The U.S Department of Energy has published its 2015 Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D Plan. The plan consolidates its SSL Manufacturing R&D Roadmap and SSL Multi-Year Program Plan of previous years.
The DOE worked with SSL lighting community experts and received additional inputs at roundtable meetings in October 2014 and the DOE SSL R&D Workshop in January 2015. The discussions covered R&D needs for LED and OLED technologies. Topics ranged from manufacturing and applied technology R&D to core technology research and product development.
The DOE says that the R&D Plan reflects the consensus view of the community on key barriers that the technology challenges to address, and what R&D efforts should focus on over the next three to five years. The plan provides analysis and direction for ongoing R&D activities to advance SSL technology and increase energy savings. It reviews the status and trends of SSL technology for both LEDs and OLEDs and offers an overview of DOE’s current SSL R&D project portfolio.
While the DOE updated the entire R&D Plan with the latest figures, some revisions were more extensive. The new plan delves deeper into source efficacy, light utilization, and improved performance and design. It adds sections on the cost of ownership, sustainability, and new functionality such as improved controls, spectral control and tuning, visible light communication, and integration with building automation.
