LED prices to 'plummet' in next three years

Company ceo Alan Salzman (pictured), said in an interview cited by Bloomberg that prices could fall by up to 90% by 2015. He believes startups developing low cost leds will take a big slice of the market. "We're just at the beginning of the led phase," he said. "There's very little quality product yet even on the shelves." VantagePoint currently has $750million invested in 32 clean technology companies, four of which produce led products; Switch Bulb, Bridgelux., Huga Optotech and Glo AB. The firm is also responsible for bringing electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla Motors public. Salzman believes the use of leds for general lighting purposes may grow to more than 50% of the market, up from less than 1%, in the next five years. "About half of lighting is residential, and it's going to take longer than five years for payback periods for residential lighting to expand the market beyond early adopters," he said. "More recently, folks have become more optimistic about the consumer market. But I still think it looks like we'll see industrial and outdoor, followed by commercial, followed by residential."