The United Nations has proclaimed 2015 to be the International Year of Light. The global initiative is designed to highlight the key role that light and optical technologies play in daily life.

Today, a quarter of the electricity generated worldwide is needed to illuminate factories, office buildings, homes, hospitals, schools and streets. However, many applications still use traditional lightbulbs, which convert only 5 percent of the electricity they receive into light; the rest dissipates as heat.