LED lighting at the crossroads: country road or expressway?

The advantages of the new LED lighting technology are well attested and beyond doubt. Nevertheless, LED lamps have achieved little market penetration so far and are predicted to make far slower market progress than comparable disruptive technologies. McKinsey research conducted by the firm’s LED Competence Center has revealed the underlying reasons behind the slow uptake, and this article presents the means to address them and so accelerate LED penetration. If manufacturers, retailers and regulators collaborate to overcome the five major barriers to adoption that the research has identified, LEDs could dominate the lighting marketplace by 2015