Research on the best market applications for LightLab energy-saving lamps

Abstract

Nowadays, lighting represents 20% of the global electricity consumption. Light can be produced using different technologies but more than 100 years after its invention, the incandescent bulb is still the most sold and one of the more used light sources. Of the total energy input in an incandescent bulb more than 90% is lost as heat while less than 10% is converted into visible light. However, there are alternative technologies which use up to 85% less energy for conventional lighting and there are even more efficient light sources for other purposes that if they replace completely all incandescent lamps over the world could reduce dramatically the global electricity consumption and greenhouse gases emissions. One may identify these alternative technologies mainly as LEDs and discharge lamps, but are they the unique alternatives? This thesis is focused on a new lighting technology whose name is LightLab and which is based on the field emission and cathodoluminescence concepts. This technology is under the research and development stage but prototypes have already achieved energy savings over 85% compared to incandescent lamps with a great color performance and with the advantage that it does not use mercury or other hazardous substances compared with discharge lamps. Thus, in the first part of the project all technologies and last improvements are studied while the second part analyses the market applications possibilities for the LightLab lamp considering the environmental perspective regulations and comparing the lamp with the other light sources. The result is that despite there are still some unknown parameters that need to be developed or improved, the lamp has a great potential for different applications fields.