General Electric announced on Monday that it will soon end its production of coiled compact fluorescent lamps in the U.S. and instead shift its lighting strategy to LED bulbs.
"These LED light bulbs are starting to replicate what the electrical filament has done for over 100 years — providing that look and warm ambience that people are used to,” GE Lighting COO John Strainic said in a statement.
The company said that LED sales grew 250 percent last year and should climb from 15 percent of the U.S. light bulb market to more than 50 percent within five years.
Both CFL and LED lights helped replace the conventional incandescent bulb in the aftermath of federal energy efficiency requirements, but consumers complained about CFL lighting, flickering and warm-up times.
In addition, those bulbs soon will no longer meet the standard for the government's Energy Star rating.
LED bulbs, meanwhile, were initially too expensive to compete with CFLs, but their cost declined from $40 in 2012 to just a few dollars today.
That decline helped curb CFL sales from a peak of 30 percent of total U.S. light bulb sales to just 15 percent last year.
LEDs, GE added, can also connect with applications that enable homeowners to remotely shut off or dim their lights.
“We are seeing a complete transformation of the lighting business as we move to intelligent-lighting solutions for cities, offices, hospitals and schools,” Strainic said.
