Sharp Corp. is jumping in on the LED light bulb market, but their bulbs are different than all the others: They're cheap. When energy savings and bulb life are factored into the 3,900 yen (about US $40) cost, they're quite competitively priced.
LED lamps have a lifespan of about 40,000 hours, compared to a 1,000 hour life for a typical incandescent bulb. And when you consider that a typical incandescent bulb costs about $1, the two are essentially the same in price per unit of time—and that's not even factoring in energy savings.
There's also the environmental impact to consider: Compact fluorescent light bulbs, currently the popular alternative to incandescent lighting, contain many toxic chemicals, while LED (and incandescent) bulbs have very little effect on the environment, aside from the glass they contain, which is unavoidable in a bulb-shaped lamp.
As an added benefit, certain models of Sharp's LED lamps can change colors, possibly adding warmth or simply spice to your room lighting.
So when can you light your home with Sharp LED bulbs? Sadly, when they are finally released in July, 2009, the will only be available in Japan. If you live elsewhere, you'll have to wait. However, Sharp plans to ramp up their LED lighting program into a $500 million business, and will be expanding to both residential and commercial applications. You can probably expect to see the bulbs appearing outside of Japan in the next few years.
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