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Philips named winner of Bright Tomorrow L Prize Competition – August 2011

August 16, 2011 | By Alyssa Dalton


August 16, 2011 – Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Philips Lighting North America has won the 60-watt replacement bulb category of the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition.

The department challenged the lighting industry to develop high performance, energy-saving replacements for conventional light bulbs that will save American consumers and businesses money. Launched in 2008, the competition targets the 60-watt bulb because “it is one of the most widely used types of light bulbs by consumers, representing roughly half of the domestic incandescent light bulb market,” it explained.

“If every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the U.S. was replaced with the 10-watt L Prize winner, the nation would save about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity or $3.9 billion in one year and avoid 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions,” it said.

Submitted in 2009, the Philips LED bulb successfully completed 18 months of demanding field, lab, and product testing to meet the rigorous requirements of the L Prize competition, confirmed the department.

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“The L Prize challenges the best and brightest minds in the lighting industry to make the technological leaps forward that can greatly reduce the money we spend to light our homes and businesses each year,” said Energy secretary Steven Chu.  

“We looked at the L Prize challenge as an opportunity to innovate and develop an energy efficient alternative to a product that has remained largely unchanged for over a century,” continued Zia Eftekhar, CEO of Philips Lighting North America. “The fact that we are the first and only company capable of submitting a product and completing 18 months of rigorous testing not only underscores our commitment to innovation and quality, it highlights our ability to bring meaningful leading technologies into the mainstream.”

The Philips L Prize winning product was also required to have a useful lifetime of more than 25,000 hours, compared with 1,000 to 3,000 hours for the products these highly efficient bulbs are intended to replace, said Philips.

As the winner, Philips will receive a $10 million cash prize as well as L Prize partner promotions and incentives. The L Prize-winning 60-watt equivalent LED bulb from Philips could arrive in stores as soon as early 2012, said the company.


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