Goodbye to Edison's bulb: LEDs bring 'new age of light'

For those who cringe at energy-guzzling incandescents but still hate the icky light and mercury of compact fluorescents, 2010 is the year you've been waiting for.

Big-box stores are already reconfiguring their lighting aisles, making way for a super-efficient - albeit expensive - newcomer, the light emitting diode, or LED.

With LEDs, lighting is changing faster now than at any point since Edison invented the incandescent bulb in 1879, industry officials say.

"You're going to see an explosion of products and applications," says Kevin Dowling of Philips Electronics, one of the major bulb manufacturers. "What we're seeing in 2010 is a new age of light."

Among the pluses of LEDs: They are 80 percent more efficient and last up to 50,000 hours - longer than your roof. You could keep it lit four hours a day for 30 years and still bequeath it to your children. Full Story