R30 LED floodlight beats incandescent performance

April 24, 2006
A LED-based drop-in replacement for the very widely used R30 floodlight offers advantages in terms of power consumption, lifetime and total cost of operation.
Lighting Science Group has unveiled an LED R30 floodlight which provides the equivalent light output of a 65-watt incandescent floodlight but uses up to 80% less energy and has a lifetime up to 50 times longer.
LED-based R30

The R30 floodlight is one of the most widely used bulbs today, typically found in large quantities in commercial, industrial, retail, educational and hospitality facilities.

The new Lighting Science LED floodlight, powered by the company's Optimized Digital Lighting (ODL) technology, is designed for use both indoors and outdoors, in recessed cans and other applications that require a standard screw-base socket.

The new Lighting Science ODL R30 floodlight was tested by Light Laboratory Inc., an independent laboratory in Orange, California, against a leading natural-light 65 watt R30 incandescent floodlight.

The ODL floodlight produced 483 lumens at 13.2 watts (36 lm/W) versus 488 lumens at 65.7 watts for the incandescent floodlight.

A further advantage of the LED product is lifetime; with a rated life of only 2,500 hours, the incandescent floodlight will require 20 bulb changes during the 50,000 hour life of the ODL floodlight. Also, the total cost of operating the LED floodlight is nearly 70% less than the cost of operating the tested incandescent floodlight.

Lighting Science estimates that the LED version results in a saving of $70 in bulb costs, assuming that the retail price of an incandescent R30 floodlight is $7.99 with life of 2500 hours. (The retail cost of the LED floodlight is about $90.)

Also, the LED bulb can result in an annual saving of $260 in energy costs, assuming that the cost per kilowatt-hour is $0.10, for a total saving of $330.

Ron Lusk, Chairman and CEO of Lighting Science Group, said, "With today's record high energy prices, our new R30 floodlight will not only provide our customers with significant electricity savings, but also considerable operational savings in the reduction of maintenance and bulb replacement costs. We believe that our customers will find a return on investment of more than 300% to be compelling."

"For applications that use hundreds or thousands of bulbs, the annual savings can add up to very significant dollars," notes Lusk.

The new Lighting Science R30 floodlight will be available in volume in June 2006. Warm white, daylight white, cool white and amber (bug light) versions are planned. Sample quantities for evaluation may be ordered immediately.