A HIGH-TECH North Yorkshire firm, set to light up the world, has doubled its turnover to £2.8 million.

Lumidrives, of Knaresborough, was started four years ago as one of the first companies to realise the potential of high powered Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology.

The firm, in Manse Lane, announced its sales figures for 2004 in the wake of numerous successes.

It has already supplied more than a million high brightness five pence piece-sized LED transmitters to smother a new two-and-a-half mile bridge in Macau off mainland China with twinkle.

The typhoon bridge, one of two which links the former Portuguese colony with Tapai Island, off China's southern coast, is outlined with decorative lights, which can burn for ten years continuously without renewal.

Lumidrives licensed the technology to Cooper Lighting, of Atlanta, which has a manufacturing plant in China.

Gordon Routledge, Lumidrives founder and managing director, said: "It wasn't the easiest project in the world. We received the order in September and the LED lights were installed by November."

Other applications have included beacons for emergency services vehicles and marine navigation lights.

Exports now play a major part in Lumidrives business, as countries around the world recognise the potential of LEDs, including ones in Scandinavia, China, India, Australia and New Zealand. Major clients include Philips, Alsthom and Britax. The growth means that another four people - technicians and engineers - will be added to the 12 people on the payroll.

MrRoutledge said: "I am delighted by our continued growth, as we have worked hard to enable this emerging technology by developing our own core product range and promoting the applications to a much wider audience."

Uses range from special lighting to enhance architectural detail or non-heat emitting ground uplights in landscaping to letter signage - equal, it is claimed, in brightness to neon, but using less energy and saving on maintenance costs.

Mr Routledge said that one application could be street lighting, which may have higher capital costs for highways authorities but would quickly produce savings in energy and maintenance.

"The difficulty is that regulations on what constitutes legal street lighting is based around old technology, " he said.

But he predicted this would change as one in four light sources became LED by the year 2014.

He added: "We don't intend to become a manufacturing company employing hundreds of people. We will leave that to others, but intensify the technology."

Updated: 10:51 Thursday, February 10, 2005