As previously reported in LightNOW, China has signaled that it may use its near monopoly on rare earths–used in a wide variety of products including fluorescent lamps and LED lighting–as a weapon in its trade war with the United States. David Shiller, President of Lighting Solution Development, argues that while this may be disruptive, there may be a bright side, according to a recent article by David Gordon published in LIGHTING DESIGN & SPECIFICATION.
First, he argues, LEDs use only a small fraction of the rare earths that fluorescent lamps do, which means limiting rare earths will affect LED manufacturing less than fluorescent, and the resulting fluorescent price increases will make LED more attractive as an alternative and possibly fuel investment in nascent technologies such as quantum dots, which don’t use rare earths. Second, China limiting exports may result in new rare earth mining being developed outside of China.
Check it out here.
