L Prize
Encyclopedia
The L Prize is a competition run by the United States Department of Energy
aimed to "spur lighting manufacturers to develop high-quality, high-efficiency solid-state lighting
products to replace the common light bulb
". While Philips
has marketed the similar 12-watt
Endura LED lamp, it does not meet the L-Prize efficacy and power requirements.
The competition offers two prizes for the replacement of two types of bulb, a 60-watt incandescent light bulb and a PAR 38 halogen
incandescent bulb. The prize fund for the 60 W replacement is up to a maximum of US$
10 million and for the PAR 38 up to US$5 million.
There is a third category, yet to be defined, called the 21st century lamp.
.
The competition has set out various qualifying requirements for the replacement bulbs summarized in the table below:
. The winning bulb uses less than 10 watts and emits the equivalent amount of light as a traditional 60 watt incandescent bulb. That amounts to an 83% energy saving. Philips will be given the US$10 million cash prize.
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
aimed to "spur lighting manufacturers to develop high-quality, high-efficiency solid-state lighting
Solid-state lighting
Solid-state lighting refers to a type of lighting that uses semiconductor light-emitting diodes , organic light-emitting diodes , or polymer light-emitting diodes as sources of illumination rather than electrical filaments, plasma , or gas.The term "solid state" refers commonly to light emitted...
products to replace the common light bulb
Incandescent light bulb
The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe makes light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from air by a glass bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, a chemical process...
". While Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
has marketed the similar 12-watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
Endura LED lamp, it does not meet the L-Prize efficacy and power requirements.
The competition offers two prizes for the replacement of two types of bulb, a 60-watt incandescent light bulb and a PAR 38 halogen
Halogen lamp
A halogen lamp, also known as a tungsten halogen lamp, is an incandescent lamp with a tungsten filament contained within an inert gas and a small amount of a halogen such as iodine or bromine. The chemical halogen cycle redeposits evaporated tungsten back on to the filament, extending the life of...
incandescent bulb. The prize fund for the 60 W replacement is up to a maximum of US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
10 million and for the PAR 38 up to US$5 million.
There is a third category, yet to be defined, called the 21st century lamp.
.
The competition has set out various qualifying requirements for the replacement bulbs summarized in the table below:
| 60 W Incandescent Replacement bulb | PAR 38 Halogen Replacement bulb |
|---|---|
| More than 90 lm/W Luminous efficacy Luminous efficacy is a measure of how well a light source produces visible light. It is the ratio of luminous flux to power. Depending on context, the power can be either the radiant flux of the source's output, or it can be the total electric power consumed by the source.Which sense of the term is... |
More than 123 lm/W |
| Less than 10 watts | Less than 11 watts |
| More than 900 lumens Lumen (unit) The lumen is the SI derived unit of luminous flux, a measure of the total "amount" of visible light emitted by a source. Luminous flux differs from power in that luminous flux measurements reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, while radiant flux... |
More than 1,350 lumens |
| More than 25,000-hour life | More than 25,000-hour life |
| More than 90 CRI | More than 90 CRI |
| 2700–3000 K Kelvin The kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all... CCT |
2700–3000 K CCT |
Winner
It was announced on 3 August 2011, that the winner of the 60 W replacement bulb competition is PhilipsPhilips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
. The winning bulb uses less than 10 watts and emits the equivalent amount of light as a traditional 60 watt incandescent bulb. That amounts to an 83% energy saving. Philips will be given the US$10 million cash prize.
| Philips L Prize Winner 60 W Incandescent Replacement bulb |
|---|
| 93.4 lm/W Luminous efficacy Luminous efficacy is a measure of how well a light source produces visible light. It is the ratio of luminous flux to power. Depending on context, the power can be either the radiant flux of the source's output, or it can be the total electric power consumed by the source.Which sense of the term is... |
| 9.7 watts |
| 910 lumens Lumen (unit) The lumen is the SI derived unit of luminous flux, a measure of the total "amount" of visible light emitted by a source. Luminous flux differs from power in that luminous flux measurements reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, while radiant flux... |
| 99.3% lumen maintenance at 25,000-hours (95% confidence Confidence interval In statistics, a confidence interval is a particular kind of interval estimate of a population parameter and is used to indicate the reliability of an estimate. It is an observed interval , in principle different from sample to sample, that frequently includes the parameter of interest, if the... ) |
| 93 CRI |
| 2727 K Kelvin The kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all... CCT |
External links
- www.lightingprize.org - L Prize website.
- The Changing Shape of Light - CBS Evening News
- The $10 Million Lightbulb - Time magazine article.
- Is This the Light Bulb of the Future? - New York Times article