Walking the streets at night could soon be a less intimidating experience for many, as a crop of solar-powered 'tree' lights by Brit designer Ross Lovegrove are set to blossom all over Europe.

Unlike conventional incandescent lamps which need to convert the electricity into thermal energy first and then to light, LED illumination is achieved when a semiconductor crystal is activated so that it directly produces visible light in a desired wavelength range. With the continuous development of lighting technologies, more possible future applications of LEDs will be seen. Advantages and disadvantages of using LEDs are to be discussed as follows. Advantages of LEDs 1. Long Lifespan

Since the second half of 2007, NB panels with white LED backlight has been increasingly popular because it’s thinner, lighter and more energy-saving and more portable. Environment protection is another concern among customers, which encourages many NB manufacturers to adopt LED without mercury as backlight. Especially since Apple announced to produce all NB with LED backlight in May 2007, many others follow suit.