Read this story from Forbes.com on the incredible benefits of LED lights. The only problem is, some of the big players in the lighting game, like General Electric, don’t hold LED pattents like they do with competing and clearly inferior CFL lights. (Jan. 27, 2012)

“It’s projected that the shift to LED lighting is going to be huge. It’s going to capture 60 percent of the market globally in the next ten years.”

That shift will be motivated not only by a global response to climate change, but especially by the economic benefits of LED lights.

“They’re clearly a superior product,” Weissbourd said, “but not yet market accepted.”

That slow acceptance derives, in part, from higher initial cost. An LED “bulb” costs $35, compared to $1.25 for an incandescent bulb or $3.95 for a compact fluorescent that illuminates at the same brightness.

But that LED light will cost only $95.95 to operate for the next 50,000 hours, compared to $652.50 for the incandescent and $159.75 for the CFL.

The economics of LED lights are so favorable that as market acceptance develops, and as start-up costs drop, building owners will be able to shift to LED lighting without requiring much, if any, financial assistance, he said…

…“Whether we can compete in the green economy depends on whether we have companies that can redeploy their assets into it,” Weissbourd said.

The light bulb market is dominated by a small number of manufacturers, including Sylvania, Philips and GE. Those companies offer LED lighting but have not promoted it. Weissbourd compared them to Kodak, which he said invented the digital camera, then shelved it to avoid competing with its more traditional products. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Jan. 19.

Read this story: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2012/01/27/led-poised-to-light-up-the-world-study/