Bill Watkins: LED is the future of lighting

You may have heard that LED lights are a good thing. I will even say that it has the potential to make history and change the world.

Since Thomas Edison created the first light bulb, we have lived and worked under artificial lighting for more than 130 years. But despite the tremendous progress that has been made in this “bright” society, we have paid an environmentally and economically high price for incandescent, fluorescent and other traditional lighting methods.

LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are solid state semiconductor devices that convert electricity into light. It consumes much less energy and has a much longer life than traditional lighting.

Energy efficiency is increasingly important to control costs, improve energy self-sufficiency and reduce environmental impact, so LED lighting will become the world's mainstream artificial light source.

In the process of LED lighting to the mainstream, the most attractive point is that it will use the existing infrastructure to achieve global growth. We don't have to invest billions of dollars in new grids, wires, switches and networks.

The latest research data shows that after ten years, nearly half of the commercial lighting business will be occupied by LED lighting.

Currently, 20% of the world's electricity is used for lighting; if LED lighting is used, this ratio will be reduced to 4%. By 2030, in the United States alone, LEDs save an annual amount of 334 million barrels of oil.

Let's see how LEDs will change the future of the lighting market. The following five facts are very illustrative:

1. LEDs now have a market value of $100 billion. LEDs have proven to be effective lighting solutions for a wide range of applications, including flashlights, flat screen displays and headlights. Los Angeles has used LEDs for municipal lighting, and annual public lighting energy consumption will be reduced by 40%.

Since LED lighting is a semiconductor technology, it will become a platform that offers a wide range of intelligent programs and improved features, and offers users a wealth of upgrade options.

The key to getting into a market with a big portal is that the price is right. The price of LED lighting is dropping sharply. At that time, large manufacturers using traditional lighting technology will be in a backward position in the market.

Recall the dilemma faced by the wet film industry when digital photography dominates – it loses huge market share. The current traditional lighting manufacturers are also facing the same dilemma. Every penny invested in LEDs is "stealed" from their main business. Additional research and development expenses will not increase revenue.

On the contrary, for a promising LED company, every penny invested in LEDs will increase revenue accordingly.

2. The state, feel and operation of the lighting market will become more and more like the IT industry. Light bulbs represent the world's newest vacuum technology, so digital lighting is equivalent to the semiconductor, software and disk industries 40 years ago – it is on the verge of continued rapid growth.

The solid-state digital lighting platform will provide a number of more powerful, easy-to-use applications, including motion sensors, smoke detectors, dimming systems and color adaptive systems. You can also control your stereo system with LED lighting, and even turn the lights on and off with the iPhone.

3. The traditional lighting industry has developed a long-standing tradition of recognition, especially in terms of innovation. The traditional manufacturer's innovation cycle is 16 months to two years – such a long time is difficult to bring the innovations they need and want to the current customers. As a result, start-ups break the rules and shorten the innovation cycle to three months. In the lifeless lighting industry, rapid market response is the essence of creating value.

4. The lighting industry must begin to see the world as a commercial whole, creating a global supply chain. LED research in the United States, the production of scattered around the world, it is possible to establish a light asset company, which does not need to invest a lot of precious capital in fixed production costs, which has a significant positive impact on product costs.

5. LEDs will continue to cut prices until a thriving global mass market is formed.

Last year, the price of LED bulbs was between $75 and $100. With the help of vertical integration and light asset production models, it is quite possible to increase the speed of time to market by significantly reducing costs. LED lighting modules can be purchased for only about $20, which is the price inflection point for LED lighting in commercial environments, and the cost recovery time is about two years. If the price is $10, the cost recovery time will be one year, when the demand for the residential market will explode.

The American writer James Thurber said that there are two kinds of light: the dark light that illuminates everything and the light that covers everything. But for me there is only one kind of light, it is the LED.

Bill Watkins is the CEO of LED manufacturer Bridgelux. Prior to joining Bridgelux, he served as CEO of hard drive manufacturer Seagate Technology.

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