January 28, 2012, Bob Brinker's Marketimer Competition, The Bulb-Timer

January 28, 2012....Courtesy of our friend, FrankJ, and at no charge, we will now be treated to the 2nd edition of the Bulb Timer. Perhaps Bulb Timer is the stiffest competition out there for Bob Brinker's Marketimer. :)   In a light-hearted way, FrankJ presents a view of a very serious subject: 

Bulb Timer, 2^nd issue

January 2012

In the second issue of  Bulb Timer, we summarize an article  that appeared in the January 18 issue of the Wall Street Journal, written by Katherine Boehret.   The author based her article on information in Consumer Reports, and as editor of the Bulb Timer, I want to be clear I am cribbing some content from Boehret’s article.  Like many articles on bulb “futures” it draws comparisons between incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescents and LED bulbs.  

Incandescent bulbs produce light by shooting energy through a thin filament that glows when energized.  These bulbs are rated in terms of watts, which we equate to brightness, but which really equate to energy use and heat output.   An incandescent bulb might cost $1 could last anywhere from 750 to 1250 hours.  The actual operating cost depends on what you pay for electricity – my rate per kilowatt-hour (KWH) is $0.066, so it costs $3.96 to run a 60 watt bulb for 1000 hours.   (0.066 x 60).

Compact fluorescents:   For $5 to $10, you can buy a CF bulb that is supposed to last 10,000 hours.  A 43 watt CF puts out the equivalent light of a 60 watt.  The savings of 17 watts over 1000 hours of operation works out to $1.12.  But will consumers have been used to paying $1 or less for an incandescent,  pay 5 to 10 times the price, even if the bulb is supposed to last 10 times longer?   I don’t know, but if I watch enough episodes of Mad Men on Netflix, maybe I’ll have an answer for this.  

Some of these bulbs do not work well with dimmer switches.  I have some here in the Bulb Timer company headquarters, and I can tell you, they take a minute or so to “warm up” and begin giving off the proper amount of light.   This bothers some people, it does not bother your editor, I am used to under performance here in the early 21^st Century, by both politicians and the stock market, so why single out light bulbs?  

The environmental downside of these bulbs is, their mercury content.   This might doom them as a consumer option.  Not  because consumers will not want to buy them, but because the supply chain may not want to handle them and be “responsible” should someone claim mercury poisoning.   

You are supposed to dispose of these by recycling them.  How many people will do that?  And if you break one you are supposed too …. Well, fuggetabboutit.  Bulb Timer predicts that CFs will  go away based on their perceived lack of “green” credentials, even though their operating costs are lower than incandescent bulbs.

Next up is the LED bulb. (Light Emitting Diode).  Most of the aforementioned article is devoted to these.  The numbers are:  lifespans of 20,000 to 50,000 hours (that is 2.3 to 5.7 years).  “Best in Shows” are the Philips 12.5 Watt A19 bulb priced at $25 with equivalent light to a conventional 60 Watt incandescent.

The orange-themed big box store will sell a $15 “World Bulb”   Available in India now, and later in 2012, here in the US.  This bulb uses 13 Watts and is the equivalent in light of a 60 Watt old-style bulb.   Lighting Science Group Corporation, also makes the “Home Intelligent” LED bulb which can be turned on and off using a smartphone application.  (Personally I am more interested  in an app to turn off the coffee maker or the stove, after I have left the house and can’t remember for sure if…  never mind.)  

And the winner in the LED category is… the Philips “L Prize Bulb,” user of only 10 Watts (according to Philips) and the equivalent of 60 Watts traditional, for only $50 a pop, so the most likely purchasers are those consumers living in the Land of Critical Mass.  It is reputed to last 25,000 hours.    The “L Prize” is a Department of Energy award for efficiency.  (25,000 hours is a little less than 3 years, so the DOE must have been at this a while, and please …no Solyndra jokes, but I will point out that $500 million that went to this company would have purchased 10 million of these bulbs!).  

Again, using the $0.066 KWH rate, this bulb saves $3.30 per 1000 hours of operation, compared to a conventional 60 watt incandescent bulb.      

Another comparison is what $1 dollar of purchase price buys you in hours of use.  The $1 dollar spent on a 1000 hour, 60 watt incandescent, buys you 1000 hours of service.  So does each dollar spent on the $10 dollar/10,000 CF.  But each dollar spent on the $50 dollar LED only buys 500 hours of service.  But, the LED bulb has a clear operating cost advantage.  

The “Bulb Timer Newsletter” is brought to you on this blog through the generosity of our publisher, Honeybee.  The staff consists of your editor, Frankj, who is solely responsible for its content.  Our Chief Researcher, VP of Marketing, Head Fund Raiser, and Creative Strategist is Birdbrain, who, when not working on Bulb Timer,  spends time prowling flea markets and prognosticating on major sports events.  He checks in when his corporate debit card needs recharging.