It seems the age-old light bulb may have met its match: Light-emitting diodes, commonly referred to as LEDs, have been dubbed as the likely replacement for the light bulb, paving the way for a minor revolution in the way people think about lighting.

LED lamps have previously been considered unthinkable, that is until technology surpassed a major obstacle just a dozen years ago. Since then, however, LEDs have made their way to the forefront and are being adapted for a number of uses, including pool illumination and reading lights.

Jumping a Hurdle

LEDs have mostly been relegated to showing the time on alarm clocks or the battery level in video cameras. They certainly have not been utilized as a source of illumination because they could not produce white light; however, that all changed in 1993 when a Japanese company started producing blue LEDs -- which combined with red and green to emit white light. Clearing this vital hurdle opened up a whole new field for the future of LEDs and lighting technology.

Based on semiconductor technology, the efficiency of LEDs has grown by leaps and bounds. In fact, one New York company announced it had boosted the output of a white LED bulb by a factor of six, surpassing the efficiency of even a compact fluorescent bulb.

One major drawback: At this time, the energy savings aren't enough to overcome the downside of the high initial cost of the bulbs. Chances are, though, that people will soon overlook the price, as the Department of Energy has estimated:

• LED lighting could cut national energy consumption for lighting almost 30 percent by 2025.

• The total savings on U.S. household electric bills until then would be $125 billion.

Still, current white LEDs last as much as 50,000 hours, which translates to 50 times the life of the average incandescent light bulb. That means constant use for an amazing six years.

USA Today April 15, 2005