At a lighting symposium at GE's Global Research Center, held to showcase new lighting technologies GE expects to move into the market over the next few years.
This year, it will spend about 95 percent of its lighting research budget on new efficient lighting technology, with about half of that going to LEDs. GE expects that by 2013, about 15 percent of its lighting sales will be from LEDs, said John Strainic, global product general manager for GE Lighting.
GE also showed off a prototype downlight LED bulb which gives off 1,500 lumens, the equivalent amount of light as a 100-watt halogen, but it uses one third the energy. The prototype 1500-lumen LED downlight uses "dual cool jets," small devices near the light source which improve the flow of heat compared to natural convection, GE said. That type of active cooling system, which GE expects to see in commercial products some day, means that more current can be passed through fewer LED light sources, which will reduce the cost, said Strainic.
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