Office parks and convenience stores across the country rely on fluorescent lights. These flickering gas-filled tubes suck down far less energy than the incandescent bulbs they replaced but still consume some 200 terawatts of electricity every year. This new super-efficient LED prototype from Philips, however, puts florescents to shame.

It's a matter of lighting efficiency—how much light, measured in lumen, you can squeeze out of every watt of electricity consumed. Incandescent bulbs pull a paltry 15 lumen per watt on average, fluorescent bulbs produce maybe 100 lumen per watt. The prototype Tube LED (TLED) from Philips—200 lumen per watt. That's not only double what a flourescent can do, it's nearly double what existing LEDs, like the Philips T8, can achieve as well.

http://gizmodo.com/5994418/philips-prototype-led-could-replace-fluorescents-and-save-the-us-billions-annually

Yay, no more flicker! Wait.... I occasionally like some flicker, for like mood and stuff.... what kinda magic box do I need to make 'em flicker again?