Cleantech Investor

First published in Cleantech magazine, July/August 2010. Copyright Cleantech Investor Ltd

OSRAM chose London’s Design Museum as the venue for a presentation on the future of solid state lighting technology. Meanwhile, OSRAM LEDs were lighting up the World Cup games in South Africa.

By Anne McIvor

Solar light emitting diode (LED) producer, D Light Design, was a winner at the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy for 2010. While D Light Design is providing light for villagers in remote parts of Africa, LED technology was also behind much of the lighting for the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

OSRAM developed ‘LED Beams’, in conjunction with local manufacturer BEKA, to light the ‘Durban Arc’  spanning the Durban stadium. The company’s ‘Golden Dragon Plus’ LEDs – 12,000 in total – combine to form the 350 metre Durban Arc, an icon for the potential for LED lighting technology.

LED and OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology is poised to transform the lighting market. OSRAM recently hosted an event to discuss the changes being driven by these technology innovations. LEDs and OLEDs (flat light sources that use organic semiconductors to generate light) are set to revolutionise the entire lighting market due to their design potential, opening up enormous business opportunities. The event was held in London’s Design Museum and coincided with the ‘Sustainable Futures’ exhibition.

OSRAM CEO, Martin Goetzeler, emphasised the potential of lighting to contribute to energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, pointing out that artificial light constitutes 19% of total global energy usage – of which around one third is consumed by ordinary light bulbs. Energy used for lighting around the world (some 2,651 TWh in 2005) is equivalent to eight times the energy consumption of the UK, according to Goetzeler.

Cities account for 75% of world energy use and 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. Goetzeler pointed to research by McKinsey which revealed that, in a mega-city such as London, 1.4 million tonnes of CO₂ could be saved annually by a switch to energy efficient lighting. Around three quarters of the buildings in the UK use lighting technology which is over 25 years old.

OSRAM’s choice of London as the location to present on the innovation resulting from LEDs and OLEDs reflects the city’s position at the heart of architectural lighting design. Lighting designer Martin Lupton explained that LED and OLED technologies are behind a paradigm shift in how we experience light, and emphasised the role for artists and innovation.

LED technology can be dimmed to individual pixel level and LEDs are directed, which means less total light is needed. It will become possible for light to follow a person around – we can look forward to creating our own personal ‘light cloud’ in an open plan office.

LED and OLED technologies are complementary. While LEDs focus on an area/point, OLED is a non-glare technology, and makes wearable lights (embedded in the fabric of clothing) a reality. Flexible substrates for OLEDs will open up many new opportunities. Lupton forecasts that light will become embedded into the panels of a vehicle – removing the need for car headlights. In terms of architecture, more sustainable designs can be expected with organic shapes. Lupton points to the example of the Crystal Mesh, an LED lighting media facade on a Singapore building.

Goetzeler predicted that the annual market for LEDs and OLEDs will triple to almost €13 billion by 2012. Some of that growth is being driven by LEDs for backlighting, but mainstream lighting is also boosting demand. Retrofit LEDs, which fit traditional sockets, are leading the way, but luminaires are also seeing rapid growth. Street lighting demand is being driven not just by energy efficiency concerns, but also by the scope for savings in maintenance cycles. London alone has 600,000 street lights and the energy saving potential is some 3,000kW.

In terms of the cost of production, Goetzeler pointed out that, taking into account the fact that fewer LED units are needed, LED production costs are already on a par with CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) and are way ahead of incandescent – with regard to both lifecycles and eco balance.

Although Goetzeler expects that we’ll see OLEDs in significant volumes within three to four years in certain applications, he cautioned that it will take time for OLED manufacturing costs to fall.

OSRAM, the lighting division of Siemens, has turnover of €4 billion and some 39,000 employees. The company is directing 18% of its sales into R&D in opto-semiconductors – of which half is focused on solid state lighting. OSRAM has developed an LED which, at 120W, has half the power consumption of a sodium vapour lamp with equivalent light (250W). The company’s strengths include areas such as street lights. It has been active in innovative lighting designs, including designs which incorporate daylight harvesting, for some time.

Notable OSRAM LED projects have included the Yas Hotel (located on the Abu Dhabi race track), the Trafford Centre in Manchester (where energy consumption savings of 90% were achieved) and Novotel (one UK hotel achieved energy savings of 5.3kW hours – equivalent to cost savings of £66,000 annually for the UK Novotel chain).