Home Depot offers “affordable” LED lights

The knock against LED light bulbs for home has always been: It’s the lighting of the future, but too expensive for today.

They’re still pretty expensive, but they’re moving down. Atlanta-based The Home Depot announced it has released an affordable line of EcoSmart LED bulbs, including a dimmable, 40-watt equivalent for $19.97. Twenty bucks for a bulb is no slam dunk, but it is a big improvement from two years ago, when a 60-watt equivalent cost $90 and a 100-watt dimmable bulb went for $360.

The company said the 2012 deadline to phase out certain incandescent bulbs was the major motivation to come to market with affordable LED bulbs.

LEDs are more efficient than CFLs, and they offer the additional benefit of not containing any mercury vapor.

“Our partnerships with leading LED manufacturers, including Philips, Lighting Science Group and Cree, have enabled us to be the first in the market to offer affordable options for a wide array of fixture types for a consumer’s home,” said Craig Menear, executive VP of merchandising.

Currently, the bulbs are only available on homedepot.com but will be available in all Home Depot stores by the end of September. Home Depot offers seven LED bulbs under the EcoSmart brand.