The article in the Oct 2012 Consumer Reports on 
LED lights mentions the L Prize, so I googled it. I found out that the DoE awardrd the L Prize to Philips. The light looked just like the one I bought but on closer examination I found that the one I bought is 12.5 watts whereas the L Prize light is only 10 watts. Mine was made in China, the L Prize light was made in the U.S.A., Wisconsin to be more precise. The L Prize light costs $50, mine cost half that much at the big box store. But even at that price, it was still expensive. One will have to use the light a lot during the next two decades in order to save enough electricity to pay for the extra cost.
That’s the big problem right now: cost. I can buy a CFL for a dollar at the dollar store, and it’s not much different and does a half decent job. My friends have said that the cheap CFLs don’t last very long and burn out. I think the reason why is because many of the CFLs are installed in sockets that point the bulb down, so that the heat from the ‘corkscrew’ rises up into the base and overheats the circuit inside. Premature failure is the result. For this kind of socket, the cheap CFLs are a poor choice, instead use a more expensive brand. Keep your receipt and be prepared to get a refund when it goes bad.
CFLs, fluorescents and LED bulbs have cut my electric bill down a lot. To cut back on electric usage, I have put a timer on one light, and bought some lights with daylight sensing. But I have some important unanswered questions, and I’ll go into those in my next blog.