LED Lamps, Their Future is Really Bright! (2)

The biggest knock against LEDs is probably the cost. Right now, the upfront cost of LEDs in general illumination is admittedly significant but, according to DallePezze, can be acceptable, depending on the building’s or consumer’s current energy costs and usage.

“In the near-term, a LED lamp that is equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent in terms of output is going to be more expensive. But price is already less of a consideration in those applications, with higher energy costs and always-on considerations, and it will be dropping consistently and significantly over the next three years,” he said. 

Hamburger agreed that pricing is already becoming less of a consideration because LED fixtures such as led spotlight provide quality and performance that is as good or better as traditional lighting. 

“Businesses and consumers are at the point where they are looking beyond just price as the ultimate decision-driver and are seriously considering LED technology for its sustainability aspects as well as for the incentives and rebates that are helping to accelerate acceptance,” he said. 

In the professional channel, Briggs said, life cycle and payback are more of a consideration than price. 

“When payback reaches less than two years, the product in question gains mainstream acceptance,” he said. 

To address issues of cost, the Department of Energy recently issued 17 solid-state lighting grants. The agency will put $10.3 million into product development to refine them to be more functional, market-friendly and commercially viable. And for the first time, the DOE’s solid-state lighting grants will include $23.5 million to invest in a manufacturing category. Collectively, these grants seek to drive down costs while improving quality and developing new product-making techniques. The chosen companies will also chip in large sums of cash on their projects, bringing the whole solid-state research program to more than $66 million.

Problems revolving around the color of the light generated by LED fixtures seem to be mostly resolved. Hamburger pointed out that LED tube or LED bulbs already achieve as good or better a color point from product to product as other modern lighting technologies. In the future, he believes manufacturers will develop even more color point and color rendering index (CRI) combinations that provide further options for the consumer.

“For example, workers could use LED fixtures to design personal lighting schemes in their office spaces,” he said.

LEDs are already achieving a level of 90 on the CRI, and Briggs expects products that reach 95 CRI to hit the market by 2012.

“Even today, custom binning or special recipes will achieve 95 on the CRI scale, which is better than both linear fluorescents and CFLs. Only halogen, at 100, outperforms LEDs in this area,” he said.

In the realm of controls, bilevel occupancy and motion sensors for LED fixtures are being developed, and in some places, such as California, it is already legislated that certain outdoor fixtures include the technology. For indoor applications, Hamburger said, pilot studies are being performed on ambient lighting controls for LEDs that will enable sensors to optimize the use of natural light and control fixtures’ outputs according to those levels. 

“It typically takes one to two years to get from pilot program to market,” he said.