New $60 LED bulb for Earth Day

The new Philips bulb (AP photo)

Are you willing to pay $60 for a light bulb that promises to last up to 20 years?

Philips Lighting North America, which won a federal competition last year to come up with the most efficient possible replacement for the classic 60-watt incandescent bulb, is timing the sale of its new 10-watt LED bulb for Earth Day this Sunday.

The L Prize LED bulb is named for the $10 million U.S. Department of Energy prize that Philips won. The bulb, which has a three-year warranty, should last up to 30,000 hours or 20 years, for example, if left on four hours a day.

Homeowners and industries have been moving away from the classic light bulb to LED or compact fluorescent bulbs, which are more expensive but save more in energy costs over time.

The L Prize bulb  gives off more and better light using much less energy than current incandescent and LED bulbs. The Philips bulb is more efficient than a 12.5 watt bulb Philips currently sells as a replacement for the traditional 60-watt incandescent.

According to the department:

“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’s unlikely many will rush out to replace all of their bulbs with the new 10-watt  L Prize LED. As Time magazine points out, the average U.S. home uses 45 light bulbs, and it could cost up to $2,750 (or $2,250 if purchased online) to replace all of them with the new bulb. But, hey, you wouldn’t have to replace them for two decades.