EL tape at LightFair 2007
I’ve often said that the push towards compact flourescent lamps (CFLs) is premature and damaging in the long run. CFLs are bulky, contain mercury, and are at best a stopgap in applications requiring continuous lighting to reduce energy demands. But CFLs are not the future of lighting. Solid-State Lighting (SSL) is.
An SSL light source does not require a special operating environment like a incandescent, flourescent, noble gas, or chemical lamp, so they are much more robust and have a significantly longer operating lifetime than anything based on a glass envelope at high light-output levels. Since an SSL emitter uses a more direct method of energy conversion to light, it is also more efficient.
LEDs in every color
Electroluminescent (EL) and Light-Emitting Diode (LED) technology is decades old, but recent advances have finally enabled the creation of a new lighting industry. Strings, sheets, bars, bulbs, and even transparent surfaces can now emit light on command. You can now buy LEDs with footprints measuring in the square millimeter, or sheets of flat EL illuminator measured by the square meter. Ceelite’s Light Emitting Capacitor (LEC) electroluminescent tech is currently being ussed in applications from illumination to signage.
Such light sources will replace most lamps in most places. (The light bulb didn’t completely replace the candle, either.) Already we are seeing LEDs take the place of light bulbs in traffic signals, and soon they’ll replace street lights as well. This is a good thing, as LEDs also put out light with a broad spectrum in contrast to monochromatic sources like sodium lamps.
There are some other interesting lights in the wings, too. While not quite an SSL source, the Ceravision Continuum™2.4 microwave – powered electrodeless lamp system promises to replace metal-halide lamps in high-intensity applications with a bright, ecological (no mercury) lamp with a projected lifetime of up to 50,000 hours.
This is why it is important to think of this as the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) revolution, not just the LED lighting revolution, as more techs crawl out from garages and labs around the world now that more companies and individuals are researching light generation than ever before.
So my advice is to buy a few CFLs for those long-duration lighting tasks and start looking for the latest generation of SSL lamps now becoming available.
This isn’t just restricted to illumination, either. SSL displays like those using Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) technology are significantly thinner than displays requiring glass-tube backlights. The best LCDs are now being driven with red, green, and blue LEDs and can generate a color gamut 115% or better than the NTSC TV standard.
Our biggest problem is the same as we have with telecom – our infrastructure is so established nobody wants change. However, if we do not jump into this industry with both feet we’ll lose the lead we currently have as the rest of the world leapfrogs us.
18,
BubbaRay, LED light sources are highly directional with up to 40% less backscatter. They would actually improve the nighjt sky as they would significantly reduce stray light.
19,
You wouldn’t use transformers, you’d use much smaller and lighter switching power supplies. SSL will require an entirely new way of thought in lighting design. (Not to mention the advantages of having light as an addressable instant-on/off facility subsystem.)
As far as price goes, you can now get a 100+ lumen LED now for ~$2 in OEM quantities.
#19, Mark, that’s some pretty cool technology, thanks for the link. As long as it’s used for indoor, not outdoor !! And from the article posted earlier, one can get different colors, too.
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=11825
#21, Alix, I agree about the LED lighting, as long as it’s directed and shielded properly. Bummer that it’s not narrow spectrum, but as long as it is not shining into the sky, thus wasting energy and contributing to light pollution, not a giant problem. It’s that wide spectrum unshielded SSL I’m worried about.
One downside to the LED lights, is no dimmer.
My wife loves dimmers.
When I had the in ground cement pool built two years ago, I asked for a special mix for the bull-nose around the pool.
If you mix powdered glass instead of powdered rock, you get a semi-translucent cement that’s just as strong.
Then with a single underground light source (or two) you light up the entire rim of the pool. Or even make the entire pool out of this glass cement.
Well, didn’t happen. The pool maker thought this was so funny, we was still chuckling half an hour later, and the next day . . .
(I still think it would be cool)
23,
In test deployments in places like parking lots and garages people polled said they felt much more secure because they could see colors. In a monochrome light environment something almost has to move before you notice it becuase many of the contrasts we require for visual cues are absent. Streets look healthier when all of the colors of the signage and people and vehicles are color-accurate.
24,
You can get dimmable LED lamps. Here’s one from 2004:
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Oct/1088474.htm
It is only the most recent generations of LEDs that are good enough for incandescent-replacement lamp applications, so I understand if there is a lot of misinformation out there. However, the emitters are now bright enough, efficient enough, and if deployed in volume cheap enough to now move into the mainstream.
#25, Alix, In a nutshell, light pollution is misdirected or misused light… generally resulting from an inappropriate application of exterior lighting products. Light pollution comes in several flavors… each with its own negative effects. These are: sky glow, glare and light tresspass.
Light pollution wastes billions of dollars annually in the United States. 5 to 10 billion depending on whose numbers you want to use.
Agreed that shielded and properly aimed LED lighting would be a large improvement.
http://www.starrynightlights.com/lpIndex.html
Good article Alix.
#17
Looks like this thread will disappear soon, but I’ll try to get some photos tomorrow.
A yaer and a half ago, I ordered a sample of some EL tape light (white) like the one Smartalix is holding in his first pic. I oerdered it after watching it being used in one of this “while you were out” kinda tv show. Not impressed.
Only useful for mood lighting. In fact, here’s used by some movie theatres for stair ledges inside the theatres when lights are out.
#28 use CageMatch, the fun-to-use Dvorak forum
This is more of a general post, but we’ve tested Light Beam’s 5 watt solid state illuminators and it puts out more than 500 lumens, which is quite impressive. It also comes with a dimmer, so it’s easily controllable. We tested it with Lumenytes solid core fiber and we were able to light more than 175 ft. with what appeared to be little to no light loss.
http://www.lightbeaminc.com
My point is, ther are definitely technologies out there coming that can reduce CFL usage, utlize the power of LED’s and help reduce emissions at the same time.
sj
LED lighting products are limited in selection and availability and the cost is so high that they can only be justified for applications where the lighting is on 50 hours/week or more or where service is prohibitively expensive or inconvenient (some products require 100 hours/week usage before they can be economically justified). LED lighting (and other solid state lighting products) will not be practical for general home use until prices drop about 75% from current levels, and it will probably take a 90% drop before they take over the lions share of the lighting market. I would like to replace some of my lighting with LED products now or use LED lighting in any future remodeling, but it just can not be justified and/or the products I want don’t exist yet. I expect to see a better selection at more competitive prices by 2015 to 2020, but probably not sooner than that. I would love to be surprised, but new technologies have always (in my experience) taken much longer to reach the broad retail market than any early predictions. On the other hand, when the technology finally is ready it could take over the lions share of the market in a very short time. Teenagers in 2050 might not see an incandescent bulb without visiting a museum.