![]() “Table Lamp,” “Kitchen Sink Light,” and “Eater Lamp” (?) all became fixtures in my home as I let my 8-year-old contribute to the process. In the app, bulbs are connected up one at a time in the Light Setup section of the app, which gives the app control over each bulb and allows the user to assign a name to each bulb. Install the app on your smartphone and start screwing in and connecting the bulbs. Plug in the bridge, and connect to the internet. Setting up the system is very straightforward and very much in line with that of many other smart devices. This bridge to rule all bridges is then able to talk to any Philips Hue bulbs in the house and to Philips’ Hue smartphone app, putting control of said LED bulbs in your pocket for up to 50 Hue lights per bridge. Leading the pack is the Philips Hue system, which is comprised of an internet-connected bridge that gets plugged into power and an internet-connected ethernet port somewhere central in the home, which is about the size of a hockey puck. Early iterations struggled to offer value commensurate with their astronomical price points, but as the market matured and manufacturers further refined the functionality of the devices, some compelling products surfaced. Innovators just can’t leave a good thing alone, so when the Internet of Things (IoT) craze swept through the consumer products segment, even light bulbs found themselves getting connected up to the internet. LEDs brought the efficiency homeowners desired and as costs came down, they were able to compete with other bulbs on the market. As with many innovations, when the new LED bulbs hit the market, they were significantly more expensive than both their incandescent and CFL counterparts but offered a significantly longer life, with estimates as high as 22 years. These drawbacks created a market ripe for innovation in lighting and that innovation came in the form of LED – or light emitting diode – bulbs. Mercury and humans don’t play well together, which put many environmentalists at odds with the screw-shaped bulbs. Additionally, fluorescent bulbs contain mercury vapor that is released into the environment when a bulb breaks. After decades ruling the residential lighting market, the world moved quickly from incandescent bulbs to the more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, which offered significant energy savings but came with their own set of drawbacks.Ĭompact fluorescents, also known as CFLs, had a similar life expectancy as incandescent lights and had a warm-up period that required a few minutes before they were able to reach full brightness. Efficient lighting is a key to any home energy efficiency upgrade.
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