Tighter collaboration is essential for driving the high-brightness LED industry roadmap (MAGAZINE)

The high-brightness LED (HB-LED) market is continuing to grow at a rapid pace thanks to the rising number of applications that can take advantage of the low energy consumption and other benefits of LED devices. Although applications such as backlighting in computer displays and televisions, as well as automotive lighting (headlamps and interior lighting), are already seeing adoption of HB-LEDs, the general lighting market represents one of the greatest—and as of yet mostly untapped— opportunities for HB-LEDs.

Today, approximately 20 percent of the electricity produced worldwide is used for general lighting—equal to the amount produced from all of the world’s nuclear power plants. Traditional (incandescent) lighting technology can now achieve single-digit or low-double-digit energy efficiency, with most of the remaining energy going to waste as heat. Replacing all incandescent lighting with LED systems at current levels of efficiency could reduce total energy consumption for general lighting to about 2 percent—nearly a 10-fold reduction. The key to driving adoption of HB-LEDs is two-fold—reducing costs and increasing light efficiency or light extraction.

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This article was published in the July/August 2010 issue of LEDs Magazine. To read the full version of this article, please visit our magazine page, where you can download FREE electronic PDF versions of all issues of LEDs Magazine. You can also request a print copy of LEDs Magazine (available by paid subscription) and sign up for our free weekly email newsletter.