Steven DenBaars' Presentation from the National Academy of Engineering Symposium

Energy Savings Potential of LEDs for Energy Efficient Lighting 
and Future Research Directions in LEDs
Steven DenBaars

Institute faculty member Steven DenBaars gave a presentation at the National Academy of Engineering Symposium of Energy Efficiency and Sustainability this past March. DenBaars reviews the energy saving benefits of LEDs. He also projects LED use and the energy savings potential into the future.

Abstract
LEDs fabricated from gallium nitride have lead to the realization of high-efficiency white solid-state lighting. At UCSB’s Solid State Lighting and Energy Center we have fabricated advanced GaN white LEDs structures which exhibit luminous efficacy greater than 150 lm/Watt, and external quantum efficiencies higher than 50%. This has helped enabled LEDs lighting to compete with traditional lighting technologies such as incandescent and CFL. A review of the energy savings potential of LED based lighting compared to traditional technologies will be addressed. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that in 2030 the energy savings from LED lighting in the U.S. alone would amount to over $250 billion in energy savings, which is equivalent to 50 Gigawatt size power plants. Further improvements in materials quality and cost reduction are necessary for wide-spread adoption of LEDs for lighting. Solid-state lighting has the potential to achieve 85% energy efficiency, corresponding to 255 lm/watt, and be able to run entirely off sustainable energy sources such as either solar, thermoelectric or wind. Key problems and new research directions in solid state lighting technologies will be highlighted.

Biography
Dr. DenBaars is a Professor of Materials and Electrical & Computer Engineering Departments, and the Mitsubishi Chemical Professor in Solid State Lighting & Display. He is also the Executive Director of the Solid-State Lighting & Energy Center at UC Santa Barbara. From 1988-1991 Prof. DenBaars was a member of the technical staff at Hewlett- Packard's Optoelectronics Division involved in the growth and fabrication of visible LEDs. Specific research interests include growth of wide-bandgap semiconductors (GaN based), and their application to Blue LEDs and lasers and high power electronic devices. This research has lead to the first US university demonstration of a Blue GaN laser diode and over 32 patents pending on GaN growth and processing. His awards and honors include NSF Young Investigator Award (1994-1999); Young Scientist Award from the International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors (1998), IEEE Fellow (2005), Mitsubishi Chemical Professor of Solid State lighting and Display (2004), USC Viterbi School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni (2007); and Visiting Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

For more information, photos, and videos on the 2012 National Academy of Engineering symposium, click here.