New research shows that diode lasers could eventually compete with LEDs for home and commercial lighting solutions. Sandia National Laboratories recently asked participants to rate various LED and diode laser lighting scenarios and found that in some situations consumers preferred the diode lasers. LEDs are commonly thought of as the most energy-efficient replacements for the century-old incandescent bulbs. What is not often known is that LEDs lose efficiency at currents higher than 0.5 amps. The diode laser actually improves at higher currents, which means it can provid...