General Electric GE Light Bulbs and History

The history behind GE Light Bulbs is rich. In 1890, Thomas Edison migrated several of his business interests into a single corporation he named Edison General Electric. Two years later a merger occurred, Edison was dropped from the company name, and in 1896 General Electric (GE for short) became one of the original 12 companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As the inventor of the word’s first affordable incandescent lamp, GE has been a fixture on the lighting scene since.

Today GE Light Bulbs come in many different shapes and sizes. Of course, most popular is the traditional incandescent style bulbs used in most home light sockets, but there are also a number of commercial and business bulbs offered. GE has kept up with innovation, developing fluorescents and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that operate with more efficiency, less cost and less environmental impact than ever before.

Other places you’ll find GE lightbulbs include automotive headlights, flashlights and holiday lights. The use of GE bulbs is not limited to personal use and home lighting however; in addition to many restaurants, businesses and warehouses using GE lighting, their lights are used by many local governments to power traffic signal lights.

To say GE is a leader in the lighting industry would be an understatement. General Electric light bulbs have dominated the home lighting arena since the invention of the light bulb. While Philips, Sylvania, Crompton, Bell and others might have found their niche in specific markets or regions, GE has over 50 percent market share on the 650 million light bulbs sold each year, and as owner of numerous patents on lighting technology, GE light bulbs are likely to remain the most popular in the world for some time to come.

The only foreseen threat to General Electric’s market of GE lightbulbs is the large push to change from incandescent light bulbs to more efficient lighting methods, such as with fluorescents. GE seems, however, to be well prepared for the potential changes, as recently they’ve countered Phillips pitch to Congress to mandate incandescent bulbs be replaced with halogens by creating their own similar campaigns. The GE lighting webpage has several messages about “Go Green”, encouraging consumers to consider more energy efficient and environmental friendly light bulbs.

If you’re interested in discount GE lightbulbs, it often makes sense to purchase bulbs in bulk online. Next time you purchase light bulbs, or if you have the packaging at home from a past purchase, note the GE product number. Entering this GE product number into a Google search will often show you a list of dozens of websites listing the same bulb for sale. This nearly assures that you’ll be able to find the best price available on that specific GE lightbulb, however be sure to also consider any shipping and handling costs as part of the purchase price.