EETimes.com – Nichia develops high-efficiency white LED — This is the end of lighting as we know it.
Nichia Corp. said Thursday (Dec. 21) it has developed a white LED delivering 150 lumens/W efficiency.
The prototype is packaged in the same lamp-type package used for Nichia’s high-flux lamp type LED. The reported efficiency is about 11.5 times higher than conventional incandescent lamps that deliver 13 lumens/W and 1.7 times higher than widely used fluorescent lamps, Nichia said.
Even compared to high pressure sodium lamps, considered the most efficient light source, the prototype has better performance, Nichia claimed.
Now if the chinese factories will ramp us to give us these at a reasonable cost. Right now the main barrier to LED adoption is price. Most of the color (blue?) issues have been ironed out.
check out http://www.permlight.com and their recessed can lights. Really nice fixtures, these actually look much beter than the recessed can trims they replace, and tthe light is a nice warm light. I have seen these in person and the only reason they are not throughout my house is price. Get the price down to 40 bucks or so, and I am there.
Between these new LEDs and standard compact fluorescents, I can see why anyone would still use old fashion, heat producing, energy wasting incandescent bulbs for most applications. The only place I still use incandescent lights is the bathroom.
Can’t wait for these things. LEDs are so much more efficient you shouldn’t have to ever turn your lights off.
I recently bought holiday lights for my wreath at home. The LEDs use 1 watt per string and last 20,000 hrs, on the other hand, the little, teeny, incandescent bulbs use 12 Watts per string, and last, about 100 hours. It’s a no brainer to me, even at twice the price. LEDs also run cooler, which is an issue with fresh, or not so fresh vegetation.
Agreed with all of this…
Get the prices down and I will SWAMP thiese folks.
#3 – why do you use normal lights in the bathroom?
I can tell you why *I* don’t use more CF lights — color temp. They are cool, they last a long time and they are energy efficient. I just can’t stand the color cast they have. I have yet to see one that has the warmth of a regular light or the cool daylight color of something like a “Reveal” brand light.
If I could find something like that, I would be all over it.
Mike T
Mke T, I have some you can try.
And #3… look at your local big-box hardware store, if you have one. I have some CFL in my bathroom that cast a reveal-type light… maybe just a little “bluer” … they start a little slow, tho.
The 8-bulb blister pack of 13w CFLs from Sam’s Club is the best deal going out there. 12 bux for 8 lamps. The color is different than incandescent, but not noticably so. I am currently running them next to some incandescent in my living room and in my store. The difference is very, very subtle. They flicker once when they come on, and take about 20secs to reach full brightness.
I have lots of CFs in the house, but:
do any CFs work with rheostats?
the typical size of a CF often prevents a lamp shade from being fitted properly.
Nichia (the developer) means:
chess draw (in Russian);
medieval knights riding on ridged ceramic animals (in Holy Grail English).
A few of these, a couple of arco modules, maybe a small condenser farm and, of course, a small data center… I’m moving to the desert.
#10 Sure you could do that, but watch out for those pesky Tuskins. oh, and beware of stolen droids.
#8
I got CFLs throughout our house. It sure is slightly colder light, but nothing compare to the coldness of the LED lamps that some of my neighbors are using in their porch lights. Those lamps takes a lot of getting used to…
I’ve tried several of the flourescent “twist” bulb (like GE’s MISEENGARD’s) all over the house, but they don’t hold up in damp areas like the bathroom or outdoor fixtures where temp variations are broad. When I get around to remodeling the bathrooms I will be looking for these LED’s even if the price is high. Can’t wait!
#4 – Too much time on the internet, not enough time with the ladies. Priorities, man… priorities.
The CF are killed by heat. If the fixture is closed in or upside down, they cook themselves and don’t last as long as incandescents.
For a little extra you can get CF that work on a dimmer.
Warm CF bulbs are only as far away as the nearest box store.
#14 – What?
I just don’t like it when my wife tells me I left a light on. If I know I’m going back into a room within a day or two, why waste time turning the light off then back on again? 😉
#14 – What?
I just don’t like it when I’m told I left a light on. If I know I’m going back into a room within a day or two, why waste time turning the light off then back on again? 😉
Solid-state lighting as an industry is finally becoming a reality, as high-output LEDs challenge incandescents and CFLs in brightness. This development by Nichia is representative of the battle going on by the LED manufacturers to be the primary supplier for these devices.
The biggest issue isn’t max efficiency, though, it’s max brighteness. For example, Seoul Semiconductor recently released an LED with a peak output of 240 lm with a drive current of 1 A., and Cree released one earlier this years that can deliver 160 lumens at 700 mA. These Nichia LEDs may have high efficiency, but don’t have these single-emitter output levels. I don’t mean to beat on Nichia, they make great stuff, but I wanted to put this into some perspective.
Even though the LEDs are very efficient, since they are not suspended filaments their waste heat goes directly into the substrate they are attached to, making how an LED is bonded into its enclosure as important a factor in its brightness as its peak output. At the brightness levels of the other devices, those Nichia LEDs would burn out relatively quickly without proper thermal management.
The color temperature of phosphor-based white LEDs is better than CFLs, and approaching that of incandescents. Best in this area are red/green/blue arrays that allow color mixing to achieve not only a better white, but also allows on-the-fly color adjustment to deliver other colors when needed. (Like exterior floodlights that can become christmas lights at the flick of a switch.)
The real question is how fast the market penetration will occur. I predict that SSL will become at least 30% of the consumer lighting market in the next 10 years (conservatively).