Experts said that if half of the lighting devices nationwide were LEDs, China could save power equivalent to the annual electricity output of two and a half Three Gorges Dam, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Chen Hongda, deputy director of the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that China could save about 210 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year if LEDs were more widely used. Chen made the statements at a forum held on Nov 3 in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

LED, short for light-emitting diode, is a semiconductor light source with low energy consumption, among other advantages. LED lighting is gradually becoming popular in China as the country tries to achieve a low-carbon economy.

The Ministry of Science and Technology released its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) for the sector in April, saying that the market share of semiconductor lighting should be 30 percent of the general lighting market by 2015.

Industry insiders forecast that the LED lighting industry will see a surge in the next years as the demand for LED lights is expected to boom.