THE INCANDESCENT LIGHT bulb is disappearing from stores. It has long been superseded by a new generation of light sources. In tomorrow’s multimedia society colour displays the size of an apartment will generate crystal-clear images, and entire sports stadiums will be lit by high-performance lamps.
Light can also be used as a tool. Laser scalpels have become an indispensable part of medical technology.
These new lighting technologies are driven by energy-efficient light-emitting diodes. WACKER’s researchers have developed an innovative UV-curing silicone that makes it relatively inexpensive to manufacture the energy-saving light sources of the future.
Nothing travels faster than light. Both the internet and telephones rely on light waves. Fibre optic cables transmit light pulses around the globe at incredible speeds. But the last 10 years have seen not only a proliferation of data transfer; new visualisation possibilities have become established. Information is universally available on cell-phone displays; books are becoming e-books.
These technologies are exceptionally efficient thanks to energy-saving backlighting by light emitting diodes. “High energy efficiency, a great colour range, stability, long life, brilliance and completely new design options are what make LEDs appealing for all lighting applications,” says Dr Klaus Angermaier, Senior Marketing Manager Transportation & Energy at WACKER. He points out that LEDs are shedding a whole new light on the market.
Particularly attractive
The incandescent lamp has finally had its day. Since 1 September it has been forbidden to sell 100W incandescent bulbs in the EU, and lower wattages are to be phased out by 2012.
Various lamp types are available as replacements, including improved incandescent, halogen and compact fluorescent lamps. LED technology is particularly attractive because of its high light yield, which doubles every three years or so. A conventional LED has achieved about 50 lumens/watt so far and it is likely this will be increased fourfold in the near future.
An incandescent bulb only manages 12 lumens/watt. But this is still the preferred light source in German households. Incandescents produce so much heat that you can burn your fingers on them. And just five per cent of the energy they consume is converted into light.
Experts estimate that private households in Germany could save up to US$1.8 billion per year by exchanging them. “The EU expects that, in Germany alone, merely replacing incandescent with energy-saving lamps will save 7.5 billion kWh in private households. Replacing these with LEDs will save even more,” says Prof Norbert Huettenhoelscher of EnergieAgentur NRW.
“The energy saving for televisions with LED lighting can be as much as 50 per cent,” says Bernd Franke, head of strategy and information at the VDE Institute.
“Compared to fluorescent tubes, LEDs save up to 60 per cent energy and for much longer lifetimes.”
Initially LEDs are taking over our roads, where there is a particularly urgent need. “According to the German Electrical Luminaires and Electrical Lamps Trade Associations [now known collectively as ‘Light’], for example, 50 per cent of German cities still use street lighting based on 1960s technology,” the Professor explains.
Climate Protection Technologies, an initiative by the German Federal Environment Ministry, subsidises the modernisation of municipal street lighting. Only three per cent of these ‘vintage’ lights are replaced annually. Nationwide savings are estimated at 2.7bn kWh.
Prof Tran Quoc Khanh of Darmstadt Technical University has no doubts either. “The street lamp of the future is the LED lamp. The potential for savings is huge.”
As LED performance increases, however, the materials such as lenses used must meet new challenges. Materials that have been used up to now can yellow under intense fluxes. So in future silicone will be preferred.
“Silicone elastomers have the necessary heat and light stability,” explains Dr Philipp Mueller, an applications engineer at WACKER in Burghausen.
Efficient
With a new optical high-performance silicone, marketed under the trade name LUMISILR, optical lenses for LEDs are produced directly on the LED chip (see alongside). This method is particularly efficient and reduces the traditionally high production costs.
“Up until now, LED manufacturers had been using a complex injection moulding process to make the silicone lenses. With our product they can eliminate about five process steps,” explains Mueller.
The novel silicone is applied by conventional dosing to produce the optical element, which is then flash cured by exposure to UV light. The company’s chemists came up with a material blend that was suitable for this step and which also provided optimum adhesion.
Adds Mueller: “The silicone has to bond equally well to both metal and plastic and must not cloud the LED lens.”
This new material has proved itself in practical trials. “One of the world’s leading LED manufacturers has been convinced by LUMISILR, with its outstanding transparency, excellent mechanical strength and long-term resistance to extreme UV exposure,” he says.
The bright LEDs are simply unbeatable for use as spots and light-emitting surfaces. Energy-saving lamps have lifetimes of about 6-15,000 hours, but LEDs as much as 50,000. Analysts from iSuppli predict that by 2025 on in every three light sources will be an LED.
These diodes don’t just make sense financially. They also protect the climate. Prof Khanh of the Laboratory of Lighting Technology at Darmstadt believes that, with today’s technology alone, Germany could cut its carbon emissions by 1.6mn tonnes per year. In global terms, current LEDs could reduce the world’s energy demand by around 30 per cent as almost one-fifth is still consumed by lighting.
Technical advances could slash that by a further 30 per cent. This would save up to 650mn tonnes of CO2.
LEDs have been present in cars sold in the Middle East for a while now. Their energy-saving properties are much appreciated.
The low consumption of these diodes significantly reduces fuel burned, resulting in savings of several million litres a year in Germany alone. And LEDs have additional benefits for drivers. At night the road and curb appear in natural colours and the human eye can distinguish contrasts better.
They enable intelligent lighting control, in which the intensity is adjusted according to weather and traffic conditions.
“With them we can also serve major markets like the USA and Japan,” says Dr Bernd Pachaly, head of the company’s Elastomers Business Unit. “We are expecting annual growth rates of 20 per cent.” n
Two new gas turbines with a total production capacity of 400 MW will be commissioned by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) before the end of the current year, according to DEWA managing director and CEO, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer. The utility will also commission two desalination units with a total production capacity of 160,000 litres of water, in addition to four auxiliary boilers according to Al Tayer. The units of power generation and water desalination project (Station M) have come into service this year to raise the production capacity of both electricity and desalinated water of DEWA.
A senior Kuwait government official has said that the quarterly report over its development plan would be referred to the cabinet in its next meeting ahead of preparing the bi-annual report next October.
Saudi Electricity has posted a 50 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit thanks to lower costs and higher revenues with further gains expected after a rise in power tariffs for some users. The Gulf's largest utility by market value made US$285.3mn in the three months to the end of June compared with US$191mn riyals a year earlier, according to a statement to the Saudi bourse. This figure is 13 per cent higher than analysts' forecasts.
Ali Akbar Salehi, responsible for managing Iran's atomic energy policy, has confirmed the launch of the Islamic republic's first nuclear power plant. The plan was initially announced by Russia which has helped build the facility.
Siemens Energy has secured a US$130mn order to supply gas turbine packages to Saudi Arabia. The components are to be installed in the Hail Extension II and Al Qurayat Expansion II power plants. The purchasers are the Alfanar Construction Company and Saudi Services for Electromechanic Works (SSEM) respectively and they will perform the project on a turnkey basis for the Saudi Electric Company (SEC) utility. Delivery of the components is scheduled for 2010 and 2011.
Power and automation technology group, ABB, has won an order worth US$89mn from the Saudi Electricity Company to build a new substation to ensure reliable power supplies for the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. The substation will be close to the financial centre and feed four smaller substations situated within the district. The project is expected to be completed in around 22 months.
Air blowers using internal compression instead of external compression can set a new standard for energy efficiency in the low-pressure market according to a new technical whitepaper from Atlas Copco’s oil-free air division. The whitepaper explains the differences between screw technology and the traditional ‘Roots’ type lobe technology and says that screw technology, which is used in Atlas Copco's ZS screw blowers, is on average 30 per cent more energy efficient. The manufacturer recently launched its full range of ZS screw blowers that are designed to improve energy efficiency for low-pressure applications and industries such as wastewater treatment and pneumatic conveying.
Plans for the zero-carbon Masdar City project are to be revised, with details of the amended master plan to be announced “imminently” according to Masdar's head of supply-chain management, Richard Reynolds. “We’ll finalise the revised Masdar plan fairly imminently, in the next two to three weeks,” Reynolds was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “We’d only built part of it, so it made sense to stop and revisit.”
Saudi Arabia has taken the first step towards becoming energy efficient by holding its first ever public stakeholder meeting, the initial step in certifying an energy efficiency project under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in Jeddah recently.
Power generation equipment and services supplier, Alstom, has announced the strengthening of its renewables portfolio through a partnership with BrightSource Energy Inc. Alstom's move into the high-growth solar energy market comes in the form of an investment of up to US$55mn in BrightSource Energy Inc, with an equity stake that positions Alstom as one of the main shareholders in the company. 
A high level delegation representing the energy sector in Dubai has visited China to look at the latest global practices in the area of sustainable energy and the diversification of its sources. The delegation exchanged knowledge on the usage of conventional power plant technologies (using ultra super critical power plant-coal and synthetic gas) to generate electricity and produce desalinated water.
The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), a fund established by the government to aid the economic development of developing nations, has granted a loan to Bahrain worth US$50mn. The loan will be used to erect two electric transmission lines, of 220KV and 66KV each, to meet the increasing demand for electric power.
Abu Dhabi Transmission and Despatch (Transco) has placed an order with Siemens Energy to supply transformer substations and switchgear for the UAE power distribution network expansion project. The US$184mn order includes the turnkey supply of three 132/11 kV transformer substations and two 132/22 kV substations.
Power and automation technology group, ABB, has signed a service contract with the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) to provide maintenance for equipment and systems at the Gulf Interconnection Grid's newly constructed substations. The two-year contract is worth US$8.3mn and will aim to optimise the grid's reliability through regular maintenance and provide technical and emergency assistance when required.
Abu Dhabi is considering a proposal to use solar energy equipment on rooftops in the city to generate about 500MW of power, according to the executive director at the city's Executive Affairs Authority, David Scott.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions initiative, has appointed the bidding consortium of Total and Abengoa Solar as a partner to own, build and operate Shams 1, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant (CSP). One of Masdar’s flagship projects and the first plant of its kind in the Middle East, Shams 1 will directly contribute towards Abu Dhabi’s target of achieving 7 per cent renewable energy power generation capacity by the year 2020.
Oman has awarded France's GDF Suez a US$1.7 billion contract to build two power plants. A tender board official told Reuters, “GDF Suez has signed a 15-year contract with the government in a BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) model for which the company will spend 700 million rials."
An executive from state oil company Saudi Aramco has said that renewable sources could account for up to 10 per cent of Saudi Arabia's power output by 2020 with prices coming down and a regulatory framework in place.
ABB, THE LEADING power and automation technology group, has won an order worth US$38mn from the Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Arabia’s national power transmission and distribution utility, to improve the efficiency of 22 power distribution substations.
THE MIDDLE EAST has the opportunity to become a boom centre for solar energy in the next 10 years, according to AT Kearney.
Technical Review Middle East - Issue Three 2009 Power 60 IN THE PRESENT economic climate the fact that renewable energy can cut pollution levels may not be enough. As Phil Desmond discovers, some recent innovations in the field of cellular communications are being promoted not just as being better for the environment than conventional fuels but better for business too.
ARAMCO’S “FAIR” PRICE of US$75 a barrel has not yet been achieved but the giant Saudi economy is still surging ahead, prioritising the creation of new homes and diversified jobs in industry, social and other services to satisfy the needs of a 26mn young and wealthy population which grows at two per cent-plus every year. This means continued rapid progress on the development of the new Economic Cities, further and accelerated petrochemical and light industrial diversification, and the Middle East’s largest by far programme of dedicated passenger- and freightline rail construction. 
