04 September 2008

Concept: LED light bulb from frog design

We all know we should be replacing our energy-sucking incandescent light bulbs with CFLs — but, ugh. As part of its green design program, frog design has conceptualized this lovely light bulb around a high-output LED. The frogLight bulb fits in a standard socket and can be dimmed — an important ability for both energy-saving and mood-setting that CFLs can’t yet manage. And it’s projected to last for 30 years.

It’s a potential game-changer. Yanko Design, in a blog post this week, calls the frogLight a Trojan horse, “ready to make the transition to LED bulbs invisible and a reality.” Frog design says, “We are currently in talks about how to bring it to market and make it available to consumers.”

Learn more about the frogLight >>

In other green lighting news, Greentech Media reports on a revolutionary dimmer switch for sports stadiums, big-box stores and other megabuildings that use ultrabright high-intensity discharge (HID) lights. The new digital ballast from HID Laboratories allows building managers to dim their HID lights by an unnoticeable-to-the-human-eye 10 percent — a move that could save megawatts of power, writer Michael Kanellos suggests:

Lighting consumes 22 percent of the power generated in the U.S., and the majority of the juice of that total goes to more than 100 million HID sockets in the country. Thus, if used universally, you’re talking a big whack in electricity consumption.

Get more details on the big-box dimmer >>

Image: aphasiafilms

Discuss this Blog Post

Brent Wong
Sep 5 2008
Interesting article, i like the idea of the frog design, i just got CFL’s in my house, but have yet to install them.
Im looking forward to more info on frog design lights.
Penny Bright
Sep 6 2008
Great idea…I want to change all bulb in my house with LED bulb whenever it is available in the market.

Penny Bright
Aaron Jackson
Sep 6 2008
As long as the right people hear about this, this will be the only lighting source in a few years, as long as people are smart enough to not keep the old kinds of bulbs around, such a simple idea that skipped so many minds, but such a great one
Jeff Chan
Sep 19 2008
This is a great idea. The biggest issue right now is getting omnidirectional light out of LED’s. Absolutely brilliant. Most bulbs trying to accomplish this shoot the light upwards into a diffusing lens – so it only emits light out of the top half of the bulb….like this one:
LED Globe Light Bulb
Aaron Dalton
Feb 12 2009
For an LED bulb that looks more or less like a regular lightbulb, uses just a few watts and is available right now, check out the new Pharox LED bulb. Requires just 4 watts of energy to replace a 40-watt incandescent. Prices on this latest generation of LED bulbs are getting more reasonable too… http://tinyurl.com/d2ar8o

- Aaron Dalton, Editor, 1GreenProduct.com
Ellen Stiefler
Jan 13 2009
Jeff,

I just noticed that two patents filed this year, # 20090002986 and # 20090002979, owned by Cree Lighting address the issue you raised. Basically, they are trying to do what you highlighted as being a concern with LEDs: how to diffuse the lights.

The patents’ description say: “The one or more LEDs are configured to generate light in a first direction to illuminate a first area proximate to the lighting system. The housing is configured to reflect a portion of the generated light so as to allow a remaining portion of the generated light to pass through the housing in a second direction, different from the first direction, and illuminate a second area proximate to the lighting system.”

I like the photos on your website that show the differences between high and low temperature Kelvin LEDs and incandescents. A picture is worth a thousand words. You might want to check out LEDinsider.typepad.com for more on LED developments.

Best, Ellen
James Paul
Sep 29 2009
Energy efficient light bulbs are the easiest first step consumers and businesses can take towards reducing their energy consumption. Products have gotten light years better in the past few years and, in my eyes, indisputably better for 99% of applications. Both CFL and LED light bulbs run much cooler than incandescent bulbs, use energy much more efficiently, and do offer saving on your electricity bill. I am a vendor of energy efficient bulbs, so perhaps I am a bit biased, but I don’t know why everyone doesn’t switch today. (Superior Lighting Dot Com)
jc_blueblade0007 jc_blueblade0007
Mar 2 2010
Great blog! you are very true…

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