UK researchers working on low-cost, highly efficient LED bulbs that last 60 year

DailyTech reports a team at Cambridge University is working on a cheap new high-performing LED design that should have a lifespan of 60 years. The new design eliminates the LED droop and promises 12 times higher efficiency than incandescent designs and triple the efficiency of fluorescent bulbs. These LEDs are more affordable because they're grown on silicon wafers instead of on sapphire wafers. The production cost is said to be $2.85, which is really cheap if it would really last for dozens of years.

According to DailyTech, Cambridge's new LED design is already being prototyped and readied for production. The site mentions RFMD in County Durham, England is the first manufacturer to jump at the opportunity to mass produce and ship these high-performing LED bulbs.

The new design triples fluorescent bulb efficiency and is 12 times more efficient than incandescent designs. Also, it’s capable of instantaneous illumination, so the light lag associated with fluorescent bulbs may soon be a thing of the past.

If installed across all of Britain, the researchers estimate that it could cut the country's lighting portion of the energy budget from 20 percent to 5 percent a year. The U.S. could muster a similar 10 percent drop with the design, according to recent DOE estimates. The new bulbs last 100,000 hours and unlike other "eco" bulbs, they contain no mercury, a substance that can cause brain damage in humans. They also don't flicker, while other green designs do, something that's been blamed for triggering epileptic fits.