New Smart Light Bulb LIFX Might Just Revolutionize The Future (And Save The World Too)

The 125-year old incandescent bulb is dying and there's a fight to replace it. This weekend, a clear contender emerged on community-funding website, Kickstarter. Multi-color, WiFi-enabled and energy efficient LED light bulb, LIFX, is the smart bulb which looks set to save the world.

By embracing "The Internet of Things", the notion that all electronic devices will be interconnected via a network (the Internet), LIFX will allow users to control their smart bulbs from their smartphones. The Kickstarter video does an impressive job showcasing the awesomeness of LIFX: different light colors, varying light intensity, automatic dimming in the bedroom during sleep time, blinking when you've received a notification, disco lighting should you secretly decide to robot-dance, etc. To use it, you only have to screw it in just like your regular bulb, nothing more.

By the looks of things, LIFX is looking set to be one of the golden projects on Kickstarter. It only started accepting pledges on Saturday. Now, only three days later, 5,001 backers have pledged $748,338 to LIFX. The project is well pass its $100,000 goal and is on course to rival for the all-time Kickstarter fundraising record.

LIFX, while being one of the first, if not the first, "smart" bulb, is part of the LED light bulb group which is competing to replace the increasingly unloved incandescent bulbs. Earlier this month, a prohibition to sell incandescent light bulbs, set by the European Union (EU) came into effect. The prohibition was the last in the phased ban of their sale in most of Europe. In the US, plans to implement a similar ban, which would have gone into effect in January this year, were sidetracked by the Republican Congress. (According to Republicans, they fulfilled their promise to the American people "by allowing them to continue to be able to choose what type of bulb they use at home.")

But like it or not, it is high time that incandescent bulbs are replaced. Incandescent bulbs are inefficient and wasteful. About 90% of the 60 W of power they consume is wasted as heat, for instance. In addition, they have a comparatively short lifespan of 1,200 h only. By contrast, LED bulbs use 2-17 W of power and should last for as many as 50,000 h. At first sight, the one downside of LED bulbs is the price which can be 30 times more expensive than an incandescent bulb. However, considering that the LED bulb uses much less electricity and lasts longer, users quickly recoup the investment. As Dustin Benton of the UK party, Green Alliance, said to the Guardian, replacing incandescent bulbs "could cut bills by £158 per year."

While LED bulbs-and most certainly LIFX-are ideal replacements for incandescent bulbs, currently dominating the market of low-energy light bulb are compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). CFL have been around for much longer than LED bulbs. While they are not as efficient or cost-effective as LED bulbs, they are still way better than incandescent bulbs in those departments. CFL use less than four times the electricity and last more than ten times longer than incandescent bulbs (see end of post for links to price comparison tables).

CFL have their downsides though. The major one is that they contain mercury, exposure to which can cause a variety of health problems in adults, children and fetuses. This is scary stuff and should not be taken lightly. For instance, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), if a CFL is broken, you should immediately get out of the house for at least 15 minutes. It's hard to imagine that many people are aware of the health threat hanging above their heads though. Now imagine, kids in less developed parts of the world who might routinely break bulbs for fun...

LIFX is more efficient, consumes less electricity and contains no mercury. Plus, it's smart. So that's at least four wins right there. If you're not into these "geeky" stuff though, do consider replacing your incandescent bulbs regardless. Be part of a bright future.

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More info:

• Incandescent, CFL and LED price comparisons: eartheasy, Wikipedia.
• Wikipedia page on status of various countries and governments on phasing out incandescent lights.
• Benefits and downsides of CFL and LED bulbs on eartheasy.

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