A two-year-old company based in North Wales has been awarded £454,000 by the Government-backed Carbon Trust to develop its OLED technology, which the company claims could reduce energy consumption by 60% over that used by existing light sources.
Lomox Limited, the firm awarded the grant, is hoping to lower production costs of OLED panels while increasing both the efficiency and size of the panels.
As well as light-emitting wallpaper, Lomox plans to make flexible screens that can be taken into meetings and rolled up after use, and outdoor lighting. The company hopes to have its first products on sale in 2010.
"Lighting is a major producer of carbon emissions" said Mark Williamson, Director of Innovations at the Carbon Trust. "This technology has the potential to produce ultra-efficient lighting for a wide range of applications, tapping into a huge global market."
Lomox isn't the first to come up with the idea of light-emitting wallpaper. In 2007, Jonas Samson designed and submitted a luminescent wallpaper project as part of his final-year postgraduate degree. Samson admitted his creation wouldn't be cheap, though, with a basic "starting price" of 6,000 euros.
Your comments (7) Click to add a new comment
louis058
January 3rd 2010
7. What? But it feels like it's bad my eyes when I have to look at light directly! Even when I'm looking at my TV and my computer, I'm subconsciously thinking it's bad for my eyes! Having walls with lights in them? Not so good.
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ootempo
January 3rd 2010
6. You have to admit thats some prety cool stuff dude!
RT
www.invisibility-tools.pl.tc
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theklf99
January 1st 2010
5. Why not just paint our walls with glow-in-the-dark paint, like Del-Boy did in Only Fools & Horses, don't need any electric then!
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apachev8
January 1st 2010
4. So it's save money if you've got loads of it to spare on LED wallpaper. Hands up all those reading this who can afford the €6000 'starting price'?
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lovlid
January 1st 2010
3. Osram. 88mm bulb? £220. I'll have a dozen;-)
http://www.oled-info.com/osram-releases-their-first-oled-lighting-panel-orbeos
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tech89
January 1st 2010
2. @quatermass
What's the company called that does the ceiling tiles in OLED? Would be very interested to know more about that company. Thanks.
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quatermass
January 1st 2010
1. It's been well aware for years that OLEDs have the potential to be made in any size or shape.
I've heard of a UK company that is making ceiling tiles that are basically one big OLED. You just swap them for existing office ceiling tiles and plug them into the Mains.
Instant lighting that is more like sunlight as they are spread over the entire office floor area. Easy to simulate the colour temperature of the sun over a day too.
I'd get a fistful of money invested into some decent modern Lighting designer companies as this is where the big profits will be by 2012.
Expect some cool and innovative new lighting designs replacing the traditional housings based on a single point light source which was the incandescent light-bulb.
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