LED light bulbs are 4 times more efficient than incandescent lights. They also contain no mercury. Here's a brief presentation explaining the breakthroughs with LED lighting that are revolutionizing the industry. Our company, Reel Caribbean Energy, specializes in bringing LED lighting to the Caribbean. To learn more about our program and initiatives, visit us at http://www.reelcaribbeanenergy.com.

1. LED Breakthroughs Are
Revolutionizing Low-Cost,
High-Efficiency Lighting
http://www.reelcaribbeanenergy.com

2. LED light bulbs are about four times more
efficient than conventional incandescent lights
and, because they contain no mercury, more
environmentally friendly than compact
fluorescent bulbs.
LEDs are also longer lasting than conventional
lighting, lasting as long as 15 years before
burning out.

3. When first developed, LEDs were limited to
single-bulb use in applications such as
instrument panels, electronics, pen lights and,
more recently, strings of indoor and outdoor
Christmas lights.
However, they’re now able to be constructed to
have the same brightness as incandescent bulbs.
If all incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs
were replaced with LEDs, there would be
dramatic energy and environmental
ramifications.

4. There’s no question that LED lightbulbs are great
for the environment. However, traditionally LEDs
have been cost-prohibitive, usually triple the cost
of a standard incandescent.
Because initially, LEDs were created with a first
layer, the substrate, made of sapphire. The
sapphire-based technology was too expensive for
widespread domestic-lighting use, costing at
least 20 times more than conventional
incandescent and compact fluorescent light
bulbs.

5. Why?

6. Because initially, LEDs were created with a first
layer, the substrate, made of sapphire.
The sapphire-based technology was too
expensive for widespread domestic-lighting use,
costing at least 20 times more than conventional
incandescent and compact fluorescent light
bulbs.

7. However, new breakthroughs have led
to the development of a low-cost,
metal-coated silicon wafer to use
instead.
The silicon wafer was developed by
researchers at Purdue University in
2008.

8. Another reason for the high cost is that
the sapphire-based LEDs require a
separate mirror like collector to reflect
light that ordinarily would be lost.

9. In the new silicon-based LED research,
engineers from Purdue University
“metallized” the silicon substrate with
a built-in reflective layer of zirconium
nitride.
Until the advance, engineers had been
unable to produce an efficient LED
created directly on a silicon substrate
with a metallic reflective layer.

10. Using silicon will enable industry to
“scale up” the process, or manufacture
many devices on large wafers of silicon,
which is not possible using sapphire.
The silicon also dissipates heat better
than sapphire. This improves the
reliability and life of an LED.

11. If you replaced all existing lighting with
solid-state lighting, it could reduce the
amount of energy consumed by one-
third. By the same token, it also
reduces carbon emissions.
LEDs are 5 to 6 times more efficient
than incandescent bulbs.
Incandescents are approximately 10%
efficient, with the other 90% going off
into heat. LEDs are 47%-64% efficient.

12. Another technological advance in LEDs
has been in the bulb designs.
With LEDs, the light is directional, as
opposed to incandescent bulbs which
spread the light more spherically. While
it can be an advantage with recessed
lighting or under-cabinet lighting, it's
not ideal for table lamps.
New LED bulb designs address the
directional limitation by using diffuser
lenses and reflectors to disperse the
light more like an incandescent bulb.

13. Visit us at www.reelcaribbeanenergy.com to check out more
about our Caribbean LED program and other resources on LEDs.

14. Thanks to references from EarthEasy.com
(http://eartheasy.com/blog/2009/01/led-breakthrough-may-revolutionize-
lighting/), Purdue University (http://www.purdue.edu/) and Science Daily
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717134601.htm).