Thegalli nitrideo (GaN) is a compound emittinglightIt is already used in camera flashes, bicycle headlights, mobile phones and in the interior lighting of buses, trains and airplanes. Now a team of British researchers proposes to use itin every homewithin five years.
Scientists believe that when GaN can be used toilluminate houses and officesit will be like having found theHoly Grail of electricity. If it is achieved, it couldreduce by 75% the usual consumption of electricityin developed countries, while contributing to a considerable reduction incarbon dioxide emissionsof power plants and to preserve fossil fuel reserves.
“Gallium nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have a very promising future,” says Humphreys, who coordinates the research as Professor of the Center for Gallium Nitride at the University of Cambridge. ). These LEDs are “astonishingly durable, as they can provide100,000 hours of light(100 times more than a conventional light bulb), and in practice that means that with normal use in a family it would not be necessary to change them until after 60 years. “Also, unlike the low consumption compact fluorescent lights that are used now , Gallium Nitride LEDs do not contain mercury, so disposing of them would not be an environmental concern.
To take advantage of these benefits, scientists will have to overcome some major hurdles, such as that GaN LEDs are too expensive to manufacture for large-scale use in homes and workplaces, or that they emit too strong light.
Currently theLED of this compound are coated with phosphor to transform blue light into white light. But there is the possibility to remove the cover and include several miniature LEDs, each of which would emit light in a different color within the overall “bulb”. The LEDs would emit the white light together, but users at home or in the office could alter the exact balance, for example to achieve an orange light, depending on theirmood.
