LED in our life



尽管很多人可能对于半导体照明工程、对于即将取代传统照明的发光二极管(LED)还不太熟悉, 但一场节能低耗环保的"绿色能源革命"正悄悄走近并将改变我们的生活. 持久耐用毫无污染的家庭照明灯、色彩斑斓的手机背光灯......都是LED的功劳. 4月12日, 中国(厦门)国际半导体照明展及照明论坛即将拉开帷幕, 这次盛会不仅将为厦门光电产业进一步向纵深发展带来新的契机, 还会为我们未来的生活增添新的亮点.



As one of the four national optoelectronic bases, Xiamen is the first to be issued a license due to the profound support of the science and technology garden and its solid complete industry structure. On April 12, the 2005 (Xiamen) International Forum on Solid-state Lighting and exhibition will be held. A total of 300 stalls have been fully booked. There's no doubt that this second forum, in terms of scale and level, has surpassed the first one held in Shanghai last year.

What is LED? What will LED bring to our daily life? How will this forum promote the development of Xiamen's optoelectronic industry? Following is some information to warm you up.

Did you know?



美国发明家托马斯·爱迪生发明白炽灯至今的100多年来, 人们基本仍沿用爱迪生发明的技术生产白炽灯泡. 灯泡的中间是一段金属钨丝, 当电流通过时, 钨丝受热激活灯泡中的气体发出光芒. 普通的钨丝灯只能把10%的电能转化为光能, 其余的90%变成热能耗散, 所以被称为热光源. 热光源不仅耗电厉害, 而且纤细的钨丝特别娇弱, 常常"折腰"；但LED正好相反, 通过它的电能有90%都被转化为光能, 在同等亮度下耗电量是钨丝灯的1/10, 且寿命长达10万小时, 被称为"冷光源". 同样重要的是, 这一新的光源技术对环境几乎没有污染.

LED, abbreviation for Light Emitting Diode, is a semi-conducting device. It's a small, sometimes colored, lightbulb that emits visible light when an electric current runs through it. It uses significantly less power, releases less heat, and lasts a lot longer than an incandescent lightbulb, so it's another light generating technology.

There are actually only two types of lightbulbs despite of their various shapes and colors we find in shops: incandescent lightbulbs and fluorescent-lamps.

Incandescent lightbulbs, with a low efficiency consume too much energy when a current runs through, and are easily burnt up.



The fluorescent-lamp is fairly energy-saving, but inflicts some harm to the eyesight. It's rather fragile and contains some detrimental chemicals.

LED lighting can last longer than any other light source-longer than 10 years in many applications.

If half of American bulbs used LED, then 24 power stations could be closed, thus saving several billions of dollars. The emission of CO2 would also be greatly lowered. The US plans to equip LED at all trafficlights by the end of 2006 so as to save 750 dollars a year each.

If all Chinese families used LED, the money saved in one year wouldequal the capital invested in building the Three Gorges Dam.

If the trafficlights at each intersection in China were equipped with LED, the annual cost of electricity would be reduced from 34,000 yuan to 3000 yuan.

LED hasn't been used in daily lighting because at present LED can only emit red or yellow light. Blue light is still needed to "mix" with red and yellow to produce white LED, which will replace the conventional lighting methods.



Other important activities

Background of 2005 Interational Forum on Solid-state Lighting, Xiamen
Solid-state lighting is considered as the next generation of light sources for general illumination. It will reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution which is a serious problem in almost all countries, especially in China. Solid-state lighting is becoming a promising hi-tech industry. To further promote the rapid development of the solid-state lighting industry worldwide, this forum has invited more experts from Europe, US, Japan, and Taiwan Province. Topics will include relevant technology, the market, development stratagies and the prospect of application. It will be a good opportunity to communicate and to cooperate with the whole solid-state lighting industry. So far, two forums have been organized, the first one was held in Shanghai last year.



2004 1st forum review

"2004 International Semiconductor Lighting Forum, Shanghai, China", was successfully convened in Shanghai from March 23 to March 25, 2004. The delegates in the semiconductor lighting industry came from the US, UK, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan Province. Song-de Ma(Vice Minister of National Ministry of Science and Technology) and some members of the National Semiconductor Lighting Engineering Project Coordination & Management Office attended the opening ceremony of the forum. The invited reports, which represented the international developing trend and technological level, put forward the research direction, advice and solutions. It helped to stimulate the whole national initiatives of the luminescence technology and the application of solid-state lighting all over the world.

This conference also boosted the industrialization of solid-state lighting in the country.



Vocabulary
incandescent bulb 白炽灯
fluorescent-lamp 荧光灯
solid-state lighting 固态照明
optoelectronic 光电子的

Easy Q&A (answers below)

1. By whom and when was the first incandescent lightbulb invented?
2. Xiamen is one of the four national optoelectronic bases in China, what are the other three?
3. Conventional lighting is "hot" or "cold"?

1. Thomas Alva Edison, 1879.
2. Nanchang, Shanghai and Dalian.
3. hot.