Among the glitches overlooked with the introduction of compact fluorescents (Hello - Mercury Disposal?), Mr. Karsner said, was the color of light they produced. Compared with traditional bulbs, some compact fluorescents emitted a cold, bluish light that gave homes all the coziness of a hospital hallway.
That may be changing. Attracted by the low power demands of solid-state lights, which use semiconductor materials, the Department of Energy is financing projects to overcome technical and marketing problems that have prevented the technology from successfully challenging more conventional incandescent and fluorescent lighting. "It will involve multiple paths of attack," said Alexander Karsner, the assistant secretary in the department's office of energy efficiency and renewable energy. "It's not any one thing, but it certainly starts with the technology itself."
Solid-state lights, allow manufacturers to fine-tune the tint of their output to better suit consumers' tastes.
OLEDs can be produced using inexpensive methods. Add-Vision, a company that has received federal financing, plans to use printing presses similar to those that churn out high-quality magazines. Last month, General Electric produced OLEDs at a laboratory in Niskayuna, N.Y., using what the company called "a newspaper printing-like roll-to-roll process."
It should also be possible to make very large light panels using OLED technology. Thin and lightweight, such panels could be slid into suspended ceilings to replace the familiar fluorescent light box. Read full VIA NY-Times