Electricity powered artificial lighting consumes significant proportions of electrical power generation, and is therefore a significant carbon dioxide producer;globally some 2000M tonnes annually, whilst consuming almost 20% of all electrical power generated.However, it is accepted that in such applications as offices, hospitals and retail environments the power consumed by lighting is as high as 50% of electricity consumed1.Therefore lighting is a great opportunity on the roadmap towards the 2050 target of 80% reduction in CO2, and in supporting 2020 European reduction targets as well as renewable energy generation.New technology likewise can offer high quality, environmentally friendly lighting in global emerging economies.LED technology and the emerging organic LED lighting both operate at very low DC voltages (4V DC), which is ideal for integration with emerging renewable power (photo-voltaic etc) and new battery technologies (high capacity Li+).Taking lighting off-the-grid, and especially with the electricity being generated as part of the infrastructure of the building allows building designs to become truly carbon neutral.If lighting can be removed off-the-grid, then so too can displays, mobile phone charging, and computers.Energy reduction could be achieved through the incorporation of DC infrastructures within intelligent building designs, CO2 neutral or even negative environments will be recognised by the end of this decade, which would include solid state lighting.However, in order to realise optimised solutions based on emerging technologies then significant government support in-conjunction with private investment is required.Certainly in the UK and Europe these type of programmes are yet to be instigated, however, there is a growing understanding of the need to migrate to "Grand Challenges" rather than promoting technology platforms.