Competition for the U.S. light bulb market intensified Monday as Home Depot said it's begun selling a "breakthrough" LED, only a month after General Electric and Cree announced similar products.

As the venerable incandescent begins its Congress-mandated phaseout in 2012, the once staid light bulb sector is seeing a frenzy of new, more efficient CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps), halogens and LEDs (light emitting diodes.)

Home Depot says the new 9-watt, $20 ECOSMART LED bulb, made in the United States, uses about 80% less energy than a 40 watt incandescent and contains no mercury as do most CFLs. It's also recyclable and dimmable.

If installed in a newborn's room today, "it will probably not have to be replaced until the child is ready to graduate college," says Home Depot's Jorge Fernandez in the announcement, which adds that the bulb could save $155 in energy costs over its life and pay for itself in less than two years.

"The ECOSMART LED bulb is a significant leap forward from Thomas Edison's 130 year-old invention,"says Zach Gibler, chief executive office of Lighting Science Group Corporation, its manufacturer.

Cree, a leading LED manufacturer whose products have been used in the Pentagon, announced last month a new, more efficient LED platform.

Also last month, General Electric said it has a new 40-watt replacement LED bulb that's expected to consume just 9 watts, provide a 77% energy savings and last more than 25 times as long.

"This is a bulb that can virtually light your kid's bedroom desk lamp from birth through high school graduation," John Strainic, GE Lighting's global product general manager said in the announcement, which adds the bulb will last 17 years if used four hours daily.

GE says its Energy Smart LED, expected to retail for $40 to $50, contains no mercury, is cool to the touch and should offer full brightness from the moment it's turned on. It's made with Cree XLamp XP-G LEDs.

GE says the bulb will be available later this year or early next year, but a prototype will be on display this week in Las Vegas at LightFair 2010, an annual trade show.