Nobel Prize
Scientific Background on the Nobel Prize in Physics 2014
EFFICIENT BLUE LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES LEADING TO BRIGHT AND ENERGY-SAVING WHITE LIGHT SOURCES
The invention of efficient blue LEDs has led to white light sources for illumination . When exciting a phosphor mate rial with a blue LED , light is emitted in the green and red spectral ranges , which , combined with the blue light , appears as white . Alternatively, multiple LEDs of complementary colo u rs (red, green and blue) can be used together . Both of these technologies are used in today's high - efficiency white electroluminescent light sources. These light sources, with very long lifetime s , have begun to replac e incandescent and fluorescent lam ps for general lighting purposes . Since lighting represents 20 - 30% of our electrical energy consumption , and since these new whit e light sources require ten times less energy than ordinary light bulbs , t he use of efficient blue LEDs leads to significant energy saving s , of great benefit to mankind.