University of Louisville’s renewable energy prize awarded to Shuji Nakamura for LED lighting

The University of Louisville has awarded the 2019 Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy to University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) materials professor Shuji Nakamura for “outstanding renewable energy ideas and achievements with proven global impact”.

Nakamura is recognized for scientific innovations and commercialization of efficient solid-state light-emitting diodes, which have revolutionized electronics and lighting at more than 10 times the efficiency of incandescent lighting, more than twice the efficiency of fluorescents and a durability of 30-40 years. His innovations have enabled efficient use of energy, reduced the burden on the environment and helped create sustainable lighting worldwide, notes the University of Louisville.

Solid-state lighting and electronics are expected to save $98bn in cumulative energy consumption by 2030 in the USA (equivalent to 30 1-gigawatt power plants). Worldwide, the effects are five times greater.

In March 2020, Nakamura will give a free public talk in Louisville about his work and achievements, trials and tribulations. He will receive the Conn Prize medal and $50,000 award at a formal ceremony.

“Dr Nakamura is a world-class scientist dedicated to the viability of LED technologies,” comments University of Louisville’s president Neeli Bendapudi, who will confer the award. “In a world where energy use must be environmentally responsible, he is an outstanding winner of the Leigh Ann Conn Prize.”

The prize, administered by the University of Louisville’s Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, is named after the late daughter of Hank and Rebecca Conn, who are center supporters and the prize benefactors. “LED lighting touches people in all economic strata, saving energy and money with global reach,” notes Hank Conn.

Nominations for the 2021 Leigh Ann Conn Prize competition run from 1 January to 31 December 2020.

Tags: Shuji Nakamura Blue LEDs

Visit: www.leighannconnprize.org

Visit: www.louisville.edu