Blinded By The Light
- LED Lighting is Coming to Your Home, and Sooner Than You Think
by Lee H. Goldberg
The quick note on the first ac-powered LEDs that Dave Bell slipped into our green-powerZONE's news area last week may be the harbinger of a very exciting new era for solid state lighting. Because they eliminate the cost of a power supply, the direct-ac devices should greatly accelerate the market acceptance of high-brightness LED (HBLED) lamps, ceiling fixtures, and other products that can light your home or office with 75 - 80% less electricity and operate for 50,000 - 100,000 hours.
Seoul Semiconductor's claims to be the first ac-driven LEDs may be a bit exaggerated since I've seen (and reviewed) direct-ac LED Christmas lights, but this is the first time a company has taken aim at the area lighting market. I'm surprised I didn't see much mention of this in the rest of the western press because it has so many technical, environmental, and economic implications. On the other hand, the flurry of coverage in the Korean press indicates that Korea seems to understand that this could be the best thing for their economy since the DRAM.
Because the compact devices can be tailored to emit application-specific spectra, LED-based lighting offers many exciting possibilities for products specifically designed to improve workplace efficiency, mimic sunlight, or create a specific feel in a room. Their compact size will enable them to be embedded within objects and structural elements to enable many new and innovative techniques for lighting the spaces we work, live, and play in. If ac-LEDs really lower the price threshold for solid-state lighting significantly, we could be looking at a potential market that could swell to tens of billions of dollars before the close of the decade.
Equally important, the tremendous energy savings that ac-LEDs offer could go a long way towards reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, and their resulting environmental impact. With roughly 10% of domestic electricity consumption being used for lighting (and more for industrial), mass adoption of these low-watt wonders could help any developed nation go a long way towards meeting the Kyoto climate change treaty requirements. For example, Seoul Semiconductor estimates that adopting ac-LED technology could enable Korea to save up to 60 TWh per year by 2010, the equivalent of seven large power plants. And a recent DOE study indicates that, depending on how quickly the technology is adopted, solid-state lighting should have an equally dramatic effect in the US, saving between 100 and 300 TWh per year by 2025, enough to replace the output of 14 to 40 large power plants.
Although HBLEDs are still a few years away from matching the efficiency of the currently popular compact fluorescent bulbs, they still offer several significant advantages. For one thing they require fewer, less toxic materials to manufacture. Even more important, they don't contain mercury, something that will quickly become a growing problem in our waste stream if CF manufacturers don't develop an aggressive recycling program soon. Consumers will also appreciate the durability that a chip-based lamp offers over a fragile glass bulb or tube, as well as their ability to operate in extremely cold temperatures where fluorescent units simply flicker and sputter.
The attractive consumer and environmental features offered by HBLEDs has made them an extremely promising technology which faces several challenges before it is commercially viable for mainstream applications. The cost savings offered by ac-LEDs should go a long way towards meeting those challenges and bringing solid-state lighting closer towards an everyday reality.
Comments? Questions? "Bright" ideas? Write me at: lgoldberg@green-electronics.com
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