SUMMARYLED is the fourth and latest generation of light sources, following the first-generation incandescent lamps, the second-generation fluorescent lamps, and the third-generation HID lamps. Their excellent characteristics, such as high efficiency, long life, compactness, light weight, zero mercury content, very slight IR and UV emissions, and the like, are advantages in comparison with conventional light sources. With the progress of LED lighting technologies, their application is spreading in sign and display devices, spot lighting, base lighting, and security lighting, and new applications that cannot be realized with conventional light sources are expected. This article reports the latest trends in LED lighting.

ＡＢＳＴＲＡＣＴAccording to machinery statistics of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the quantity of electric lamps produced in Japan was 613,000,000 (68.1% compared to the previous year). Of these, 73,000,000 were general lamps (88.1% compared to the previous year) and 32,000,000 were halogen lamps (79.3% compared to the previous year). The number of fluorescent lamps produced was 627,000,000 (72.9% compared to the previous year), and the number of general fluorescent lamps excluding backlights was 240,000,000 (86.0% compared to the previous year). Furthermore, the number of HID lamps produced was 7,600,000 (75.6% compared to the previous year). On the other hand, when looking at the sales amounts compared to the previous year, the results for general lighting electric lamps, halogen lamps, general fluorescent lamps, backlights, and HID lamps were 88.5%, 87.7%, 91.6%, 49.1%, and 76.4%, respectively. For compact fluorescent lamps, which are included within the numbers for general fluorescent lamps, sales amounts were 92.7% compared to the previous year, which was a large drop from 137.3% in 2008. The main causes mentioned for the decreases in production numbers and sales volume for these mainstream lamps are generally the economic recession and the rise of LEDs, a new light source that is now being used in the general lighting field. The main exhibition domestically was Lighting Fair 2009 held in March at Tokyo Big Sight. Internationally, it was Light Fair held in New York City in May. Although some new types of and research results for incandescent electric lamps are seen, their use and production continues to be stopped worldwide due to their low luminescence efficiency. In particular, the EUP directive (a directive related to energy using products and now named the ERP directive) was enacted in Europe in September. The sales of white diffused and clear types of incandescent electric lamps of 100 W or more and halogen lamps are prohibited. In Japan as well, major manufacturers continue to stop or reduce production of incandescent electric lamps. With fluorescent lamps, development into energy efficiency and longer life is healthy and new product releases of compact fluorescent lamps and ring fluorescent lamps are seen. Furthermore, the issue of reducing the amount of enclosed mercury remains and the IEC is continuing validity investigations of measurement methods. For light emitting diode (LED) light sources, 2009 was the year they saw full-fledged commercial viability and it may be remembered as the year that LEDs started to receive attention from average consumers. The luminescence efficiency of individual chips was reported to have reached 250 lm/W at the research level. In the Japanese production industry, the current market price of LED light bulbs quickly dropped to almost a third between the beginning and the end of the year. This drop is believed to be due to competition between the main existing light source manufacturers and manufacturers newly entering the market, the development and market intr...

ＡＢＳＴＲＡＣＴAccording to machinery statistics of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the quantity of electric lamps produced in Japan in 2010 was 797,000,000 (129.5% compared to the previous year). Of these, 70,000,000 were general lamps (95.5% compared to the previous year) and 35,000,000 were halogen lamps (109.7% compared to the previous year). The number of fluorescent lamps produced was 545,000,000 (86.9% compared to the previous year), and the number of general fluorescent lamps excluding backlights was 251,000,000 (104.5% compared to the previous year). Furthermore, the number of HID lamps produced was 9,700,000 (127.3% compared to the previous year). On the other hand, when looking at sales compared to the previous year, the results for general lighting electric lamps, halogen lamps, general fluorescent lamps, backlights, and HID lamps were 87.3%, 105.1%, 98.1%, 64.7%, and 110.7%, respectively. Moreover, the sales of bulb-type fluorescent lamps included in general fluorescent lamps were 83.9% when compared to the previous year. Adding up these numbers to discuss trends is not an easy task, but we can glean two conflicting factors from this data: a long-term reduction via transition to LED light sources, and a short-term recovery from the significant reduction caused by the economic downturn of 2009. Only backlights show a significant reduction of more than 30% for 2 years in succession, due in large part to a switch to LED lighting. Our main exhibitions included "LED Next Stage

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