Terry Clark was asked to present at the 8th annual Department of Energy SSL R&D
workshop in San Diego this past month. His 20 years in high tech and 25 years
experience in the lighting industry brought a unique perspective to high performance lighting.
The workshop gathered experts, notable government, academic, and industry
players in the latest SSL technology. Discussions focused on driving and researching breakthrough technology, energy-efficient performance, and costs associated with current LED technology.
“I was asked to deliver a candid assessment of why the adoption rate of general
purpose solid-state lighting luminaires hasn’t been as quick as some would expect,”
says Mr. Clark.
During the presentation Mr. Clark compared the LED to its logical competitor, the
linear fluorescent lamp. He covered current challenges related to LED luminaire
manufacturing, the cost of maintenance, and general system reliability. Mr. Clark
stated, “Right now SSL technology is great for the task lights, such as desk lamps
and undercabinets, used in a task/low ambient approach to lighting. However, T8s
will dominate vertical lighting for some time to come. At Finelite we expect SSL to
represent as much as 40-50% of our business over the next three to five years.”
The rate of change in SSL technology is extremely fast and in order to keep up with
these changes, Finelite is producing products at its Union City, CA facility. “There are benefits to producing off-shore, but when it comes to a rapidly changing product like SSL, we need to have production and development in the United States,” says Mr. Clark.
Download the presentation
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