Lighting for Tomorrow has selected four winners in its first solid-state lighting (SSL) competition, marking a giant step forward for this up-and-coming technology.

In October, more than 30 entries were judged by a panel of six lighting experts. Winners will be displayed during the U.S. Department of Energy's annual SSL workshop Jan. 31-Feb. 2 in Phoenix as well as other important lighting industry events.

Lighting for Tomorrow solicited lighting fixtures that use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the sole light source. A separate 2006 Lighting for Tomorrow competition for compact fluorescent-based fixtures was held earlier this year and the winners were announced in September (click here for details).

The winning entries in the LED competition were produced by American Fluorescent, Lucere Lighting, Lucesco and Progress Lighting. In addition, io Lighting, Albeo Lighting, American Lighting LLC, and Osram Sylvania received honorable mentions.

American Fluorescent and Progress Lighting have both been honored in past Lighting for Tomorrow competitions for their CFL-based fixtures. Lucere and Lucesco are relatively new companies that focus solely on LED lighting products.

Lighting for Tomorrow judges rated the fixtures according to: 1) application efficiency, 2) overall lighting quality, 3) aesthetic appearance, 4) innovation and 5) thermal design.

At their current stage of technology development, LEDs are appropriate for a small number of niche lighting applications. Nonetheless, the technology continues to improve quickly, and currently offers the following benefits:

• For directional lighting applications, such as task lighting, LEDs can be very energy efficient.
  
  
• LEDs are durable and resistant to damage from vibration.
  
  
• LEDs can have markedly longer lives than incandescent lamps and CFLs.