In its new “Solid State Lighting Opportunities” report, the Department of Energy points out that while the benefits of replacing conventional lighting products with LED lighting has been significant, “new capabilities of SSL technology, coupled with new understanding in lighting science, open up possibilities to further reduce lighting energy consumption, improve lighting performance in new ways, and reduce negative impacts of earlier lighting technologies.”
The report goes on to say a number of potential benefits of SSL will come from ongoing research and development, and as of 2019, we have only reached a small percentage of possible energy savings over the next 15 years.
The DoE points out the research and development will push lighting manufacturers to adapt to the demand. “It is critical that manufacturing approaches keep pace by improving throughput, increasing flexibility, reducing materials usage, and generally advancing manufacturing speed and efficiency. In addition, within the U.S., the vast range of lighting product types and application requirements means that increasingly, products will be customized and produced ‘on-demand’. To support this trend, new flexible manufacturing approaches are necessary. In particular, developing additive manufacturing techniques to maximize the range of products while simultaneously minimizing stored component inventory could have a large impact. Additive manufacturing techniques could be deployed across the manufacturing value chain, from wafer level processing techniques to light fixture creation,” the report says.
You can read the entire report here.
Tagged with Departme, Department of Energy, lightED