General Electric To Bid Farewell To Its Fluorescent Light Business

General Electric will put a halt to fluorescent bulb productions by the end of 2016

 General Electric Co. recently announced that it will not manufacture and retail compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in the US by the end of the fiscal year of 2016. The company will streamline its focus on LED lamps instead. The fluorescent bulbs are now becoming obsolete and LED lamps are taking over the industry by a storm since they are accessible and cheaper.

Mr. John Strainic, the COO of consumer and traditional lighting at General Electric reported, Now is the right time to transition from CFL to LED. “There are so many choices that a consumer has for one socket in their home that it’s overwhelming. This will help simplify that.” The CFL will soon be detached of their Energy Star rating since the government is likely to come up with new laws in the coming year. In FY17, the standard will be set by Energy Star to offer 80 lumens per watt thus the fluorescent bulbs will not be legitimate for rebate which will eventually increase the popularity of LEDs.

When CFLs were launched they were said to be an alternate for incandescent light bulbs, when the authorities came up with the standards for energy efficiency that forced all bulbs to make use of 30% less energy in contrast to the past. Ironically, consumers were not content with the quality of the lights of the CFL as well as the difficulty they had to deal with to warm or dim the light bulb.

So from that time, the consumers actually had three options to choose from, which is LED, CFL as well as a soft white bulb designed by GE. LEDs however are said to be the ones having the highest efficiency rate along with the greatest satisfactions in terms of lighting but they were priced quite high.

Initially a LED cost $40 to $50 in FY12, however, the price of the bulb went down significantly and was then being retailed at $3.33.  The sales of such bulbs have increased by 250% in FY15 where 15% of the bulbs sold in the US are actually LEDs. As per the estimates by General Electric, almost 50% of the bulbs that will be used in the United States by 2020 will be LEDs.

Renowned retailers such as Sam’s Club have started to divert their focus and are actually promoting LED in contrast to fluorescent bulbs by minimizing their offers. IKEA on the other hand has stopped retailing the fluorescent bulbs and now only sells the LED lights.

The decision by the GE to opt for LED bulbs is on par with the company’s strategy to offer technology and services that are compatible with their product line. LEDs can be used in the smart homes that will enable users to switch them off remotely, dim the lights as well as monitor the consumption of these bulbs. Moreover, they can also act like sensors enabling the exchange of data amongst one another. The high compatibility of these bulbs make them a better bet.