No more one size fits all.
LED lighting is bound to be a big market. But price needs to fall as lighting quality rises. And LED arrays need to come in a variety of shapes and sizes to satisfy the myriad needs of the lighting market.
Bridgelux broadens its line of LED arrays for lighting. No more one size fits all.
Some of these conditions will take a couple of years. One is being satisfied today.
Bridgelux is rolling out a second generation of LED arrays Wednesday that for the first time addresses the one-size-fits-all problem. They also make additional steps forward in price and efficiency.
LED lighting is a market waiting to happen. When $10 bulbs hit the market (Bridgelux President Mark Swoboda expects that to happen by the end of 2012) sales will take off. LEDs use one-fifth the power of incandescent bulbs and 12 percent less than compact fluorescents, with none of the mercury. At $10 they paybacks are obvious.
Today, bulbs costing $40 or so are finding early adopters among businesses that save on energy bills and labor costs. Because the bulbs last many years longer than incandescents, workers don’t need to be sent out with replacements as frequently.
Silicon Valley start-up Bridgelux says its new products give it a broader family of arrays than its rivals. The new items vary from 240 lumens in intensity to 4,500 (the 4,500 being appropriate for high intensity retail spot lighting, street and commercial applications).
The mainstream ES Arrays will be able to serve as replacements for 100-watt bulbs.
Prices for the new products will be 30 to 60 percent less than present Bridgelux arrays and efficiency will climb by 30 to 60 percent, Swodoba says.
