Would LED Lighting Be What it is Today Without the Blue LED?

blue-led-light-emitting-diode
Image via Wikimedia Commons

Imagine the days, not long ago, when streets everywhere were paved in yellow, from energy-hungry sodium-vapor lamps. Energy efficient bright white LEDs are now widely used in street lights, traffic lights, as well as in laptops and smartphones. So why would a blue LED light win the Nobel prize?

Most white LED light is created by combining the three primary light colors of red, green and blue (RGB), or by a blue LED that has phosphors that emit green and red. While red and green LEDs were easy to create, but the blue LED was the last – and most difficult – LED light to develop. That is, until physicists Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano as well as Shuji Nakamura developed a fluorescent chemical (“gallium nitride”) that, when excited, emits blue light. Voilà! Scientists now have the missing piece of the puzzle.

Modern white LED light bulbs are able to turn more than 50% of the electricity it uses, into light – a huge improvement over the 4% for incandescent light bulbs. LEDs also last up to 10x more than fluorescents and 100x more than incandescents which reduces the amount of electrical energy that’s wasted. The benefits of LED lighting not only creates less waste, but also makes it easier to power with renewable energy sources like solar power which would be an enormous asset to developing countries where power is scarce.

There’s no doubt that LED lighting wouldn’t be where it is today without the blue LED. Thanks to Akasaki, Amano and Nakamura, we [as an LED lighting industry] are able to brighten our streets, homes, and electronics with beautiful white light.

Contact Our California and Nevada LED Street lighting Team Today

If you’re looking to turn your city’s yellow sodium-vapor lamps into bright white LED street lights, contact the team at Great Basin Lighting today. Our team represents some of the best brands in the business and we’ll work with you every step of the way. Give us a call at (925) 240-1566 (California) or (775) 333-0900 (Nevada) for an estimate for your outdoor lighting project.