Energy Savings Potential of GaN LEDs for Energy Efficient Lighting and Future Research Directions

LEDs fabricated from gallium nitride have lead to the realization of high-efficiency white solid-state lighting. At UCSB’s Solid State Lighting and Energy Center we have fabricated advanced GaN white LEDs structures which exhibit luminous efficacy greater than 170 lm/Watt, and external quantum efficiencies higher than 50%. This has helped enabled LEDs lighting to compete with traditional lighting technologies such as incandescent and CFL. A review of the energy savings potential of LED based lighting compared to traditional technologies will be addressed. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that in 2030 the energy savings from LED lighting in the U.S. alone would amount to over $250 billion in energy savings