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Move Over LED, There's Another Bulb in Town

August 11, 2014
By Lance Powers

Home lighting technology has come a long way in the last few years. LED bulbs have finally arrived in enough shapes and sizes, and a low enough price, that they are finally displacing CFL bulbs. Who knew that another technology would surface to compete with LED? The Finally Bulb uses induction to create a bulb in the familiar incandescent shape and color output but with much lower power usage.

Induction light is not new. It was first demonstrated by the scientist Francis Hauksbee in 1705. In the late 1800s, Nikola Tesla patented a system of light that used wireless transfer to power induction lights.

Induction lighting is used today in industrial and commercial applications, but hasn't been available for home use due to the large size and space required to make it work (i.e. it doesn't fit in the footprint of your standard consumer light bulb).

Finally may have changed that. They have created an induction bulb (they call it Acandescence) that looks just like a standard light bulb. Induction bulbs don't have filaments inside the bulb that glow (and eventually burn out). Finally's Dr. Lapatovich expains how induction bulbs work:

Most common lighting technologies use filaments or electrodes to bring an electric current into the interior of a light bulb. Induction lighting starts with an insulated copper coil wrapped around a ferrite core. High frequency power from an electronic ballast is sent through the coil to produce a magnetic field which initiates and sustains a steady-state plasma. The plasma generates UV light which is converted to visible light when it hits a phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb.

Finally currently is pre-selling their 60 watt equivalent bulbs (with 75 and 100 watt bulbs expected soon). The bulbs have pretty decent specs:

  • Power usage of 14.5 watts
  • Omnidirectional light output
  • Rated life of 15,000 hours
  • Instant on
  • 10 year limited warranty

At $10 a bulb, the price is certainly more than a CFL bulb, but on par with equivalent LED bulbs. Time will tell if the Finally bulb really lives up to its name.

You can read more about the Finally bulb at Finally Bulbs.

Image Credit: Finally Bulbs