Solid State Lighting - Challenges

CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS TO ADOPTION

While solid state lighting has been highly successful in niche applications such as portable electronics and traffic lights, both technological and business model barriers have prevented widespread adoption of solid state lighting to date.

Because light-emitting diodes are point sources of light, special packaging is necessary to ensure even distribution of light across a room. Additionally, warm white light suitable for general purpose lighting has only recently been developed, and some LED lights still have a blue hue.

Solid state lighting is also very expensive - the purchase cost can be many times that of traditional lighting. While an efficacy two to seven times greater than that of incandescents will save enough energy to recoup the investment over time, the first cost is nevertheless a significant hurdle.

Finally, solid state lighting can last 50 to 100 times longer than traditional incandescents. As a result, lighting manufacturers will need to develop new business models to adapt to fewer bulb purchases.

Despite these challenges, however, solid state lighting presents significant opportunities for the trailblazers who choose to adopt it, and the technology is likely to enter mainstream use in the very near future.