Big name customers light up LED market

The Pentagon is set to buy 4,200 recessed lighting units

The US Pentagon and the City of New York have this week confirmed that they are moving to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, boosting the acceptance profile of the energy-saving technology.

The Pentagon said it is buying 4,200 recessed lighting units from LED manufacturer Cree, paying an estimated $1 million, to outfit one-fifth the building. It said that the move will cut its lighting energy use by 22 per cent compared with its old fluorescent lighting fixtures while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 140 tons a year.

Meanwhile, New York City is about to begin a trial that replacies street lights with specially designed LEDs. The city ran a design competition for the street lights and the winning entry, from Office for Visual Interaction, promises less glare, energy savings of up to 30 per cent and maintenance cost savings.

The deals come as a new report from research firm SBI claimed that 100 years after they were first discovered, "light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are poised to revolutionise the lighting industry".

The report predicts that LEDs and organic LEDs (OLEDS) are poised to make a major impact on the $75bn global general illumination market – a fact underlined by the growing interest from high profile business and government customers such as the Pentagon and New York.

"An LED converts 80 per cent of the energy it uses into light, whereas a typical incandescent lamp only converts about 20 per cent of the energy it uses into light – the rest is given off as heat," said report publisher Shelley Carr.

For example, a traffic light comprised of LEDs uses about 92 per cent less energy than one comprised of incandescent bulbs, she said.

The report claims that when these energy savings are extrapolated the net result will be energy savings on a sufficient scale that fewer power plants will be needed to be built in both the developed and developing world.

It also added that the shift towards LEDs will result in less waste being sent to landfills because LEDs last longer than incandescent and fluorescent lighting.