3M Company Joins the LED Craze

Conglomerate 3M Company is joining the LED revolution, coming out with its first consumer LED light bulb, which it promises to be better than any other LED on the market.

As is the trend with most LEDs on the market these days, 3M’s high-tech bulb is designed to look just like a regular incandescent light bulb on the outside. 3M Company claims the bulb has a 25-year lifespan, provided the bulb is used 3 hours per day. And once more, like most LEDs on the market, 3M’s LED bulb comes with a $25 price tag, which might not be all that appealing for the conglomerate’s customers.



According to Ray Johnston, 3M scientist and the man behind the company’s LED concept and its development, they’ve designed their LED light bulb to have the same lighting distribution of a typical 60-watt incandescent light bulb.

On the inside, 3M advanced LED light uses the company’s patented multilayer optical film, combined with 3M adhesives and thermal management technology to deliver the same lighting power and quality desired in classic light bulbs. Any aesthetic worries about the LEDs in the bulb standing out are negated by the translucent enclosure of the bulb.

With incandescent lights in America to be phased out of the market by 2014, 3M expects that the $25 price tag of its LED light bulb won’t be too much of an impediment for customers to consider the energy-efficiency and other benefits of LEDs. The company is also betting on its product’s key advantage: it looks just like an incandescent light bulb, unlike compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). The LED bulb’s lower price of $25 also puts it in a better light compared to other LEDs with price tags of $40 to $50.