Washington, Apr 19 : An international research team, led by the University of Bath, has begun work on a 850000 pounds three year project that promises to revolutionize the way we light our homes and design clothes.

The project aims at mass marketing organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) which could have far reaching technological implications and cut the cost of lighting by billion of pounds each year.

Fundamental to this entire project is a thin film of plastic that conducts electricity and produces solar power.

Since the devices are thin and flexible, lighting and electronic display screens could for the first time be created on almost any material, so that clothes and packaging can display electronic information.

The devices' uses could vary from lighting that is many times more efficient than current bulbs to clothes whose colour can be changed at will and beer cans that display the latest football results.

At present, the devices are used as displays in some mobile phones and MP3 players, but they are not reliable enough for larger screens such as in TVs and computers as they stop working after a few months.

The consortium, called Modecom, consists of 13 groups from nine universities and two companies. Three groups are from the UK, six from the USA, and one each from China, Belgium, Italy and Denmark.

According to the research team, the devices have only taken forward a discovery made around 15 years ago, which showed that some polymers displayed the unusual property of either turning electricity into light, or light into electricity, depending on how the devices were made.

The team says the polymers could be used in a multiplicity of ways: as a transparent window; in garments which could change colour at the press of a button; in clothing which display strips of the polymer which run off solar power, and in emergency services such as police or ambulance.

It could also be useful in packaging for common goods that could be made to display electronic messages such as health warnings and recipes, or could emit light; as a source of solar power to top up mobile phones batteries; and as a lightweight, solar power source that could be rolled up and stored and which would also be ideal for people requiring electricity in remote locations, such as field researchers, mountaineers, sailors and military personnel.