Organic lights hold promise of softer glow

Cost-efficient and eco-friendly, lights powered by light-emitting diodes are taking off but may soon be upstaged by their organic cousins. Engineers have high hopes that OLED (organic light-emitting diode) lights, which are flat and produce a softer light than LEDs, will become a new option in the lighting industry and cultivate the market further. “We’ve been researching them for 10 years and feel that the technology is nearly ready for practical use,” said Yasuki Kawashima, manager of the solid-state lighting application engineering and development department at NEC Lighting Ltd., which makes OLEDs.