General Electric has been showing of its first plant to make organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) by the roll.

The flexible panels can be used for computer screens and display advertising, but the new plant will concentrate on creating OLEDs for lighting.

The technology is far more efficient than other forms of lighting and can be produced at a lower cost.

"Researchers have long dreamed of making OLEDs using a newspaper-printing like roll-to-roll process. Now we have shown that it is possible," said Anil Duggal, manager of GE's Advanced Technology Program in Organic Electronics.

"Commercial applications in lighting require low manufacturing costs, and this demonstration is a major milestone on our way to developing low cost OLED lighting devices."

OLEDs also have the potential to increase the efficiency of computer equipment, especially laptops. Unlike LCD screens, OLED requires no backlight to function and can be made fully flexible.

"For businesses, architects, lighting designers and anyone interested in pushing the envelope to achieve increasingly energy-efficient lighting, today marks the day that viable, commercialised OLED lighting solutions are coming into view," said Michael Petras, vice president of electrical distribution and lighting at GE Consumer & Industrial.

"We have more work to do before we can give customers access to GE-quality OLED solutions, but it is now easier to envision OLEDs becoming another high-efficiency GE offering, like LEDs, fluorescent or halogen."

OLED screens use a layer of organic material sandwiched between two electrodes which illuminates under power. However, there are fears over its long-term reliability.