I've posted on previous development in this area. I also hold stock in CREE.
DURHAM, N.C., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE - News), a leader in..., today announced breakthrough performance results achieved in development of Cree Lighting's standard white XLamp(TM) 7090 Power LED. XLamp 7090 LEDs in development have demonstrated maximum luminous flux of 86 lumens and 70 lumens per watt at 350 mA [for comparison sake, ordinary incandescent bulbs give about 8-15 lumens per watt, e.g. an 75 watt Phillips gets about 1200 lumens; high pressure sodium vapor lamps get up to about 80 lumens per watt].
This represents a 43 percent increase in brightness compared with the maximum luminous flux of white XLamp 7090 power LEDs currently in production. "These performance results... closer to achieving the holy grail of 150 lumens per watt," ...
[because this is close to the theoretical maximum efficiency]
... notes Steve Johnson, head of the Lighting Research Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory....
[since LEDs can be made modularly and potentially cheaply, if we get to the 150 lumen/watt stage, it would save enormous quantities of energy and much safer (because of the low current). LEDs currently provide most of the lighting for PDAs, cell phones, etc.] |