Why Have LED Bulbs Dropped in Price by 50%?
CHIBA, Japan — Last year at Ceatec, the giant Japanese electronics fair, Toshiba showed off LED light bulbs. The 60-watt equivalent cost about $90 and the 100-watt equivalent that could also be dimmed ran around $360. Granted, the bulbs consumed one-tenth of the power of regular bulbs, but the price looked difficult to swallow. This year at the show, Panasonic showed off a 60-watt equivalent with dimming that will cost 4,000 to 5,000 yen (about $44 to $55) when it comes out soon. It consumes 6.2 watts and lasts 40,000 hours. Sharp has a similar bulb. The light quality is good. So why the price whack? Electronics regularly drop in price at a rapid rate, but a drop like that is somewhat rare. Volume manufacturing can explain some of it, but there are also other reasons afoot. One, governments are phasing out incandescents. Australia bans them in 2010 and Europe will phase them out from 2010 to 2012. The U.S. has adopted efficiency regulations that will lead to the demise of incandescent
