But even if more houses start to resemble Mr. Vos's futuristic apartment, the glory days for L.E.D.'s may be cut short by their younger sibling, organic light-emitting diodes, or O.L.E.D.'s. Because they are based on plastics, O.L.E.D.'s do not have to be manufactured in semiconductor factories. Nor are they limited to relatively small sizes. "Organic L.E.D.'s can potentially be made with a low-cost printing line, much like you print a newspaper," said Dr. Duggal of GE.
More important, they could be created on flexible materials, leading to new forms of lighting. Rolls of O.L.E.D.'s could be produced as a kind of luminous wallpaper. Table lamps could exchange their bulbs for shades that provide both light and decoration. But O.L.E.D.'s are in their infancy and so far have few applications. Phillips uses them in an electric razor, and they are found in some small displays in car dashboards. They are not very energy efficient, and the light output tends to decrease over time.
