Green Options

Audi has outfitted the new R8 V10 sports car with all-LED headlamps, which consume about a quarter of the energy of halogen bulbs. According to an Audi press release posted on autobloggreen.com, the company expects LED’s to be eight times more efficient than halogen bulbs by 2018.

While it seems odd to introduce this development on a sports car that boasts an energy-inefficient ten cylinder engine capable of propelling the car to 196 miles an hour, the reason is probably cost.

Autobloggreen.com notes that LED headlamps were available as a $5,600 option on the original R8. The R8 V10, to be sold in Germany beginning in the spring of 2009, will cost nearly $200,000.

Still, the technology that Audi has developed to show off on its most high-end vehicle, will eventually trickle down to other vehicles and other manufacturers, and every conceivable increase in efficiency should be welcomed as we move toward electric vehicles.

Audi estimates that a vehicle running with soon-to-be-mandated (in Europe) daytime running lights consumes a constant 200 watts (this includes low beams, tail lights, and a license plate light. In contrast, Audi claims that only 15 watts is required to power their daytime headlamps.

New York City’s Department of Transportation has tapped the Office for Visual Interaction for testing LED street lighting around the Big Apple. If successful, all of the city’s 300,000 street lamps could one day be made up of LEDs.

Dell has announced that it plans have LED (light-emitting diode) backlit displays in 80 percent of its computers by 2008 and in all of them by 2010. LED displays consume 43 percent less energy for a 15 inch screen than standard CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) displays. According to the company, its LED displays will save $20 million and 220 million KWh in 2010 and 2011 combined.