$60 for a light bulb? Sure, it’s an LED-based bulb and will save you real money — and last for ten years. Using gallium nitride (GaN), they can last for sixty years, but costly to manufacture. Work by the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride is about to make a real difference. The news, via EE Times:
Cambridge University’s Centre for Gallium Nitride has developed a new way of making GaN which could produce LEDs for a tenth of current prices and may see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75 percent within five years.
Based on current results, GaN LED lights in every home and office could cut the proportion of UK electricity used for lights from 20 percent to five percent. That is equivalent to eight power stations.
The Cambridge researchers have developed a method of growing GaN LEDs on silicon wafers. The lower cost method could enable cheaper mass produced LEDs becoming widely available in the next five years.
Read the press release from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for details.
Now, here’s the question: who’s willing to make and sell a product that will last for 60 years?