SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. — A Brevard County company has re-invented the light bulb and it's hiring hundreds of workers to build it, but this is doing more than creating jobs.
The light bulbs could change the way our homes, businesses and streets are lit and cut energy costs across the board. They use less energy than old-fashioned incandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulbs, and it's creating a bright future for the company.
Inside a small industrial park in Satellite Beach, hundreds of workers are putting together light bulbs. While the incandescent bulb runs electricity through a wire, lighting sciences is making LED bulbs using "light emitting diodes."
"It lights your home just like the one we are replacing, but with substantially better economics over time for the consumers," Lighting Science Group (visit their site) employee Jake Schellack told WFTV.
The bulbs are not cheap. They will run about $30, but they are supposed to last 20 years and over that time save the average consumer about $300 on a power bill. The company has snatched up a lot of "know-how" from nearby Kennedy Space Center; seventy-percent of its staff worked for NASA or a contractor.
"We're the antithesis of what the economy is seeing right now. Companies are having to downsize and let go, especially the space center is a prime example of that," Schellack said.
Researchers here developed bulbs using fewer parts, without mercury and cheaper than foreign competitors. After producing their one millionth bulb, the CEO announced plans to expand, but hasn't committed to where.
Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos pledged to do what he can to keep the company in Brevard County.
"We are going to do everything we can to keep them here and keep the jobs here, because we want to make sure that technology is not exported to other countries," he said.
The company estimates, with the bulbs already made, they may have already saved consumers about $280 million in power costs and there are 2 billion more bulbs that could be replaced, so it's a huge market.
The new type of bulbs are sold under the name "EcoSmart" and you can only buy them at Home Depot at this time.
WFTV
