To analyze it by the approach of cost variancesIn order to investigate how much energy will be saved by using compact fluorescent lamps and LED light bulbs, “LEDinside” has conducted a survey on the prices and specifications of compact fluorescent lamps and LED light bulbs. Some incandescent lamps have also been used for in-depth comparison. The comparable standards include “luminous efficiency”, “ power cost”, “lamp cost”, and the “total cost”.

In order to reduce the greenhouse gas and cope with the problems rising from high oil prices and high energy consumption, many countries have announced new regulations in relation to using the high efficiency and cost saving light sources in replacement of incandescent lamps. Hopefully, attain the goal of saving energy and reducing the emission of CO2.

LED and CCFL NB have a price gap of 50%, but such gap is expected to narrow soon. LEDinside recently has gathered further information about NB with LED backlight on the market. Until February 2008, prices of LED NB range from US$2,100 to US$3,100, while CCFL NB equipped with similar hardware cost $1,280 to $2,000. CCFL NB and LED NB have a price gap of at least 50% (indicated in Figure 1), says LEDinside. Although with advantages in weights, sizes and energy consumption, it is still quite costly to have an environmental, energy-saving and light LED NB.

With industry restructuring and energy-saving awareness, LED applications have extended to handset backlights, auto lighting, notebooks, LCD TV and even indoor lighting. However, several challenges remain. LED for notebooks are still waiting for technical breakthroughs, and only first-rate manufacturers have the capability to produce LCD TV with LED backlights. Affected by budget cell phone program inventory, LED market in 2006 was mediocre, and the legacy has lasted to 2007.

Since the second half of 2007, NB panels with white LED backlight has been increasingly popular because it’s thinner, lighter and more energy-saving and more portable. Environment protection is another concern among customers, which encourages many NB manufacturers to adopt LED without mercury as backlight. Especially since Apple announced to produce all NB with LED backlight in May 2007, many others follow suit.

In CEATEC JAPAN 2007 exhibited recently in Japan , Japanese electronics giant SONY Corp announced the LED LCDTV back light module technology used in the latest 70-inch module of BRAVIA LCD TV . As one of the leader brands of LCD TV, SONY’s choice of back light module technology will certainly cause some influence to the industry, especially the trend of LED modules used in high-end LCD TV and designs of periphreals. It’s possible that the most common strategy might be mimicking SONY, SAMSUNG and SHARP.