Royal Philips Electronics introduced its 12-watt EnduraLED light bulb last month at one of the premier industry innovation tradeshows, Lightfair International, which is being touted as the first light-emitting diode (LED) replacement for the 60-watt incandescent light bulb that is responsible for the majority of building lighting. LED lighting has enormous benefits over conventional lighting in terms of energy efficiency, lifetime, appearance and safety. The original Philips EnduraLED, voted by Time magazine as one of the top 3 inventions of 2009, is the first and the only entrant in the Department of Energy's $10 million L Prize lighting efficiency competition thus far and was showcased at the International Greenbuild Conference and Expo held in Phoenix, AZ in November 2009. The Recovery Act in the U.S. also offered LED companies millions of dollars in funding for R&D and cost-effective manufacturing of LED lighting. 

Osram Sylvania, a subsidiary of a German corporate titan, Siemens AG, which is another leader in solid-state lighting, has developed a competitive product, which was also showcased at the Lightfair trade show. It introduced a dimmable, mercury-free Sylvania ULTRA LED A-line 12-watt bulb, which the company is promoting as the brightest LED replacement for the traditional 60-watt bulb. However, it does not meet the requirements of the DOE competition in terms of performance and cost, which also mandates U.S-based manufacturing of the product for the winners. 

Osram is capturing the world stage by having installed its energy-efficient lighting products in all ten soccer stadiums for the 2010 FIFA Worldcup in South Africa. These products include: high-intensity discharge lamps, T5 and T8 fluorescent lamps and LED luminaires. The marquee attraction is the LED-illuminated arc, known as "The Arch," which features over 12,000 Golden Dragon Plus LEDs that span the entire Durban Stadium. The Arch is approximately 350 meters long, weighs 2,600 metric tons, standing 30 stories high. Moreover, the illumination will be provided by LED beams that Osram developed in conjunction with a local South African LED industry leader, BEKA. Due to the high cost of high-brightness LED products, integration into high-profile facilities is common and essentially a form of leverage and advertising for more mainstream applications. 

Numerous industry market analyst reports have shown a bright future for LED lighting regarding both electronics and buildings. A new study from Pike Research predicts that LEDs will account for nearly 50 percent of a $4.4 billion market for lamps in the commercial, industrial and outdoor sectors by 2020. According to the DOE, 18 percent of U.S. electricity is generated for lighting, while it is also responsible for about 12 percent of a residential building's utility cost and 25 percent for a commercial building; thus leading to a sizable carbon emissions footprint as well. As a result, many countries, including the U.S., have approved mandates banning future use of incandescent bulbs in the coming years in favor of more energy-efficient alternatives. However, Arizona's radical legislature, based in Phoenix, entertained a bill this spring that would have excluded the state from following the future federal ban on incandescents; but, it was not approved.

As more industry studies show the bright horizon for LED lighting, more companies have been entering the market, analogous to the clean energy race observed in the solar energy sector. However, producing high-brightness, high-efficiency LED products are significantly more technically-challenging than solar cells; thus, favoring current LED manufacturing market leaders such as: Cree, Osram, Nichia and Philips.

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