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EAI can do a feasibility study for the use of solar PV & thermal, biomass for heat and power, waste heat recovery and energy efficiency to dramatically cut down fossil fuel use and reduce your energy bills. See EAI’s SURE-FIRE offering for more.
EAI presents Cleantech Snapshots: a quick summary of some of the most interesting and innovative areas in clean technology that will drive the sustainability movement in future.
This snapshot focuses on Light Emitting Diode. Within this page you will find
Overview
- A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices, and are increasingly used for lighting
- LEDs are becoming commonplace at a fast rate. And it is good news, as they bring about significant energy savings with longer lives, without attendant problems present in technologies like CFL
- The high upfront cost of LED is still a pain point preventing their quick adoption. This should hopefully reduce significantly over the next 5 years, at which point LEDs will experience an explosive growth in adoption
Light Emitting Diode(Image source)
Working of LED
- The electrons within the diodeare excited when the LED is connected to an electrical current, making them release photons, which we see as light
- The color of the light is a direct result of the energy gap in the semiconductor of the diode
- This means that LEDs produce a spectrum of colors easily and brightly while using very little electricity to do so
- When an LED unit is activated, AC voltage is converted into sufficient DC voltage, which is applied across the diode semiconductor crystal
- The LED is sealed in a clear or diffuse plastic lens that can provide a range of angular distributions of the light
EAI’s Consulting Division provides special assistance for entrepreneurs/businesses interested in exploring opportunities in the sustainable and eco-lighting domain. See here for more.
Types
- Miniature
- Mid-range
- High-power
- Application-specific variations
Advantages
- Energy efficiency
- Long lifetime
- No warm-up period
- Not affected by cold temperatures
- Directional
- Excellent color rendering
- Environment friendly
- Controllable – LEDs can be controlled for brightness and color
Applications
- Indicators and signs
- Smart and sustainable lighting
- Used extensively in Optical fibre and free space optics
- Grow lights useLEDs to increase photosynthesis in plants
- LEDs are an essential part of the illumination system in digital microscopes, such as those which can be directly attached to the USB port of a computer
See also: an interesting emerging cleantech segment – Building Energy Analytics
