Introducing the $3 LED Lightbulb

We’ll be watching the development of this LED-based lightbulb, a recent creation from researchers at Cambridge University that is 12 times more efficient than a conventional tungsten bulb, three times more than a low energy one – and won’t cost you more than a few bucks. The “$3 bulb” has a 100,000 hour lifespan, and according to Daily Mail, could skim three quarters off a typical household’s energy bill. The bulbs are the product of research and experimentation conducted by the scientists at the Cambridge University-based Centre for Gallium Nitride, who discovered a new low-cost way to use the once pricey material in their bulbs. As the Daily Mail reports:

The head of the centre, Professor Colin Humphreys, said: ‘This could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future. We are very close to achieving highly efficient, low-cost white LEDs. That won’t just be good news for the environment. It will also benefit consumers by cutting their electricity bills… It is our belief they will render current energy-efficiency bulbs redundant.’

We could see the LED bulbs on the market in two years, as prototypes are already being developed.

[via Gizmodo]