The Nobel Prize in Physics of 2014 was jointly awarded to Akasaki, Amano and Nakamura for the invention of Blue LEDs in 1990s. How has this invention impacted the everyday life of human beings? (UPSC GS Paper 3 2021)
In 2014, Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources. LED invention has tremendous impact on the everyday life of human being due to following features it has:
Characteristic Features
- Energy Efficiency - 60-70 percent improvement in energy use with respect to regular bulbs.
- Longer life span- Lasts 50,000hours to 100000hours.
- Ability to operate in cold conditions - Perform better in cold temperatures by about 5%.
- Cost effectiveness.
Impact on everyday life
- Seen in most of the organizations- Schools, workplace, institutions, hospitals, etc.
- Becoming the first choice of everyone, especially in Parking lots, outdoor signage, perimeter of buildings, which needs t ofunctionals 24*7.
- Used in freezer, meat lockers, cold storage spaces and refrigerated display.
- Resulted in financial savings and improved standard of living.
Other impacts of LED in daily lives
- Environment-friendly: No mercury usage and ability to recycle makes it best use for environment conscious organizations and consumers.
- Rural Electrification- Can fulfil goal of 24*7 electricity to all with less investment.
- Replaced traditional bulbs- Long-lasting capability, low power requirements, swift response time, and fast switching capabilities resulted in LEDs replacing the traditional bulbs in most of the sectors.
- Revolutionized other technologies- Ranging from optical communication, alarm and security systems, mobile camera, circuit boards, remote-controlled operations, robotics, etc.
Even the government has realized their importance in energy conservation and have encouraged their use by several schemes like UJJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) and Street Light National Programme. Thus, it is appropriate to call it a breakthrough invention with huge socio-economic impact.
Govt. Schemes
- Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA)
- Zero-subsidy scheme.
- World’s largest domestic lighting project.
- Also known as the LED-based Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP)
- Aims to promote the efficient usage of energy for all.
- Every domestic household having a metered connection is eligible to get the LED bulbs
Achievements:
- Estimated energy savings of 47.65 billion kWh per year
- Estimated Green House Gas (GHG) emission reduction of 38.59 million tonnes CO2 per year.
- Average household electricity bills got down by 15%.
- Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP)
- Replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs.
- Expected to enable peak demand reduction of 500 MW.
- Annual energy savings of 190 crore kWh.
- Reduction in 15 lakh tons of CO2.
- Proposed Investment of Rs. 8,000 crores by 2024 to cover the entire rural India.
Achievements:
- Over 1.14 crore smart LED streetlights have been installed till date
- Estimated energy savings of 7.67 billion kWh per year
- Estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 5.29 million tons CO2 annually.
- Municipalities were able to save 5,210 crores of Rupees in their electricity bills.
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