Solid State Lighting (SSL) has the potential to provide artificial lighting more efficiently than traditional lighting technologies at a low lifetime cost.  However, the wide variation in performance and quality of SSL sources currently on the market can significantly damage consumer confidence in solid-state lighting, delaying market acceptance and slowing down penetration rates.

Launched in July 2010, the SSL Annex works internationally to support the work that is being carried out on a national level to address the main challenges with SSL technologies; there is a lack of confidence with SSL, Governments don't have the tools they need to determine which SSL products are good investments, and everyone needs straightforward, reliable and internationally recognised procedures to test for basic SSL quality. The SSL Annex has already made a commitment to work with the Super Efficient Equipment & Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative¹ to establish quality assurance criteria for this rapidly emerging technology.

The three main tasks of the SSL Annex are to:

• Develop SSL Quality Assurance by working to clarify the SSL market worldwide, to reduce the risks in using SSL and to provide Governments and consumers with recommendations that they can trust when investing in SSL products.

• Harmonize SSL Performance Testing by working with global testing laboratories to increase the quality and confidence of SSL laboratory test results; working to assess a range of existing SSL test procedures; and building a system of testing that is manageable, robust and acceptable to a broad range of stakeholders.

• Develop Standards and Accreditation Infrastructure by working with existing accreditation bodies to develop a structure for world-wide interim reliability of SSL testing laboratories’ performance data.

¹ A global initiative launched in July 2010 with support of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) to collaborate on test methods to measure appliance efficiency and coordinate incentives for manufacturers to provide more efficient equipment and appliances which could dramatically reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions while saving consumers money. SEAD will initially focus on televisions and lighting.