Can You Design a Better LED Bulb? You Could Win $ 10 Million if You Do

Just thought that I'd post this for the engineers who visit here: N Y Times Gadgetwise Blog

And this might not be anywhere near as big a think as the prize money on offer, but I'll be happy to buy you some beers whenever you visit Chicago if you manage this.

Good Luck!

Philips Designs a More Efficient Incandescent Bulb

The New York Times has this report about Philips's new design for a high-tech incandescent bulb: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/business/energy-environment/06bulbs.html And the competition has been joined - Osram, Sylvania, GE and others are working tod evelop their own high tech bulbs as are several university departments. I do think this is a good idea. I use CFLS exclusively in my house, but I am always worried about what would happen if one of them were to break by accident. There is no way that I would like to spend $ 2500 or whatever it costs to get your home cleaned up if one of the CFLs breaks indoors. Yes, I have seen a sharp decline in my monthly bills since I started using the CFLs three years ago, before it was fashionable. And they have lasted long - much longer than I would have expected incandescent bulbs to last.

However, my next home - I can't see myself living in Ill-Annoy forever - will have Solatube Daylighting www.solatube.com and the bulbs for use at night with be high tech incendescents. Philips Lighting's website is: http://www.lighting.philips.com/us_en/consumer/index.php?main=us_en_consumer_lighting&parent=0&id=us_en_consumer_lighting&lang=en