The Solid State Lighting Initiative: An Industry/DOE Collaborative Effort

A new era of technology is emerging in lighting. It is being propelled by the dramatic improvements in performance of solid state light sources. These sources offer an entirely new array of design aspects not achievable with current light sources. At the same time, their performance characteristics continue to improve and are expected to eclipse those of the most common light sources within the near future.

High efficiency is one of these performance attributes motivating the Department of Energy (DOE) to work with the manufacturers of this new technology to create a program plan sufficiently comprehensive to support an industry-driven Solid State Lighting Initiative before Congress. The purpose of the initiative is to educate Congress about the potential of this technology to reduce the electric lighting load within the United States and, consequently, to realize the associated environmental benefits. The initiative will solicit congressional support to accelerate the development of solid state technology through investment in the research and development necessary to overcome the technical barriers that currently limit the products to niche markets.