New LED lightbulbs have been unveiled that could last for 20 or 23 years.

The new energy-saving bulbs went on show at the Light Fair International, in Las Vegas.

The money-saving 10-watt bulb has been released into the US market, where it will be priced at US $22 by the end of the year.

Nick Holonyak, inventor of the LED told the Economist conference in London last year that the LED could soon be everywhere.

He told The Huffington Post at the Economist awards dinner that his low-emission invention will very soon make its way into all forms of lighting, including the rear lights of cars.

When it is released here in the UK, the bright and beneficial bulb will go head to head with the compact-fluorescent bulbs sold here. These might not last 20 years, but they cost much less at around £5.

In the US, incandescent bulbs are still on sale, so the new LED bulb presents a particularly good carbon-saving opportunity there.

The LED bulb on show at LFI won the L Prize from the US department of energy.

A Philips press release sent earlier this year said: "If every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the U.S. was replaced with the 10-watt L Prize winner, the nation would save about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity or $3.9 billion in one year and avoid 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions."

An LED lighting field trial conducted by The Energy Savings Trust here in the UK concluded that Lit Up is the LED lighting has a strong future in communal areas of social housing, such as stairwells and corridors. The results showed that there is "considerable potential for energy savings in these areas, particularly as the lighting is typically on for 24 hours a day".

While the bulbs may save money and energy, they generate a great deal of heat.

Jake Dyson, industrial designer and sone of James, has created an LED lighting system that draws heat away from the lights.

The "thermal management heat pipe" cools the LEDs which Dyson says will light up a room for over 37 years.