Flipping the switch on an old technology
An Ottawa company says it's well on its way to reinventing the lightbulb.Group IV Semiconductor has been quietly toiling away at its March Road offices since 2003, trying to recycle old telecommunications technology into a new type of bulb that uses a tiny computer chip in the place of a traditional wire filament.
Stephen Naor, chief executive of Group IV, says his company's days of toiling are now drawing to a close. Group IV should have working prototypes of its technology ready by 2010 with the made-in-Ottawa lightbulbs appearing on store shelves by 2011.
Group IV Semiconductor Inc. chief executive Stephen Naor holds a silicon wafer containing several thousand light emitters. The company is using the technology to develop a non-toxic, recyclable lightbulb that he says will be as energy efficient as compact fluorescent bulbs, but will cast a softer light, more like that of an incandescent bulb.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Group IV Semiconductor Inc. chief executive Stephen Naor holds a silicon wafer containing several thousand light emitters. The company is using the technology to develop a non-toxic, recyclable lightbulb that he says will be as energy efficient as compact fluorescent bulbs, but will cast a softer light, more like that of an incandescent bulb.
Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen
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"Today, most people use incandescent bulbs and those are the same bulbs they have used for the past 100 years," said Mr. Naor.
"They are incredibly inefficient."
Some people are now moving to compact fluorescent bulbs in order to cut their energy consumption, but complaints about the quality of light emitted by the bulbs, as well as the inclusion of toxic chemicals such as mercury and phosphor in their construction, make the new bulbs far from ideal.
According to Mr. Naor, the energy efficiency of his company's bulbs, officially called solid state lights, will be on par with compact fluorescent bulbs.
The lifespan will be around 10,000 hours, the light emitted will be much more like an incandescent bulb, and the entire bulb will be recyclable.
"They are made of silicon. There is nothing toxic in them," said Mr. Naor.
"Everyone knows silicon is the technical term for sand."
When asked about other energy efficient lighting technologies such as light emitting diode (LED), Mr. Naor said LED is fine for Christmas lights, but often illuminates too blue for home use. Some higher quality LED lights have been created to be used in the home, but cost around $100 each.
Keeping the costs of its lightbulb chips down has been a crucial component of Group IV's work, according to Mr. Naor.
"Low cost is the most central part of what we are trying to do," he said. "It has to retail for as much as compact fluorescent or else people won't buy it."
Group IV's new bulb technology has attracted the attention of some of the world's most recognizable technology investors. Vinod Khosla, founding chief executive of Sun Microsystems and founder of investment firm Khosla Ventures, has poured money into the company. Jozef Straus, former chief executive and co-chairman of JDS Uniphase Corp., serves as the chairman of Group IV's board of directors.
The company has also attracted investment from Applied Materials Inc., a company that specializes in making manufacturing equipment. Mr. Naor said Group IV's relationship with Applied Materials is especially important, as it will allow his company to ramp up production of its silicon lightbulb chips quickly, once the prototypes have been perfected.
The Ottawa company will then sell its microchip lightbulb technology to companies such as Phillips and General Electric, who will place the chips inside a new generation of energy efficient bulbs.
The 23-employee firm could be seen as the ultimate "green" company. Its lightbulb technology is actually leftover, recycled technology from the telecommunications market crash of 2001.
The technology was originally intended to boost the range and speed of long-distance fibre optic networks. The chips were meant to boost the light signal flowing over the network, allowing it to travel longer distances.
In 2003, with the market for telecommunications products in shambles, Mr. Naor and his team begun to think of new applications for their technology. It dawned on them that are 4.4 billion lightbulbs installed in the United States and half of those are changed each year. Lighting is a $12-billion U.S. market annually.
The founders of Group IV realized that, if tweaked, the technology could be used to illuminate people's homes.
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With new regulations outlawing the sale of traditional incandescent bulbs in Ontario, Australia and Britain by 2011 -- the United States is currently considering a ban -- the company realized there couldn't be a better time to bring its technology to market.
"We don't think the market is even beginning yet," said Mr. Naor, referring to the idea that compact fluorescent bulbs could be the automatic substitute for incandescent once those are phased out.
A recent study by market researcher Forrester Research Inc. supports Mr. Naor's optimism. The study says more than 50 per cent of adults in the United States will pay more for a product simply because it is environmentally friendly.
"Marketers and designers of consumer technology products and services must change product marketing and product design to embrace green principles," states the study, released in November and called In Search of Green Technology Consumers. "A distinct segment of green technology consumers ready to put their dollars behind eco-friendly product choices is becoming visible."
Three ways to see the light
Solid state technology vs. other bulbs
Solid State Lighting
(Group IV's technology)
History: Based on fibre-optic technology. Expected to be introduced commercially in 2011.
How it works: Replaces the filament in an incandescent bulb with a silicon chip that lights up when a current is passed through it.
Staying power: Up to 10,000 hours.
Cost: Estimated at $5 per bulb or more.
Eco-rating: Expected to use 70 per cent less electricity than a traditional incandescent bulb. Uses no toxic chemicals.
Compact fluorescent
History: Introduced commercially in the 1980s.
How it works: White phosphor coating on the inside surface of the bulb gives off light when excited by electrical current.
Staying power: Up to 10,000 hours.
Cost: $5 or more per bulb.
Eco-rating: Uses about 70 per cent less electricity than an incandescent bulb, but uses toxic chemicals including phosphor and mercury.
Incandescent bulb
History: Invented in 1880 by
Thomas Edison.
How it works: Electricity heats a thin filament to produce light.
Staying power: Up to 1,500 hours.
Cost: About 50 cents per bulb.
Eco-rating: An inefficient technology that uses 90 per cent of its power as heat rather than light, but it's totally recyclable.