GE CFLs slip into something a little more comfortable
Any self-proclaimed design expert knows the first rule of lighting choices – fashion always trumps function. This is especially true in contemplating the switch to the spiral-laidened fashion faux pas known as compact fluorescent lighting (CFL). Well no longer. GE has come up with a way to miniaturize the nuts and bolts of your standard CFL bulb and fit it into a traditional incandescent-shaped bulb. Coining the phrase, “the best of both bulbs” these new bulbs have all the environmental and energy-saving benefits of a CFL, but will actually fit nicely into your lampshades. The new covered GE Energy Smart® CFL bulb will be available at Target stores nationwide on December 28, at selected Ace Hardware stores in January, and more broadly around Earth Day (April 22, 2009) at retailers such as Sam’s Club and Walmart.
Read the release.
* Apartment Therapy: New! Incandescent Shaped Energy Smart CFL Bulb
* Gizmodo: New GE Light Within a Light Is Like Ship In a Bottle
* Crunch Gear: G.E. announces CFL bulb in new incandescent shape
* Engadget: GE frees CFL lighting from the tyranny of ugly
* Watch John Strainic, GE’s general manager of global products, explain how GE was able to work its technical magic and make a CFL bulb fit in a traditional incandescent-shaped bulb.
When a new product is in introduced, the new product image should be shown in the speaker’s background.
You are showing the old product picture. Am I missing something?
Al
You should call it GE Mazda light Bulb. That would be a cool name.
I have a few lamps that I wasn’t able to replace the bulbs for. This will fix it!
Al: the NEW bulb is shown in the photo just before the video link. Then it is shown again in the video. The point is the CFL will now be available in a familiar shape. I thought they made a great point!
Wow! Finally an energy saving alternative for my lamp. I have the lamp type where the shade has to clamp around bulb and I could never use the Spiral CFL’s.
Nice work, but the real issue with these bulbs isn’t the shape, it’s the light quality.
A couple of years back, GE was talking about an advanced incandescent bulb which was much more energy-efficient than the standard model, though not quite up there with CFLs–and had good light quality. Can you give us an update on this technology?
I have a Feit Electric "Echobulb". It’s just about the same size/roundness as an incandescent bulb, and only slightly taller. It has good brightness too, just like a 60w bulb. Those clamp on shades fit nicely on it.
CFL’s produce horrible light temperature for, say, a living room.