My job enables me to see some of the LEDs and lighting control ICs that are being manufactured to help the LED lighting industry. There are some really impressive things going on, and it is only a matter of time before you will start seeing them at your local Lowe's or other retail outlet.
One of the issues that the higher power LEDs have is that they also create heat. In order to be able to dissipate that heat, the designers will usually use aluminum heatsinks. In my opinion, this is a negative. Aluminum is not as good as copper at dissipating heat. Not only that, it takes twice as much aluminum to dissipate the same amount of heat as copper. With my personal designs, I use copper heatsinks, and am able to control the heat much better - even with my 500 to 2000 Lumen lighttubes.
Another thing that is hampering LEDs from being accepted as normal lighting is that the incandescent bulbs are round and put out light in 360 degrees. Even the CFLs had to be scrunched down to fit into the incandescent bulb size.
It is my opinion that for LEDs to be accepted as lighting in the home that we need to redefine our lighting systems, going beyond the round edison-base bulbs of yesteryear. LEDs allow for more aesthetic designs and styles to be used in lighting. I envision 'lightwalls' like I have at home, and like we've all seen in futuristic sci-fi movies, where the whole wall lights up - or glows. We are beginning to see some of these artistic LED forms in the automotive industry with LED headlights and taillights.
This same approach now needs to be applied to home lighting systems. We need to think outside the box as it were. Even cooling LEDs can be easier, if combined with plumbing with water running through the heatsinks, cooling the LEDs and at the same time heating water which can then be used. This would allow for much higher powered LED lighting systems to be deployed.
Just my ramblings on this...
Regards,
Jim TX