The bright ones are still expensive, but two recent announcements made headlines. Lighting Science Group has a 600 to 800 lumens floodlight (roughly the same as a 50-60 Watt incandescent) that uses only 15 Watts and has a projected life span of 50,000 hours. It's $145 (oops). The 300 to 400 lumen version draws 6 Watts and costs $80.00.And they both look really cool with their built-in heat sinks. The Journée Lighting track lights are even sexier.
And how about a projector that you can put in your pocket? Take a look at the Optoma Pico Projector available before Christmas in Europe and Asia, next year in the USA at a projected (pun intended) $430 list price. It’s only 2 by 4.1 by 0.7 inches, and weighs 4.2 ounces. The trick is using an LED light source. It only produces nine lumens, but that's enough for two people to watch the same movie projected on an airplane seat back or a 65" display 8.5 feet away (in a dark room.) See the reviews by David Pogue, Engadget, and Gizmodo.
Given time, LED prices will come down. Even if efficiencies don't improve, they offer a significant reduction in energy use. One quarter of the energy we use in the USA is for lighting.
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