Within the next several months, several of the world’s biggest lighting companies, including Osram Sylvania and Philips, will introduce LED replacement bulbs to various world markets, including the United States.

While the bulbs will be praised for their energy-saving characteristics and long lives, most consumers will immediately think, “These things look weird.”

And they do. Really weird. Here’s an example of one LED substitute for a standard reflector bulb used in many home ceilings. Those funny fins are a “heat sink.” Because LED light sources generate all their heat through the rear, manufacturers are adding heat sinks to dramatically increase the surface area and let the heat dissipate rapidly. Without them, the LED fixture would lose its color accuracy and have a dramatically shortened life.

That’s especially important for these reflector bulb substitutes. The “cans” in which recessed reflector bulbs typically sit in today’s ceilings were designed for standard incandescent light bulbs, which direct most of their heat forward. How they will fare with prolonged use of the new generation of bulbs that send heat back up into the ceiling is anyone’s guess.

Aesthetically, the bulbs’ odd shape will not be a problem if they are mostly hidden from view, either in the ceiling or under a lampshade. But what happens with other bulbs that are out in the open, like track lighting?

A company in Westlake Village, Calif., is embracing the design drawbacks and turning them into a feature. Journée Lighting has just started selling track lighting that emphasizes the heat sink.

Journée is marketing seven different colors of its LED-based Lotus Luminaires, from golden yellow to Bordeaux red. The fixtures look a bit like knockoffs of Ming the Merciless’s spaceship in the 1930s Flash Gordon serials. While you might find them a bit over the top, they’ve already been installed in the Chicago Center for Green Technology and Universal Studios.

Designed for the commercial market, the Luminaires are a bit pricey: each fixture costs around $400. But prices for LED technology are coming down dramatically. In February, the company will sell its newest generation, the Pentas, that ups the light output more than 60 percent per watt.

And home versions are coming. The company has been approached by Costco to design a track lighting kit. The company’s goal is to use less expensive manufacturing techniques and sell three fixtures and the track for around $200.