Would you buy a $50 light bulb? Before you answer, consider this: it’ll last you upwards of 20 years and pay for itself several times over.

On Sunday — which was, not so coincidentally, Earth Day — electronics giant Philips released its energy-saving LED bulb to retailers. The super long-lasting bulb won the US Department of Energy’s “Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize,” and while it’s currently priced at $50, the company said it’s planning discounts that could cut that cost in half.

The new 10-watt LED bulb, which gives off a soft white light, is “83 percent more energy efficient than the standard 60-watt incandescent,” said Philips’ North America executive Ed Crawford. In addition, it’s rated to last 30,000 hours — meaning if it’s used four hours a day, it could easily last two decades or more.

As for the cost, it’ll be offset by the $165 you’ll likely shave off your utility bills during the lifespan of the bulb. And according to Philips, if every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the US was replaced with one of its bulbs, the action would “avoid 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions” and save the nation about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity — or $3.9 billion a year.

“Consumers are no longer looking at a product that will last just six months to a year, they are looking at a product that is much more efficient and will be with them for decades,” Crawford said. “With LED bulbs, we are looking at a wholesale change in buying lighting technology, going from a disposable good to a durable good.”

Watch a news story about the new bulb below.

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