Michele Ricks's Posts
OLED Technology & the Environment
A really cool thing about OLED technology is that it's useful for lighting, as well as displays. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has an Energy Star Program for Solid State Lighting (SSL) aimed at reducing the amount of energy consumed by light bulbs and fixtures.
The key to lighting is that you want it to be white. As you may know, there are many different kinds of white. You can buy "warm white" or "cool white" light bulbs. "Warm whites" tend to appear slightly yellow, while "cool whites" have more of a blue component. The DOE has specified a range of color temperatures that are acceptable for its lighting project.
You may have also noticed that colors of objects appear differently under different types of light. For instance, navy blue and black may look like the same color inside under an incandescent lamp, but they will look like markedly different colors outside in daylight. This effect is described by the color rendering index (CRI), which explains how naturally colors are reproduced by a light source.
Engineers and scientists in my group are developing OLED architectures and materials suitable for white-lighting applications. Recently, Kodak demonstrated an OLED device architecture having an efficacy over 55 lm/W! This is 5X the efficiency of the common incandescent light bulb and similar to the best compact fluorescent lamps. Kodak's remarkable architecture exceeds the efficacy specification requirements of the Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Star Program for Solid State Lighting (SSL) while maintaining a color temperature and CRI that meet the specifications.
The performance improvements for OLED SSL at Kodak will contribute toward more environmentally friendly lighting in the future. So when will you have an OLED light in your home or office? Market research companies, such as Nanomarkets, predict early product applications of solid state lighting for architectural and specialty lighting in the next few years. They estimate OLED lamps for general illumination will be available in 2011.
The key to lighting is that you want it to be white. As you may know, there are many different kinds of white. You can buy "warm white" or "cool white" light bulbs. "Warm whites" tend to appear slightly yellow, while "cool whites" have more of a blue component. The DOE has specified a range of color temperatures that are acceptable for its lighting project.
You may have also noticed that colors of objects appear differently under different types of light. For instance, navy blue and black may look like the same color inside under an incandescent lamp, but they will look like markedly different colors outside in daylight. This effect is described by the color rendering index (CRI), which explains how naturally colors are reproduced by a light source.
Engineers and scientists in my group are developing OLED architectures and materials suitable for white-lighting applications. Recently, Kodak demonstrated an OLED device architecture having an efficacy over 55 lm/W! This is 5X the efficiency of the common incandescent light bulb and similar to the best compact fluorescent lamps. Kodak's remarkable architecture exceeds the efficacy specification requirements of the Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Star Program for Solid State Lighting (SSL) while maintaining a color temperature and CRI that meet the specifications.
The performance improvements for OLED SSL at Kodak will contribute toward more environmentally friendly lighting in the future. So when will you have an OLED light in your home or office? Market research companies, such as Nanomarkets, predict early product applications of solid state lighting for architectural and specialty lighting in the next few years. They estimate OLED lamps for general illumination will be available in 2011.
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Posted By: Ed Scott (6/29/2009)
Comment: What sorts of costs are estimated for this technology? What would a 500 Watt tungsten equivalent light panel cost and what size would it be?