The era of LED lights being more costly than traditional lighting is coming to an end – in at least one product lineup, according to Cree (Nasdaq: CREE).
Cree said Tuesday that its new line of fixtures called troffers that are fitted with light-emitting diodes are “more affordable” than the traditional fluorescent tube lights found in commercial and other lighting.
With the new lineup, Cree is going after an indoor lighting market that was estimated at $6.4 billion in 2009.
The company also offers a variety of LED lighting designed to replace regular light bulbs and track lighting as well as street lights. But the costs are higher, and the expense has been a hurdle to wider adoption.
For example, a Cree incandescent replacement bulb at Amazon costs more than $58.
“Because of the higher upfront cost of LED lighting technology, consumer adoption of LED bulbs is expected to be slower than that of commercial customers,” Cnet noted in its report Tuesday about the next fixtures.
Called the CR series, the rectangular and square troffers are available in multiple sizes and are “more affordable” while offering “higher-quality light, longer life and greater energy savings.”
Cree says the payback on the cost of the troffers is “less than a year.”
“You never need to install fluorescent troffer lighting again,” Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “The traditional lighting experts keep telling us what LEDs can’t do, and we keep showing them that anything is possible. We think it is time to rid the world of the compromises inherent in choosing fluorescent lighting — the flickering, toxic mercury, poor color, ineffective dimming and disposal expense.”
The fixtures feature dimming, are designed to last 50,000 hours and include a five-year warranty.
For more about the new lighting, read here.
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