Cambridge reduces manufacture costs for LEDs
The Metro reports that LED light bulbs could sell at £2/ea. within 2-5 years.
Professors at Cambridge University have discovered a way of producing Gallium Nitride - an important part of LED manufacture - on Silicon rather than the traditional, costly Sapphire.
By reducing the cost of manufacture, developers of the technology hope that within 2-5 years LED light bulbs could cost as little as £2. This corresponds in timescale with the phasing out of domestic & commercial incandescent sources as well as the current subsidies of Compact Fluorescent lighting.
To read the full article see Metro.
*** Update ***
Inspite of the wild claims above to LED bulbs under £2, there is concern in the industry that our professor at Cambridge did not think through the whole cost of production of LED based lighting.
The biggest cost at present of producing LED light fixtures is not the LED, but the measures to prevent the LEDs from overheating.
Myth - LEDs are cold running
It is comonly believed that LEDs are a safer form of lighting because they do not produce as much heat as conventional light sources.
Truth - LEDs produce heat, but need to be kept cool
LEDs produce a similar amount of heat to a similarly powered incondescant light source. A 20w cluster of LEDs will produce just as much heat as a 20w halogen light.
The difference is twofold:
1. For every watt of power LEDs produce much more light, this means that for the same light output, you need a lower wattage, producing less heat.
2. Because of the Nature of LEDs, the hotter they become, the faster they deteriorate. This means that significant research must go into the production of LED products to find ways to remove as much of the heat produced as possible. To keep the LEDs under ideally 80C, means the outside of the light fitting will be significantly cooler and so safe to touch.