short compared to Edison's bulbs which has a life of 100 years.
Does anyone know the light output of Edison's light bulbs? I know it uses about 4 watts of electricity.

BTW $6 a year is equal to replacing a CFL every year.

[James @ May 23rd 2008 7:15PM]

Very inefficient.

There's no secret to making an incandescent bulb last 100 years, just reduce the voltage to around 1/2 of rated nominal. The problem is that as you reduce the voltage, the lumens of light per watt of electricity consumed decreases dramatically, in other words, cut the voltage in half, and the efficiency is much lower than run at rated voltage. You may save a few cents in replacement bulbs, but you'll pay that and much more in increased electricity use for the same amount of light.

Seems like everyone is always looking for silly conspiracies.

[mm @ May 23rd 2008 4:30AM]

Why would you buy this when there are dimmable versions of energy saving lightbulbs on the market already for 10 times less money?

http://www.bulborama.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=428

[sarah11918 @ May 24th 2008 1:35PM]

A little off topic, but for those of you interested in lighting, we use Velux Sun Tunnels in our smaller rooms and we don't need to turn on the lights at all during the day.

About 2.5 times the cost of one of these bulbs, but no changing and no electricity. And the light is freakin' bright, too! Feels like very natural light, too. Good enough for the bathroom and the home office, and indescribably better than just light coming in from the window.

It's not a total replacement for electric lighting, of course, but we're very happy with our combination of electric lighting and the sun tunnels.