LED Light Bulbs For Under $20; 5,000 Charging Stations for San Francisco

The U.S. retailing giant, Home Depot, is now selling a super-efficient, LED light bulb for just under $20, and the chain says that the bulbs are selling so quickly that it is having difficulty keeping them in stock. LED bulbs, which emit a brighter light than energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, can last as long as 30 years, which makes their $20 price tag appealing; not long ago, most experts said that the price of LED bulbs was expected to remain above $30 until at least 2012. Home Depot, which is selling the Ecosmart bulbs online and will start selling them in stores in September, is working with a Florida manufacturer, the Lighting Science Group, to make the $20 LED (Light-Emitting Diode) bulbs. Incandescent bulbs are on their way out in the U.S., as they are not expected to meet a federal requirement that all light bulbs sold in the U.S. be 30 percent more efficient than current incandescent bulbs by 2012. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it is giving a $5 million grant to pay for the installation of 5,000 charging stations in the San Francisco Bay area. Roughly 2,000 will be installed in public and company parking lots and 3,000 at apartment buildings and in residential areas.