Guiding Market Introduction of Quality Solid-State Lighting

On March 11, 2009, Dr. Jim Brodrick, Manager of the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Portfolio at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), led a brown bag discussion on “Guiding Market Introduction of Quality Solid-State Lighting” at Alliance headquarters in Washington, DC. Brodrick spoke of the pivotal role that unbiased, trusted information and public-private partnership will have in promoting a stronger SSL presence in the lighting market.

According to Brodrick’s presentation, the mission of the SSL Portfolio is to “create a new, U.S.-led market for high-efficiency, general illumination products through the advancement of semiconductor technologies – to save energy, reduce costs, and enhance the quality of the lighted environment.”

“The mission – that’s the easy part,“ Brodrick explained. “Our goal is the difficult part.” The program intends to replace current conventional lighting technologies with more energy-efficient, longer lasting and cost competitive systems. Specifically, by 2025 the program aims to have developed lighting technologies which have a product system efficiency of 50 percent while accurately reproducing the sunlight spectrum. Incandescent light bulbs, as a point of comparison, are five percent efficient.

To achieve this goal, DOE has drawn extensively on partnerships with leaders in the lighting and utilities industries, researchers, standards-setting organizations and advocacy groups to develop, test and provide reliable information on existing and emerging SSL technologies.