Solid State Lighting - Overview

Solid state lighting currently has two to four times greater efficacy than incandescent bulbs, and by 2011 efficacy is expected to be five to seven times greater than that of incandescents. Since lighting accounts for 22% of residential electricity consumption and 35% of commercial electricity consumption in California, switching to solid state lighting could eliminate 11-19% of California's residential electricity consumption and 17-30% of the state's commercial electricity consumption. That's enough electricity to power between 3.4 and 5.8 million homes every year.

Solid state lighting comes in several forms: light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs). All produce light by running a small electrical current through a semiconductor that naturally gives off light when exposed to a current.

Traditional incandescent lighting, in contrast, works by heating a tungsten filament until it glows. This process is not very efficient - only 10% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is converted to visible light.

Solid state lighting is proven and familiar in many applications such as electronics, flashlights, and traffic lights. However, the technology has only recently begun to replace incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs in more mainstream lighting applications.