While a lot of attention has been focused on China’s energy shortage, there seemed to be little emphasis on making lighting, which consumes as much as 12 percent of the electricity produced in the country, more energy efficient. Until fairly recently, that is.

The Chinese Government and companies are promoting the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a way to help ease the energy crunch. LEDs basically feature semiconductors that generate light when a current is passed through them. Unlike the traditional incandescent light bulb, which generates light by heating a filament until it glows, LEDs have proven to be highly energy efficient, experts said, noting that in theory they consume one tenth the electricity required by incandescent bulbs and half that of fluorescent lights.

An official survey shows that over 300 billion kw-hours of electricity are spent on lighting in China each year. According to experts’ estimates, if over the next 10 years LEDs were to take 30 percent of China’s lighting market, the saving would be 58 billion kw-hours per year, almost as much as the annual output of the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower plant under construction at a cost of over $24 billion.

Sealed tight with such materials as epoxy resin, LEDs have a firm structure that enables them to last 100,000 hours, 10 times longer than fluorescent lights and 100 times longer than incandescent bulbs. In addition, LEDs are more environmentally friendly than fluorescent lights, which may cause mercury pollution if they break.

LEDs are widely used in cell phones, computers, digital cameras and cars. They have also been used in indicators on the panels of some electric appliances and television remote controls. Scientists also use LED lamps for sterilization and air purification in the medical field, and for promoting the growth of farm crops. Since they do not kindle sparks, LEDs can serve as a safe lighting source for miners. They can also be made into traffic lights and equipment indicators, and used for decorating city landscapes.

Zhongshanlu Street in Xiamen, a prosperous tourist city along China’s southeast coast, was once known as one of China’s 10 most famous streets. It had lost its status as Xiamen’s business center to other newly emerging commercial districts. In 2004, the city government decided to revitalize the century-old commercial street. While converting it to a pedestrian street, the government resolved to raise its profile with the launch of a “night view project.”

Now, when night falls, Zhongshanlu is ablaze with colorful lights. With a modern new look, the street attracts legions of visitors every night. In peak time, the number of visitors can reach over 100,000 for one single night. Local government statistics show that the monthly retail sales along the street have grown 30 percent to 50 percent. Part of the secret behind this success lies in the LED lights that silhouette buildings along the street. Computer controlled, these lamps produce stunning visual effects unrivaled by conventional devices such as neon lights.

Government promotion

The LED industry promises great prospects. Experts generally believe that between 2010 and 2015, the optoelectronic industry may render obsolete the traditional electronic industry to become the biggest business in the 21st century and an important measure by which to judge a country’s economic development and comprehensive strength.

Since LEDs lay the foundation of the optoelectronic industry as its most crucial component, many governments have drawn up plans accordingly.

China established a national coordination team for the LED lighting project on June 17, 2003. It was decided that the period until the end of 2005 would be a preliminary stage, during which key technologies would be developed and the overall strategy for the LED industry and implementation plans would be formulated as part of the nation’s medium- and long-term scientific and technological development plan. Over the next five years, beginning this year, the government will set out to promote the industry in earnest.

With the approval of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai, Dalian, Nanchang, Xiamen and Shenzhen will become bases of the LED industry.

Shenzhen set up an industrial base for the semiconductor lighting industry in its Guangming Hitech Park last June. It aims to establish over 200 companies covering all segments of the LED industry with an annual sales volume of nearly 100 billion yuan and annual foreign exchange earnings of over $2.5 billion by 2010.

In the capital of Jiangxi Province, the city government plans to create the industrial fabric by relying on Nanchang National Hitech Industrial Development Zone and Nanchang University. While looking to commercial enterprises to be major investors, the local government earmarks 6 million yuan each year to support research and development, help shape a platform for technological development and subsidize loans.

It will also concentrate on building two national LED technology research centers to integrate the city’s human resources and enhance its ability to be innovative. The city’s objective is to make its semiconductor lighting devices, display lighting and LED lamps an industry with an annual turnover of 10 billion yuan by 2010.

Xiamen has prioritized the optoelectronic industry and renders support to its development in terms of government policies and budget. The city’s hitech zone has decided to establish an “optoelectronic incubator.” Giving full play to its experience and advantages in nurturing businesses, the city gives special care to small and medium-sized technology enterprises engaged in this field in the spirit of stepping up their development. In addition to helping individual companies, the city is committed to promoting the development of the LED industry as a whole to shape a complete industrial chain.

In the last couple of years, Taiwan, the world’s second largest LED manufacturing base, has been outsourcing work to the Chinese mainland. At present, one third of Xiamen’s large optoelectronic companies are from Taiwan. Experts have projected that Xiamen’s optoelectronic industry will rise to become a 20-billion-yuan business by 2010.

A rough calculation based on the objectives of the five industrial bases indicates that the size of China’s LED industry will be over 150 billion yuan by 2010.

Companies jump in

China will be the leading edge of the solid-state lighting revolution. Robert C. Walker, CEO of eLite Optoelectronics, a California-based supplier of LEDs, made this bold assertion at an investor conference in Boston not long ago. Walker is also a senior adviser to the Chinese Government’s solid-state lighting committee.