news digest ♦ LEDs also experienced a decrease
LEDInside, a research division of TrendForce, has discovered that during May 2013, the price of LED light bulbs declined globally by 1 percent.
The most obvious price reduction was in Taiwan, but the US also experienced a decrease in the cost of one of these increasingly popular energy-saving lighting solutions. The firm also observed an increase in the sales of LED light bulbs in the UK throughout the month of May.
These two factors combined signal the huge growth that the market is experiencing at the moment, and demonstrate that more and more people are switching to LEDs as their primary lighting solutions. This in turn will reduce the price of LED chips initially.
But due to the long lifetime of LED bulbs as compared to fluorescent bulbs, demand for LED lighting is most likely to drop off in the future,
But then the market for LED backlighting in mobile phones snd notebooks could make up for this.
Many thousands of people across the globe are now switching to LED bulbs rather than use their older incandescent ones. Whenever one of their older bulbs comes to the end of its life span, many are not opting to choose light bulbs that will last for much longer and offer them much better value for money.
Incandescent bulbs usually last for a few years when used on a regular basis, whereas LED bulbs, even when used often, can last for a decade or longer. This means that those investing in them now, while prices are dropping, will not have to do so again for a long time.
Those who are investing in light bulbs now will see great reductions in their energy bills. As well as the dropping prices, the low energy-consumption of the bulbs will help those purchasing now to see low energy bills almost immediately. This is perhaps the greatest appeal of the energy-saving LED light bulbs, and a reason why the prices are dropping so drastically; demand is growing for them as many people try to cut back on their personal budgets and reduce their household bills in a time of economic strife.
As well as the economic reasons for the growth of the LED, the environmental reasons are also a huge factor. Concern is growing among many about emissions, carbon footprints and the effect that so much energy usage is having on the environment, and many are trying to cut down on their own person emissions as well as their bills; this demand has also helped to drive down the costs of the LED.
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net July 2013
The lower costs of the LED are encouraging even more consumers to invest in them, especially whilst prices are so low. The multitude of benefits combined with the falling prices are meaning that more people than ever are choosing to install these energy-saving light bulbs in their homes and businesses.
Plessey lights up Plymouth City Council with GaN-on-Si LEDs
These gallium nitride-on-silicon HB LEDs are being designed into replacement products as well as architectural lighting, street lighting, commercial lighting and medical applications
Plessey is working closely with Plymouth City Council, UK, to help achieve the Council’s ambitious carbon reduction strategy for all their managed buildings and infrastructure.
The firm is replacing the existing fluorescent lighting in Douglass House with solid-state LED luminaires that combine design and lighting excellence with extraordinary energy savings.
Plessey recently launched what it claims is the first commercially available GaN-on-silicon LEDs. Grown on 6 inch silicon substrates, and utilising the firm’s MAGIC technology, they emit up to 350mW.
Cheaper than LEDs grown on sapphire or SiC, Plessey says its GaN-on-silicon LEDs use a much thinner GaN layer at only 2.5μm compared to 6 to 8μm in other GaN- on-silicon technologies. The technology was transferred from Colin Humphrey’s group at Cambridge University.
These HB LEDs are being designed into replacement products as well as architectural lighting, street lighting, commercial lighting and medical applications Plessey’s MAGIC technology delivers industry- standard performance at a dramatically reduced cost of manufacture.
For next generation products, Plessey intends to integrate its MAGIC HBLED products with its EPIC sensor technology to provide smart lighting solutions for even greater energy savings and carbon footprint reductions.
Plessey’s latest solid-state LED lighting solution to be employed in Plymouth, will enable carbon reduction through energy efficiency as well as eliminating replacement costs with fixtures with a 30 year life. The new lighting solutions will create a better working
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