Growing Pains for New Energy-Saving Technologies

As we contemplate a revolution in the lighting industry, it is yet unclear in what form tomorrow's solid-state lighting will emerge. Similarly, photovoltaic (PV) power supplied on a utility scale may take a different form from today's flat-plate silicon modules. The success of the PV industry - now a multibillion dollar a year industry and growing at more than 25% per year - has largely come from integrating solar cells into other products. In many cases, this integration required the formation of new business entities. The solid-state lighting industry faces hurdles that are similar to those faced by the PV industry. Therefore, based on the experiences of the PV industry and others, we predict that the growing pains of the solid-state lighting industry will include: (1) identifying entry markets, (2) integrating light-emitting diodes into attractive products, (3) attaining high reliability for these products, and (4) increasing production of these products, thus lowering costs and opening up new markets. These activities must be implemented, keeping in mind that most consumers do not care about buying "solid-state lighting" and "solar cells." Rather, they want to buy attractive lighting and inexpensive electricity.