According to LEDs Magazine, LEDs is the star of the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Summer Olympics. The market is expected to grow 37 percent by 2011 and could be a $9 billion business by then.

That's because LEDs, instead of traditional fluorescent or incandescent lighting, and they are gaining wider acceptance is that they tend to be more efficient than traditional lighting, use less energy and, over time, provide a greater return on investment. Once found almost exclusively in consumer electronics, LEDs are turning up in everything from taillights to Christmas lighting, reading lamps, business signs and, increasingly, in commercial places like gas stations and grocery stores.

That's partly why Susser Holdings Corp., which owns more than 500 stations in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, including the Stripes, is outfitting its future stations with LEDs. Gas stations have clued in to the efficiency of the lighting system, and other retailers may follow

Craig Scotton, Susser's director of petroleum services. said the new LED system also will help Corpus Christi-based Susser comply with several of Chevron Corp.'s new standards, and also lives up to Fort Bend County's strict outdoor lighting codes.

LEDs don't only produce focused light, they save about 75 percent on energy. It's a constant power source, maintains a constant current despite power fluctuations. It's much more efficient than any fluorescent light. Some experts say LEDs are the most efficient lights on the market. They may cost more initially, but they last longer than fluorescent bulbs and save money in the long run.

LEDs also work differently than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. With LEDs, light is released as positively charged and negatively charged particles from layers of silicon combine. LSI industry developed the Crossover Focus and Crossover Ambient — solid-state lighting fixtures featuring LEDs — by using reflectors to bounce the light around and make it a point of illumination.

Now more and more industries invest in LEDs, LEDs can be up to 70 percent of their original brilliance after 14 years.