GAHZLY

One-hundred-and-thirty years ago, Thomas Edison completed the first successful sustained test of the incandescent light bulb. With some incremental improvements along the way, Edison’s basic technology has lit the world ever since. This is about to change. We are on the cusp of a semiconductor-based lighting revolution that will ultimately replace Edison’s bulbs with a far more energy-efficient lighting solution. Solid state LED lighting will eventually replace almost all of the hundreds of billions of incandescent and fluorescent lights in use around the world today. In fact, as a step along this path, President Obama last June unveiled new, stricter lighting standards that will support the phasing out of incandescent bulbs (which already are banned in parts of Europe). To understand just how revolutionary LED light bulbs are as well as why they are still expensive, it is instructive to look at how they are manufactured and to compare this to the manufacture of incandescent...

LED lighting has been in use in the high-end corporate market for some years now, but recent advances in technology have enabled producers to make more powerful LED light bulbs at lower prices then before. It’s no longer just swanky boutique hotels, designer label stores and exclusive art galleries that light up their spaces with LEDs – many other businesses, and even homeowners, are now also switching to LED bulbs. LED light bulbs are made up of groups of LEDs (light emitting diodes) that are arranged in various configurations. While white LEDs are the most common, they are also available in a multitude of color combinations that produce a wide variety of lighting moods from bright, natural daylight to subdued twilight. Some of the new variants are also dimmable. The latest LED bulbs come in a variety of shapes from globes and spotlights to corncobs and light sabers, many of them offering a stylish, space-age look that can form part of a distinctive décor. As with tradition...