LED light Prices Dropped

Since prices dropped by half, LED lights are selling like hot cakes this year.

The surge in demand for the new generation of light bulbs has quickly emptied store shelves, prompting more manufacturers to jump into the market.

LED lights first appeared about a decade ago, but their poor brightness limited them to emergency use. Recent advances in longevity and brightness, however, have turned their fortunes around completely.

Today’s LED bulbs cost as little as ?4,000 but boast a longevity of 40,000 hours, which is about 40 times the life span of incandescent bulbs. They also consume nearly 90 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs.

Compared with fluorescent light bulbs, LED lamps are six times more durable and use at least 40 percent less energy.

Rising public awareness of environmental issues is also boosting LED sales. Countries embarking on “green” initiatives are letting incandescent bulbs fall by the wayside as they move to save energy.

Under the previous government led by the Liberal Democratic Party, then Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari announced a plan last year to cease production and sales of incandescent bulbs by 2012.

As a result, demand for LED bulbs is outpacing supply.

“We are swamped by orders and just can’t keep pace with demand,” said Takahisa Uzumaki, senior manager at Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp., a unit of Toshiba Corp., which developed LED bulbs in 2007.

Sales of LED lights spiked this summer as prices began to come down. At one large store in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics shopping district, “Sold Out” signs were seen at the LED light section.

“Many customers buy LED bulbs just to try them out,” said a shop clerk.

In June, Sharp Corp. unveiled a plan to sell LED bulbs for about ?4,000, less than half the price of products made by other companies. Then more manufacturers, including Panasonic Corp. and NEC Corp., entered the fray.

Competition is heating up because startups founded only five or six years ago have entered the market, since it doesn’t take large facilities to mass-produce LED bulbs. That’s one of biggest differences of LEDs over incandescent and fluorescent lamps.

As new companies crowd into the LED business, Toshiba Lighting is taking on the challenge by halving its prices. Their bulbs now retail for under ?5,000.

The Toshiba group is fostering the business and betting it will turn into a hot sector.

“We intend to boost annual LED lighting sales to ?350 billion by March 2016 from the current ?20 billion,” said Masashi Muromachi, a senior executive at the parent firm.

Sharp aspires to raise annual sales to ?50 billion in the near future.

With energy conservation a matter of global concern, manufacturers also anticipate brisk demand abroad. Toshiba aims to get overseas sales to account for 30 percent or more of its total LED sales by the year ending in March 2016.

Panasonic is also setting its eyes on foreign markets.

While they are experiencing a sudden burst of popularity, LED bulbs still leave something to be desired technologically. They are more expensive and less bright than their fluorescent counterparts.

The new type of light bulb can become standard in every household only when manufacturers address and overcome these weaknesses.

Jetbeam LED Flashlight

A cool interactive art piece presents tiny creatures aware of human visitors. Everyone has certain things in their day-to-day lives that they cannot do without with some materialistic things having a tendency to become indispensable at times, and most often we do not realize how much we depend on them. In case you are wondering what I am talking about, you should try and make a list of things that you carry along with yourself everyday.

If you are also wondering what has been showcased in these pictures above, take a look at some of the pictures below and you will find out, and I am sure by the time you get to the last picture you would have fallen in love with this product, and would be adding it to your list of things to carry around everyday.

Who would have thought, that a flashlight can be made so appealing, besides being so functional and useful. Jetbeam specializes in manufacturing efficient handheld flashlights and offers us a variety of LED flashlights worldwide. What use would a fancy flashlight be of you? Well, let us not think short-term, but think reliable, green and long-term. LED flashlights have a tendency to be equally bright and do not grow dimmer as the battery is getting used up. The body is usually made of aluminium – to be weighless and not conduct heat, but Jetbeam flashlights it comes with a stainless steel tail to make it stand upright, and they also come with a lock out function. An extremely useful, must have, household or outdoor gadget, you never know when you might need.

So I think if the price tag could be put off on quality lighting instruments, the Jetbeam LED Flashlight would be a very good buy.

LED Wind Turbine Light

Windmills have inspired Mathmos to come up with Wind turbine LED lights, and you can use these lights in your gardens or inside your own room for your personal leisure.

Wind turbines are the best eco-friendly sources of energy and in this day and age we definitely need more alternative, reliable and long lasting sources of energy. These lights function based on the same principle of windmills, and they light up as you blow on them.

So you can now enjoy a relaxed breezy evening and a nice dinner in your garden lit up with these LED lights for only $14.99 at ThinkGeek.com. They are also small enough to be mounted on your bedroom window too, if you fancy that! Some other eco-friendly lights and lamps that you can look at are the Spray Can lighting and Spark green energy lamp.

Sure! It is really cool. What is the application of this LED? I think it will be not widely used in our life but the idea is helpful to our future design.

Energy Saving with LED Fluorescent Lights

There are millions of general service fluorescent tubes in the market place today, until recently these were considered the most energy efficient lighting solution available. The downside to this for of lighting is that each tube contains a small amount of mercury vapour, a toxic heavy metal. This can provide not just a health risk when the tubes are broken, but can also accumulate in landfills before entering the water table or causing further pollution.

Fluorescent lamps use electricity to excite mercury vapour inside the glass tube and always require a ballast to regulate the flow of power through the lamp. A starter is in the circuit to heat the contact ends of the tube that ionizes the mercury vapour creating UV light. The inside of the tube is coated with a phosphor material that glows when exposed to the UV light produced by the mercury inside the fluorescent tube.

Recent developments in SMD (Surface Mount Diode) LED technology have now meant that LED based fluorescent tubes are now a reality. LEDs are a more efficient form of lighting product consisting of small chips of conductive material that release light when a current is applied to them. They contain no filaments and can produce up to 25 times more light per watt than conventional light bulbs.

LEDs require far less energy in their manufacture than fluorescent tubes, and only 3% of the energy they will consume over their life expectancy is consumed in their manufacture, and they are also produced from non toxic materials. The tubes are made from polycarbonate, a material that is more robust and durable than glass, so accidents will not require special cleanup procedures.

While LED technology is more expensive than existing fluorescents at face value, they will last up to 10 times as long, while consuming 65% less energy. In most general purpose lighting applications they additional cost of the LED technology will more than pay for itself within the first 18 months.

The only drawback is the tighter beam angle of the LEDs, while some tubes are manufactured from a polycarbonate light diffusing material, others have a narrow focus which may not be suitable for replacing existing tubes. Many fluorescent fixtures are designed with reflectors that help to distribute the light from the tubes evenly in their intended environment. This is a problem similar to what was faced when compact fluorescents began replacing incandescent light bulbs, this is a problem that will soon be overcome and allow faster adoption of this emerging lighting technology.

Fascinating New Generation OLEDs

With their minuscule energy consumption and 20-year life expectancy, LED light bulbs have grabbed the consumer’s imagination.

But an even newer technology is intriguing the world’s lighting designers: OLEDs, or organic light-emitting diodes, create long-lasting, highly efficient illumination in a wide range of colors, just like their inorganic LED cousins. But unlike LEDs, which provide points of light like standard incandescent bulbs, OLEDs create uniform, diffuse light across ultrathin sheets of material that eventually can even be made to be flexible.

Ingo Maurer, who has designed chandeliers of shattered plates and light bulbs with bird wings, is using 10 OLED panels in a table lamp in the shape of a tree. The first of its kind, it sells for about $10,000.

He is thinking of other uses. “If you make a wall divider with OLED panels, it can be extremely decorative. I would combine it with point light sources,” he said.

Other designers have thought about putting them in ceiling tiles or in Venetian blinds, so that after dusk a room looks as if sunshine is still streaming in.

Today, OLEDs are used in a few cellphones, like the Impression from Samsung, and for small, expensive, ultrathin TVs from Sony and soon from LG. (Sony’s only OLED television, with an 11-inch screen, costs $2,500.) OLED displays produce a high-resolution picture with wider viewing angles than LCD screens.

In 2008, seven million of the one billion cellphones sold worldwide used OLED screens, according to Jennifer Colegrove, a DisplaySearch analyst. She predicts that next year, that number will jump more than sevenfold, to 50 million phones.

But OLED lighting may be the most promising market. Within a year, manufacturers expect to sell the first OLED sheets that one day will illuminate large residential and commercial spaces. Eventually they will be as energy efficient and long-lasting as LED bulbs, they say.

Because of the diffuse, even light that OLEDs emit, they will supplement, rather than replace, other energy-efficient technologies, like LED, compact fluorescent and advanced incandescent bulbs that create light from a single small point.

Its use may be limited at first, designers say, and not just because of its high price. “OLED lighting is even and monotonous,” said Mr. Maurer, a lighting designer with studios in Munich and New York. “It has no drama; it misses the spiritual side.”

“OLED lighting is almost unreal,” said Hannes Koch, a founder of rAndom International in London, a product design firm. “It will change the quality of light in public and private spaces.”

Mr. Koch’s firm was recently commissioned by Philips to create a prototype wall of OLED light, whose sections light up in response to movement.

Because OLED panels could be flexible, lighting companies are imagining sheets of lighting material wrapped around columns. (General Electric created an OLED-wrapped Christmas tree as an experiment.) OLED can also be incorporated into glass windows; nearly transparent when the light is off, the glass would become opaque when illuminated.

Because OLED panels are just 0.07 of an inch thick and give off virtually no heat when lighted, one day architects will no longer need to leave space in ceilings for deep lighting fixtures, just as homeowners do not need a deep armoire for their television now that flat-panel TVs are common.

The new technology is being developed by major lighting companies like G.E., Konica Minolta, Osram Sylvania, Philips and Universal Display.

“We’re putting significant financial resources into OLED development,” said Dieter Bertram, general manager for Philips’s OLED lighting group. Philips recently stepped up its investment in this area with the world’s first production line for OLED lighting, in Aachen, Germany.

Universal Display, a company started 15 years ago that develops and licenses OLED technologies, has received about $10 million in government grants over the last five years for OLED development, said Joel Chaddock, a technical project manager for solid state lighting in the Energy Department.

Armstrong World Industries and the Energy Department collaborated with Universal Display to develop thin ceiling tiles that are cool to the touch while producing pleasing white light that can be dimmed like standard incandescent bulbs. With a recently awarded $1.65 million government contract, Universal is now creating sheetlike undercabinet lights.

“The government’s role is to keep the focus on energy efficiency,” Mr. Chaddock said. “Without government input, people would settle for the neater aspects of the technology.”

G.E. is developing a roll-to-roll manufacturing process, similar to the way photo film and food packaging are created; it expects to offer OLED lighting sheets as early as the end of next year.

“We think that a flexible product is the way to go,” said Anil Duggal, head of G.E.’s 30-person OLED development team. OLED is one of G.E.’s top research priorities; the company is spending more than half its research and development budget for lighting on OLED.

Exploiting the flexible nature of OLED technology, Universal Display has developed prototype displays for the United States military, including a pen with a built-in screen that can roll in and out of the barrel.

The company has also supplied the Air Force with a flexible, wearable tablet that includes GPS technology and video conferencing capabilities.

As production increases and the price inevitably drops, OLED will eventually find wider use, its proponents believe, in cars, homes and businesses.

“I want to get the price down to $6 for an OLED device that gives off the same amount of light as a standard 60-watt bulb,” said Mr. Duggal of G.E. “Then, we’ll be competitive.”

LED Lights Show Great Promise

As we all know that LED technology shows great promise in lighting the way for Tech to a more economic and environmentally-friendly direction.

Facilities faculty has completed several lighting renovations already on campus, including converting all the lighting in the Tennenbaum Auditorium to LED lamps. This project alone reduced electricity consumption by 39.2%, and light per square foot more than doubled. They also installed LED can lights on the second floor of the Price Gilbert Library.

“We are currently working on several projects in the IBB building to convert high ceiling fixtures to LED and will eventually expand this to other buildings. The architecture building is next on the list,” said Sanford Fong, Facilities department Electrical Engineer I.

Heat, output and energy usage are the greatest factors in LEDs’ benefits. Since the lights do not rely on a filament, they don’t burn out as quickly and less of the energy emitted is heat (very beneficial for stage work, which is often under extremely hot rows of lights). Since less energy is emitted as heat, it does not require as much energy to produce the light, saving money.

Thanks to a recent cost drop in semiconductor material, they are now a viable option for widespread use. This has opened a window for mass-emplacement of LEDs, like in department stores.

Walmart is pursuing improvements to energy and cost savings by installing LED lighting in their refrigerated cases. The new fixtures and dimming capabilities could net 66% in energy savings. If 500 Wal-mart stores were to use these, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 35 million pounds and save the company $2.6 million per year. The lights could add over three years to the refrigerated cases’ lighting lifetime.

LED lighting can also be applied to large parking lot lights, medium hallway and stairwell lights and small classroom lights. They can last over 50,000 hours (over five years) and the lower power consumption with equal or greater luminosity than conventional lighting could save big money for Tech.

“LEDs save a great deal over incandescent lamps. For example, the can light we are installing in the Petit building is a 12-Watt fixture comparable to an 80-Watt incandescent in lighting output,” Fong said. Such a fixture could save 85% in energy.

Facilities will soon procure a street light test unit to evaluate more demanding applications on campus like streetlights, emergency lights and shop lights. Thanks to the higher power output and longevity, any light fixture that is on a great deal of time or is too hard to reach is a good candidate for an LED application.

Indoor lighting sees a change for the better as well. The pervasive use of fluorescent lighting in classrooms has garnered criticism for eye strain and headaches from the (though too fast to notice) lights’ high-frequency flickering; however, LED lighting is flicker-free. Fluorescent lamps are also less efficient, less longevous, and less environmentally friendly (they contain mercury). In this sense, changing the lights may actually directly improve student and faculty health and performance.

Tech has been a leading institution in LED technology. In 2002, ECE professor Russell Dupuis earned the highest national honor in science, the National Medal of Technology, for his work in developing and commercializing LEDs in applications like traffic lights and automotive lighting.

Novel LED Key Light

Do you have the trouble that always finding keys at home? The LED Key Light from Lexon stands out among a host of other keychain LED lights that resemble pigs, chickens, laser pointers and whatnot by looking like… a key.

Available in green, red or purple, the LED light is powered by a pair of CR1220 button batteries and the case can be easily opened without using tools for quick battery changes on the go.

The outer case is made from soft rubber – just squeeze once and the mini LED in the key’s nose end comes on; squeeze again and it turns off. The key light comes with a ring-type clip which allows for the addition of actual keys, or facilitates attachment to purses, rucksacks, belt loops and so on.

Using the LED Key Light, you will never find your keys everywhere.

Long-life Panasonic’s LED Lightbulb

How often do you change lightbulbs? Every few months, maybe? It is found that the early generation led light bulbs are pretty weak. Well, when Panasonic’s new LED bulbs hit shelves, change that time frame from months to decades.

Yes, these insanely efficient bulbs keep shining and shining, providing the brightness of a traditional 60-watt bulb. Of course, they won’t be cheap, with pricing set at about $40 a bulb in Japan when they hit stores in October. But seeing as they cost a mere $2 to run per year in energy costs and last 19 years, that seems like a good deal in the long run.

LED Backlighting

It is said that energy-saving flat-panel television sets are about to become common in shops, spawning a whole new range of technical words to understand in Berlin.

Most manufacturers believe the best way to reduce TV power consumption is to change the type of lamp at the back of the flat panel, as well as to devise clever ways to reduce wasted light output.

The newest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) television sets are to feature LED backlights instead of the cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) which have done the job in the past. LED stands for light- emitting diode.

That is where the confusion starts, because at the same time, the electronics industry has been trying, without much success, to develop TV-sized displays where the image itself is formed by a matrix of LEDs.

LED backlighting has got nothing to do with that technology: all it changes is the light source that shines through the LCD screen.

Word has been spreading for a decade that LED light bulbs are more efficient than fluorescent lamps, so it is no surprise that TV manufacturers are also turning to this new light source.

Philips, for example, claims an energy saving of 40 per cent on its televisions.

The different ways of configuring this new type of backlight are sure to set off more confusion.

The simplest way to deploy the LEDs is around the four edges of the screen and let the light diffuse across the back of the screen. This is cheaper, and salespeople will make a point of explaining that these ‘edge-lit’ displays are even thinner than their predecessors.

‘For the bigger screens, this requires about 500 LEDs,’ explains Peter Koch of LG Germany.

More expensive are the so-called direct LED backlights. Instead of being placed around the edges, these LED lamps are arrayed right across the back of the screen. Direct-LED backlighting is a smart idea because the intensity of the light can be dimmed behind dark parts of the image. This ‘local dimming’ creates deeper, more natural blacks.

‘If the image is of people under a night sky,’ all the LEDs behind the sky will be turned off so that it really seems dark,’ explains Sascha Lange of Toshiba Germany.

This matters, because LCD televisions are often thought to be a degree inferior when compared to plasma flat-panel televisions. The black on existing LCD screens is generally a dark grey, and colours generally seem washed out when viewed off-centre.

Over time, local dimming also helps to save electricity and keep the TV set cooler.

The new backlights generally use LEDs that give off white light, but there is a third variant, the so-called RGB backlight system, which uses a mixture of red green and blue LEDs.

This will only be offered in the most expensive sets, aimed at buyers who want the very best. In fact, television broadcasts do not demand such a subtle graduation of colours, but the difference will be visible while watching the highest-quality high-definition films from Blu-ray discs.

Energy Saving Star – LED Lighting

In your home, lighting may be 10 percent of your bill. But in an office building it’s probably 40 percent, and so if you reduce your lighting energy consumption by a large fraction, the savings will be huge,” said James Brodrick, who leads the DOE’s solid-state lighting program.

A fact sheet from Brodrick’s office says this about LEDs: “In the coming decade, they will become a key to affordable net-zero energy buildings, buildings that produce at least as much energy annually as they use from the grid.”

The technology is advancing quickly, and costs will continue to drop, Brodrick said. The DOE tests LEDs and sets performance and efficiency guidelines under its Energy Star program.

LEDs are directional lights, used in recessed lighting and under-counter lights, for example. They’re not yet available as bulbs that cast light all around and fit in ordinary sockets.

“There’s an enormous and exciting potential, but we have a long way to go before we see anything besides directional lighting,” said Jeffrey P. Harris, the vice president for programs at the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group that promotes energy efficiency.

Even so, LEDs already are used to light offices, hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

The DOE predicts that LEDs will have better performance capability than fluorescent lighting in the next few years, and that they’ll continue to improve after that. They’re now comparable with fluorescent fixtures in efficiency, and the DOE says its Energy Star LEDs last two to five times longer.

Cost is the biggest reason that LEDs aren’t used more widely, Brodrick said.

LEDs have other advantages: They can be dimmed, don’t emit heat, don’t contain mercury – unlike compact fluorescents – and can produce warm-toned light.

Home Depot, the world’s biggest retailer of light bulbs, is starting to stock LED bulbs this summer and plans to have 10 kinds by September, said Jorge Fernandez, who’s in charge of light bulb purchases for the company.

Philips is working on many kinds of LEDs, including one to replace a 40-watt incandescent bulb that’s scheduled to be available next year, she said.

Derrick Hall of RE/Construct Inc. in Asheville, N.C., said that residential customers weren’t asking for LEDs because of the high upfront cost. Still, he’s hearing of some nonresidential customers who are looking into LEDs for the energy savings.

LEDs are much better than other lighting options, Hall said. The quality of the light is “far superior,” they offer big energy savings and there’s no cost to society for dealing with mercury, he said. Mercury, a neurotoxin, is found in small amounts in compact fluorescent bulbs.