The LED Illumination Revolution

Apparently, it's time to ban Edison's venerable, now vilified, light bulb. European leaders, green pundits and the widely reported light bulb provisions of the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 all urgently push the abandonment of incandescent bulbs.

The plan appears to be to convince everyone to switch to compact fluorescent lights (CFL), a technology that was introduced in the 1930s and perfected when rock was young and computers used vacuum tubes.
What irony. Here we are, in the 21st century, with a semiconductor revolution in lighting around the corner. Semiconductor light emitting diodes (LEDs) are finally on the verge of having the capability to radically alter the entire lighting landscape with staggering improvements in both lighting efficiency and efficacy.

The high-power LED emerges directly from the same semiconductor, digital infrastructure and intellectual property that brought us iPhones, laptops, hybrid cars and Xboxes. Though the word "revolution" has been devalued by overuse, the LED is only the third revolution in illumination technology since the dawn of fire.

LED Illumination Revolution