LEDs, not solar, have transformed their industry

For all of the talk about the disruptive nature of wind and solar on the utility sector, there is another clean energy technology that has already quietly rocked its own industry: light-emitting diodes.

Goldman Sachs recently released 60 charts that show the transformation that’s occurring in the low-carbon economy. The financial institution calls LEDs one of the fastest technology shifts in human history. While wind and solar are challenging the traditional electric generation sector, they have not upended it yet the way LEDs have overtaken the lighting industry. By 2020, LEDs will make up 69 percent of sales and close to 100 percent by 2025, up from nearly nothing in 2010.

The rise of LEDs is no surprise to anyone watching the clean energy industry, but the extent to which the technology is upending traditional, vertically integrated lighting companies is a quiet revolution.

Read the full story. (Greentech Media)