DOE publishes fact sheet on the lifetime and reliability of LED-based lighting

The solid-state lighting (SSL) industry has come a long way in establishing standards for testing and rating both LED components and LED-based systems, although as the US Department of Energy (DOE) points out, there is still no definitive way to rate system life expectations. There are improved ways to test for and project lumen maintenance, but other failure mechanisms including driver life and system-level color maintenance remain hard to quantify. The new DOE fact sheet on the topic, entitled " Lifetime and reliability," attempts to define all of the standards and projection methods that exist, and where the shortcomings exist in fully defining the characteristics of a SSL product at the system level.