Last week in my Friday news roundup, I linked to a Guardian article where a skeptical Alok Jha “sees the light” while giving Philips’ new line of LED light bulbs a try.

 

Turns out, Japanese electronics giant Panasonic is serving Netherlands-based Philips, who released their LED lamps in Europe this month, a bit of healthy competition with an eight-unit line of consumer-oriented, energy-efficient LED screw-in light bulbs to be released in Japan in late October.

 

With normal use, a bulb from Panasonic’s EverLed line can live as long as 19 years which is about 40 times longer than a standard incandescent bulb. I don't think I've ever owned a light fixture more than 19 years let alone a light bulb.

 

Like the Philips LED bulbs, the cost for a Panasonic bulb is high — an estimated 4, 000 yen or $40 — but the fact that Panasonic controls about 50 percent of the Japanese light bulb market should help lift EverLeds from boutique-y novelties to household staples. And if the sticker price of an EverLed bulb is daunting, the estimated cost of using one instead of an incandescent should sweeten the deal: 300 yen ($3) vs. 2, 380 yen ($25) in annual electricity costs.

 

Panasonic is in the market research stage for releasing EverLeds in the American, European, and Southeast Asian markets so don’t start get ready to start replacing (and properly disposing of) those CFLs quite yet… 

Via [CNET]