DoE Announces 'L Prize' For Solid-State Lighting

erikaaboe notes that the US Department of Energy has announced a competition to develop efficient solid-state lighting technology. The "L Prize" program will allocate as much as $20 million in cash prizes for innovations to replace the common light bulb. Further details are available at the L Prize website. From the press release: "Lighting products meeting the competition requirements would consume just 17% of the energy used by most incandescent lamps in use today. The plan also includes a rigorous evaluation process, including testing of proposed products by independent laboratories (conducted through DOE's CALiPER test program), as well as field evaluations by DOE and utility partners to assess products in real world conditions. Four major California utilities ... have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DOE, agreeing to work cooperatively to promote high-efficiency solid-state lighting technologies."

Comments

Re:Solid-state?

[MichaelSmith]

LEDs are solid-state, but are presently very expensive as lightbulbs. In outlay, yes. But they are unlikely ever to need to be replaced. I could imagine light fittings being sold with hard wired LEDs, and lasting decades.

Why not fluorescents?

[DFJA]

I don't understand this - fluorescents easily beat all *mass produced* white LEDs with good colour rendering in efficiency, and as long as you don't believe the manufacturers' 'incandescent equivant ratings', are a perfect replacement for incandescents. I know there are laboratory LEDs which have higher efficiency, but these are a long way off being mass produced at reasonable prices. I'm all in favour of pushing technology, but prescribing that it must be 'solid state' is completely wrong.

It reminds me of the old UK cycle-lighting regulations, which basically stated you had to have a light bulb conforming to one of about 3 standards, all incandescent. Once efficient red LEDs came along, it was ages before the regulations changed to make them technically legal - long after everyone in their right mind stopped using the legal versions.

Re:Why not fluorescents?

[DFJA]

The interesting thing here is that when people see a flashing red light, they tend to think 'slow moving vehicle' rather than cyclist. This is a double-edged sword - on the one hand, it makes (most) people go more slowly and cautiously, which is good whether you are a cyclist, pedestrian or horse rider (yes, I've come across one at night!). On the other hand, it makes people think 'slow moving vehicle', which many cyclists are definitely not. The number of times I see stupid motor vehicle drivers overtake me dangerously because they have assumed I am going slowly without actually observing that I'm not is astounding. There are many reasons cyclists could be going very fast - good bike, fit cyclist, downhill, tailwind etc. or a combination of these.

Re:Sooo.....

[Vectronic]

And that is probably a good thing.

If FermiLab (or a single organization/company) was designated as "you do this, no one else" then you would end up with basically a monopoly, FermiLab (or whatever) sells/gives the patents, etc to a few major or maybe only one major company (GE or whatever) done deal.

The "L Prize" means that quite a few companies are aiming for that star, one will get the prize, thus funding, and other benifits, but, the second third and probably even further down on the list get recognition they may not have gotten otherwise, which could potentially create alternatives, if not in America, then in another country.

Granted, this could (is) all happen(ing) without the DoE, but its mainly about getting people to pay attention than it is trying to figure out a problem that doesnt really exists (Solid-State lighting is already fairly common, at least in Canada)

Re:Significantly bright LEDs are very expensive

[brunes69]

There is 60 times more mercury in the battery in the watch on your wrist than there is in 1 CFL.

How many people do you think send their watch batteries to the toxic waste disposal centre?

The hazards of mercury in CFLs is vastly overblown by the media looking for a story.

Re:Sooo.....

[kmarshallbanana]

In all seriousness I would say this is a much better way to spend that money. A solid state light with low energy consumption would have immense impacts for todays hot topic of global warming, not to mention that if it doesn't work then it won't cost them a thing, they will only pay if its successful. Also, given the LHC it makes sense to reduce spending on Fermilab slightly nowadays.

Lasers

[Kythe]

Right now, diode lasers are among the most efficient (if not the most efficient) light emitters available. I'm guessing the winner, if there is one, will involve a laser or three plus diffusers/despeckling to get general lighting.

Of course, getting cost down is another thing entirely.

Re:Sooo.....

[Vectronic]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:E27_with_38_LCD.JPG

I know what they are, and by "fairly common" I didnt mean in half the house-holds, BMW's are fairly common too.

You can also buy them in pretty much any lighting department of a decent size.

But then again, im on the opposite side of the country.

Re:Significantly bright LEDs are very expensive

[hack slash]

LED lighting on bikes when done right is very good, recently I did my own LED bike lighting setup which is built-into the reflectors, on the back are a couple of oblong red reflectors with 8 red LEDs mounted behind the clear plastic (works suprisingly well as the light is spread out though around 180 degrees), but the front light is something special as I drilled 60 3mm holes in a standard CatEye white reflector and embedded 60 bright 3mm LEDs into it.
The 60 LEDs are split into two (wiring wise), 18 in the middle and the other 42 around them, the end result is that with a switch on the handlebars I can flick between low/off/high with an extra momentary button for hi-beaming cars/people. Cycling along unlit roads/cycle paths is amazing, you can see *everything* when all 60 front LEDs are on, what helps is that the 3mm LEDs produce a very nice beam spread - the brightness gradient from the center outwards is very smooth, far better than most 5mm LEDs.