Light-emitting diodes are more energy efficient than the incandescent bulbs still widely sold around the world – and more expensive.
The price of an LED lighting chip will fall to $1 by 2012, says Mark McClear of Cree.
This higher price could evaporate within two years, sparking a huge market for the electricity saving bulbs and light fixtures.
LEDs use as little as one-fifth the energy of incandescent bulbs and 12 percent less than compact fluorescents. (They also have none of the mercury found in compact fluorescents.)
But the costs of solid-state lighting come to $40 or so a bulb, and fixtures are much more. This is down from $80 or more a bulb just a year ago. By 2012 the price of an LED chip appropriate for lighting could fall to $1 from about $3 today, closing the gap, says Mark McClear, director of business development at Cree. Fixtures equivalent in intensity to incandescent products on the market today will need 100 chips to generate the same amount of light. Their price will be about the same.
The price of LED chips has fallen as brightness increased, McClear said at the Strategic Materials Conference in Half Moon Bay, CA.
Not long ago, 400 chips were needed, at $4 a piece, with the cost of the resulting fixture too high to be competitive. Improvements in light intensity have made that 200 today at $2 a piece.
With technology continuing to improve, the lighting market is on the cusp of a dramatic transformation with energy efficiency the force behind new business and consumer purchases.
The title is misleading. An incandescent lamps costs less than a dollar. if an LED chip costs $1 and you need 12-15 of them to make a lamp then the costs of each lamp is NOT yet comprable.
Thanks for the comment. Cree sees both fixtures costing about $100. In other words, the company believes parity is coming. However, the one thing missing from the analysis is a price reduction on the incandescent side. Fair criticism there.
Good article. As an architect I would really like to see the price of LEDs drop.
With the development of high efficiency and high power LEDs it has become possible to incorporate LEDs in lighting and illumination. Replacement light bulbs have been made as well as dedicated fixtures and LED lamps. LEDs are used as street lights and in other architectural lighting where color changing is used. The mechanical robustness and long lifetime is used in automotive lighting on cars, motorcycles and on bicycle lights.
I also would like to see the price of LEDs drop. I wonder if that will also impact the price of LED tvs??