A clean LED production for a clean environment

The production of electricity is responsible for approx. 40 percent of the world's CO2 emissions. A substantial proportion of the power produced is used for lighting - around 15 percent. However, with the use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source, there is now an interesting and promising technical alternative: the small light-emitting elements can be implemented just about anywhere as an effective replacement for conventional lighting systems. Not only do they consume much less electricity but they also have an extremely long service-life. By using LED technology, the hope is to drastically reduce the amount of power consumed due to electrical lighting by up to 80%. The ecological as well as economical advantages of using LEDs has led to a continuous rise in worldwide demand, which is why the Romanian electronics manufacturer Microelectronica S.A. has decided to construct a factory to produce LEDs in Bucharest. The project has been chosen by the EU as part of its structural policy to support economically weak regions and is currently planned and realized by engineers of Fraunhofer IPA.