The expectations for LED-based solid-state lighting (SSL) are huge. In a keynote address, US Department of Energy (DOE) Lighting Program Manager Jim Brodrick succinctly summarized the opportunity and the challenge. Brodrick said, “The potential for solid state lighting simply put is about $120 billion worth of savings over the next 20 years… We can reduce the energy that is used for lighting by one fourth… This is one of the few technologies that I’ve seen for 20 years at the department that can actually turn the consumption curve down.”
Brodrick also set expectations high, saying, “SSL has the most potential of any light source for high efficacy. The program that I’m managing is going for 250 lm/W…You need to think today that we are about where Thomas Edison was in 1890…You are going to be making history in the next 10 years in the world of lighting.”
The exhibition and attendance clearly indicated a surging market. There were more than 22,000 registered attendees and almost 1600 booths. Most telling was 72 first-time exhibitors and it’s a safe bet that most were LED focused. Moreover LED-related products took three of the four top spots in the LFI Innovation Awards program.
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