National Academy of Sciences Releases Updated SSL Report

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) recently published “Assessment of Solid-State Lighting, Phase Two.” A follow-up to its 2013 report, the new information focuses on three key areas: commercialization (noting the rapid uptake of SSL since the 2013 report), technology development (updating the findings of the 2013 report), and manufacturing. It also makes a number of recommendations, including many that have already been implemented by DOE’s SSL Program, including:

• Continue to make investments in cost-effective solutions at 200 lm/W at the luminaire level, while also considering reliability and quality of light.
• Continue to invest in leveraging R&D programs that can have a significant impact on increased SSL product availability.
• Continue to invest in SSL core technology improvements and also consider solutions to ultimately allow low-cost implementation and embody risks industry is not likely to take.
• Support LED system lifetime research and encourage the Illuminating Engineering Society to develop a standardized system lifetime test method.
• Consider initiating a broad stakeholder project to develop appropriate energy efficiency metrics for the most important emerging lighting applications, including horticulture and livestock, that are not for illumination of spaces used by people.
• Develop strategies for supporting broader research that enables more efficient use of light in such a way that the application efficacy is maximized, with attention to both the lighting design process and the design of lighting products.

The report is available for a free download. To learn more about the DOE Solid-State Lighting program, visit www.ssl.energy.gov.