Lighting Prize (L-Prize)

The Lighting Prize (L-Prize) is designed to advance the U.S. clean energy economy for next-generation LED lighting, encouraging innovators and researchers to engage in advanced lighting system development that leads to transformative designs, products, and impact. The L-Prize will reward innovations that move rapidly to improve lighting performance, resulting in energy, carbon, and cost savings for American businesses and consumers.

The first Lighting Prize was awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2011, recognizing a high-efficiency LED replacement for the traditional 60-watt A19 incandescent bulb. Today, commercially available LED lights are competitive with all other lighting technologies, but the full technical and application potential of solid-state lighting (SSL) still far exceeds today’s products. Advanced interoperable lighting systems have the potential to better manage lighting energy use, integrate with other building systems, streamline maintenance and operations, and even respond to electric grid signals, increasing the value and resiliency of buildings. The L-Prize, a successor to the first Lighting Prize, seeks to unlock the additional potential to combine high-luminaire efficacy with exceptional lighting quality, data-driven control and functionality, innovative design, construction, and grid flexibility for the future of illumination in commercial and institutional buildings. In addition all of the technical areas in the L-Prize carry with them an overarching commitment to driving equity, accessibility, and resilience in the design and deployment of luminaires and connected systems.

The L-Prize targets commercial sector lighting, which accounts for about 56% of national lighting energy use and challenges lighting innovators to develop solid-state lighting (SSL) systems with breakthrough lighting energy efficiency, quality, functionality, and sustainability. SSL technology has the potential to bring widespread deployment of lighting products with exceptional energy efficiency, connectivity, control capabilities, and visual quality that are affordable and accessible to a wide range of businesses and consumers.

DOE’s Building Technologies Office invites lighting innovators to participate in this new competition to bring tomorrow’s lighting into today.

Winning systems must demonstrate exceptional achievement across six distinct categories. Through the challenging criteria within these categories, the competition can directly influence the equity, accessibility, and resilience benefits of advanced lighting systems.

Prize Structure

The L-Prize consists of three distinct phases that will award a total of up to $12.2 million. 

1. The Concept Phase invited innovative concept proposals from potential competitors. COMPLETE
2. The Prototype Phase invited prototype products, emphasizing technological innovation and presenting the opportunity and the challenge to think outside standard forms, materials, and price points of commercially available luminaires. COMPLETE
3. The Manufacturing and Installation Phase will reward production and installation of real products meeting the L-Prize technical requirements.

Participation in the first two phases is not required to be eligible for the final phase, Manufacturing and Installation. 

Please review the official rules for the complete application process and instructions for competing.

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