GE reinventing the incandescent light bulb

General Electric today announced advances that could raise the energy efficiency of incandescent light bulbs to that of fluorescents, the company claimed.

GE's Consumer & Industrial Lighting division says its advances will lead to the introduction of high-efficiency incandescent lamps that provide the same high light quality, brightness and color as current incandescent lamps while saving energy and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The new high efficiency incandescent (HEI™) lamp, which incorporates innovative new materials, would replace traditional 40- to 100-Watt household incandescent light bulbs, the most popular lamp type used by consumers today.

The new technology could be expanded to all other incandescent types as well.

Ultimately, the high efficiency lamp (HEI) technology is expected to be about four times as efficient as current incandescent bulbs and comparable to CFL bulbs, though initial versions will only be about twice as efficient.

The company touted that adoption of the new bulbs would lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions of up to 40 million tons of CO2 in the U.S. and up to 50 million tons in the EU if the entire installed base of traditional incandescent bulbs was replaced with HEI lamps.

GE has invested more than $200 million in the last four years on the development of energy efficient lighting, including reduced-powered Miser^® light bulbs to high-efficiency Par 38 halogen lamps and Energy Smart^® compact fluorescent lamps.

The modern light bulb is based on 125-year old technology invented by GE founder Thomas Edison.

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