The LED Bulb Market Changes

For sure the LED market is moving forward in leaps and bounds. It was not long ago when  LED bulbs were simply too big, too expensive and too ugly to be practical propositions but the landscape is certainly changing for the better. The other major lever that LED Bulbs have is from a significant change that has happened with its major competitor the CFL energy saving light bulb. The compact fluorescent lamp energy saving light bulbs have suffered a major set back this year due to tax on their raw material by the Chinese government. This has meant that the key material Tri-phosphor has increased by over 300% already this year and this has led to an increase of price in the CFL energy saving light bulb by around 80%. Also this escalation in prices does not seem to be coming to a close and the Chinese bulb manufacturers can now only give quotations which are valid for 2 weeks because of the negative influence of the raw material price increase. This is a far cry from in the years 2009/2010 when the market was flooded with an abundance of energy saving light bulbs provided by the energy companies in an attempt to meet UK government targets for energy savings. So the end result is not favourable for the CFL market but it has served to give the LED bulb market a kick start.

Which LED bulbs are becoming significant players?

The major problem with the LED bulb has always been the brightness but this is not a problem in a number of cases. A shining example is the LED candle bulb which is used extensively as a chandelier bulb. In this case the brightness is not a major issue because the sheer number of bulbs used in chandeliers means that each one does not have to be exceptionally bright. So now that the aesthetics of the LED candle bulbs has improved dramatically then these are a major player in the market.

Other LED bulbs which have now moved to the centre stage are the MR16 LED bulb and the GU10 LED bulb. A few years ago these were simply too dim or indeed  too large to go into the light fittings but the escalation in technological know-how has now brought these LED GU10 and LED MR16 bulbs to be excellent consumer choices. The other main factor here has been the development of dimmable technology at a reasonable price which means that the halogen spot light days surely must be numbered!

The final nut to crack is still going to be the everyday 100w filament bulb which has now been widely replaced by a 25w CFL bulb. This does give the consumer something like an 80% saving over the traditional filament bulb and to get the same amount of lumens light output from an LED you would need something like a 15 or 20 watt LED. Now these are starting to appear on the market but with a price of around £50 these are for sure expensive and still in reality will only produce the equivalent output of a 80w traditional light bulb. So keep an eye out for these but do not be misguided by the retailers over selling of light output and check the lumens values against the traditional light bulbs. But all in all it is definitely going to happen and the LED bulb will take over and the only question is when?