Why should you Invest in Clean Lighting Sector?

Implications: How will the U.S. innovative firms prominently continue the global leadership in LED (Light Emitting Diode) device? How will the green energy incorporate newer lighting technologies? What are the challenges that affect the technological development in the clean lighting industry?

Analysis: In an interview with the CEO and founder of Epistar in Asia, the second largest LED capacity provider, the snapshot for the new lighting technology has pointed a brilliant benefit that LED will bring in the coming years. The broadened adoption of LED backlight used for LCD TV, laptop, car lamp, and outdoor display are commercially emerging applications. When LED is getting brighter and smaller at a fraction of cost, the green technology in the commercial fields should become more desirable. Applications such as street light and complex-building light require high brightness/high lumen, high watts with reduced power consumption so that the efficiency gets higher and the total cost of ownership gets lower in a longer period. There are certainly spacious rooms for technological invention.


Lighting structure design in a smaller size with high lumen has become critical as the epitaxial layers of thin-film deposition need to be dense and sophisticated with selective use of III-V group of metal elements such as Indium, Gallium. Aluminum. The leading LED firms, such as Cree, Nichia, have their patents and advantages in high to super-high brightness LED. However, the output may often vary mainly because the heat generation at an elevated temperature in use. In areas like housing, socket, and reflector, thermal characteristics of materials are critical in selection. Such materials include, but are not limited to, engineered thermal plastics for dimensional stability in a high-temperature environment. Consequently, it has created additional cost to LED device.


In addition, the high-lumen LED faces a challenge in packaging. Epitaxial LED wafer requires dicing, packaging, and testing in semiconductor manufacturing processes. High-lumen LEDs usually generate heat quickly in a small-sized light housing, and thus packaging reliability becomes a common issue, which demands effective thermal solutions for heat dissipation to improve long-run reliability.


Nuventix, a startup based in Texas, is introducing a fanless thermal solution that claims to be quite and efficient to remove common issues in LED lighting. Philips, a leading lighting solution provider, has endorsed Nuventix for a focus. Nevertheless, sizable applications, such as street light and complex-building light demanding high lumen, demand advanced and cost-effective thermal solutions. Various emerging technologies are coming up so that the LED industry can grow faster with such a breakthrough.


Clean technology will then be real green, sufficient and convenient enough for daily use!