The rapid adoption of LEDs in lighting marks one of the fastest technology shifts in human history.
For thousands of years the cost of lighting was very high. Lighting innovations from 1850 to 1920 reduced costs and improved lighting quality. The oil crisis of the 1970s led to the creation of Compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs which were much more energy efficient and lasted 10x longer. The toxic ingredients in CF bulbs and the need for even greater efficiency led to the success of LED lighting in the early 2000s and started a cost and performance "race" between LED manufacturers resulting in the lower cost bulbs we see today. Bloomberg has the highlighted the need for urgent new LED lighting innovations to further reduce power requirements to enable the recycling and reuse of the precious materials within LED bulbs before our aging energy infrastructure leads to potential energy supply deficits before by 2050 (BloombergNEF 2018).
The UNITY® LIGHTCARD™ LED insert innovation offers a solution to energy efficiency, recycling and reuse. Just as with all new technologies, the cost is a bit higher for early adapters but the benefits to them and to the world are significant. As the UNITY® LIGHTCARD™ LED insert technology is more broadly adopted, it costs will exponentially reduce just like the lighting innovations that preceded it in the past 150 years.
... the average price of 60-watt equivalent LED products has dropped from around US$ 45-50 in January 2011 to below US$ 10 by July 2018. The current price for LED lamp product is only one fifth compared to the price seven years ago.
