In 2012, "Earth Day" falls on Sunday 22nd April. It is celebrated all over the world to increase awareness and appreciation of our earth's natural environment. And what better way to start towards a greener earth than saving power?

Every unit of power consumed adds to environment pollution. No wonder why Phillips decided to announce its latest and the most efficient LED bulb ever on "Earth Day". The new bulb is named L-prize LED bulb after it won the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L-Prize) competition. It's light output is equivalent to a normal 60 Watt incandescent bulb, but is 83% more energy efficient.

It gives off 940 lumens, consumes 9.7 watts, and has a color rendering index, which is a measure of light quality, of 93.

Although LED technology has been around for quite some time now, the challenge was to create a commercially viable option in terms of life. And that's where Phillips has succeeded. The bulb is rated to last 30,000 hours which is 20 years if used daily for 4 hours.

It is also 50% more efficient than Phillips earlier 6 watt replacement which although is much cheaper at $25-$30.

According to Phillips, if every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the U.S. was replaced with the 9.7-watt L Prize winner, the savings would be about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity. That is equivalent to the electricity from 17 electric power stations, or $3.9 billion in one year. Most importantly, it will also take away 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions, or the equivalent to removing nearly 4 million cars from the road.

Although it may take a while for the L-Prize to hit your local store, you can get your hands on early by ordering online from bulbs.com. For US customers, orders above $50 gets a free shipping. But for any other country freight charges, local taxes and customs duties will have to be born by the customer.