Group IV Semiconductor Solid State Lighting

Group IV Semiconductor, Inc., Ottawa, CA, has announced a three-year, $9.1 million initiative aimed at developing solid state lighting products made of silicon that use 90 per cent less energy than a traditional incandescent light bulb and last up to 50 times longer.The goal of Group IV's silicon-based technology is to dramatically reduce the cost of solid-state lighting—overcoming the critical price barrier and enabling widespread adoption.

While compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) have caught on lately with their promise of energy savings, they’re still only about 20 to 25 percent efficient. Lamps that use solid-state lighting (SSL) technology, by comparison, can achieve efficiency levels as high as 80 percent.

The global lighting market is worth about $12-billion, Group IV estimates. The company says about 20 per cent of the world's electricity demand is for lighting through light bulbs.

In solid-state lamps, semiconductors such as LEDs (light-emitting diodes) convert electricity directly into light without having to activate a gas (as in fluorescents) or heat a filament (as in incandescent bulbs). This conserves a great deal of energy. SSL lamps also last far longer than conventional lamps. But LEDs have not achieved the brightness levels people are accustomed to with conventional lights, and the compound semiconductor materials on which LEDs are based remain stubbornly expensive to manufacture.

Group IV Semiconductor is a frontrunner in the race to develop all-silicon solid-state light engines: long-lasting semiconductor devices that generate light up to ten times more efficiently than conventional bulbs and much more economically than today’s LED alternatives. Group IV's bulbs — which produce light when an electric current passes through a piece of silicon — promise to produce high-quality white light and wouldn't be hot to the touch. They also wouldn't contain mercury, which creates a disposal challenge for today's compact fluorescent bulbs. The company claims its lights will be higher quality and cheaper to produce than light-emitting diode or LED technology

Natural gas producer EnCana, through its EnCana Environmental Innovation Fund, has invested $2.5 million in the initiative and Sustainable Development Technology Canada has contributed $2.1 million. The rest comes from sources that include BDC Venture Capital and Silicon Valley venture capital firm Khosla Ventures ans McMaster University in Hamilton.

Resources:

Group IV Semiconductor comes out of stealth mode, Tyler Hamilton, Clean Break, Sept. 25, 2006
Ottawa inventors have a bright idea, Tyller Hamiton, Toronto Star, Sept. 28, 2006

Comments

[Derek]

SSL/LED Neon Replacement that's 80 - 90% more energry efficient.

LEDNEON® -Flex is a revolutionary, energy efficient, ultra compact light source, combining the lifetime and reliability advantages of LEDs with the brightness of conventional neon lighting.

LEDNEON® -Flex offers huge advantages over conventional lighting and other LED solutions. Our products are smaller, lighter, and more environmentally friendly. Since 1902 Neon has been the mainstream for outdoor and indoor linear lighting. However, neon is known for complicated installation, fragility, shock hazard, high maintenance costs and high power consumption.

The benefits of LED compared to neon and fluorescent lighting are well documented on this website LEDNeonFlex.com

[karl (the bulbs are at the home improvement stores right now!)]

You might consider removing the spam comment as I'm sure if you search on phrases within it you'll find that it's beenposted widely all over the web.

However it'll be a few minutes before I select which bulb to link, but for now, here is a picture link for one that might sell out if not preordered and will easally pay for all the eletricity wasted while waiting for it a matter of however manyh more weeks in just what months?

Oh I forgot I can't do that here so I really don't want to show the url so I'm tyhping the specs

11 watts

(that's gross input,not net to the bulb from household current!!!)

6500, or 65000 milli-lumens DELIVERED (!!!!)

CRI if you care of 92 which I assume is fantastic

and a choice of standard spectrums either 2700 OR 3500 K

This uses the LED (remember this is a fixture ready to ship for retrofitting in the finest and the poorest homes!) ABC news ran p2p commercial interview for last year. (on IM.com etc. it's probably stillthere and although hype makes for better viewing then the canadian boondoggle otherwise high frame rate etc. movie) It's here now!

[ACJ]

Lots of environmentally friendly lighting can be found at www.onlinelighting.co.uk

[Explosion Proof String Lighting]

I've being researching about lights and reading your blog, I found your post very helpful :) . I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog!

[Andrea Evans]

right light should be place in the right place

[بلاك بيري]

it always been that way since along time a go