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Lomolar Introduces Fish-Shaped LED Fixtures with Special Effects
January 16, 2009...Unusual fish-shaped LED luminaires developed by Toronto-based Lumolar can shift from looking like Chinese lanterns to changing colors like the aurora borealis, with the help of LED solutions support provided by Future Lighting Solutions. Engineers from Future Lighting Solutions reportedly guided development of the custom color-mixing application that drives the award-winning RGB fixtures, which are built with LUXEON Rebel LEDs from Philips Lumileds.
Lumolar's 'Baby Fish Tide' luminaires resemble tropical fish lit from the inside and are made out of naturally fire-retardant industrial felt with holes stamped out of the fabric. They utilize Cypress Semiconductor's EZ-Color controller as their RGB color-mixing platform, and come with a master board that can control up to 90 fixtures as well as software for designing light sequences utilizing a drag-and-drop GUI.
Future Lighting Solutions reportedly assisted Lumolar in executing the lighting portion of the project, including pairing the company with an engineering firm to build the board and color-changing system, steering that firm to the Cypress controller and training the developers on the Cypress system, providing tools to measure light output, and offering ongoing engineering advice throughout the development process.
The fixtures have received an Award of Excellence from the Ontario Association of Architects, a Best of Canada 2008 award from Canadian Interiors Magazine, and a Design Exchange Award 2008 from the Toronto Design Exchange. Future Lighting Solutions News Release
Economic Stimulus Package Promises More LED Lighting for the U.S.
SSLDesign News Staff
January 16, 2009...The expected economic stimulus package from the U.S. federal government can help municipalities invest in U.S.-made LED streetlights for energy savings,lower maintenance costs, and faster payback.
BetaLED of Sturtevant, Wisconsin is one such maker of LED-based streetlights. Even before the economic stimulus package goes before congressional vote, the BetaLED say its manufacturing plant is ramped up to manufacture its LEDway, LED-based streetlights, to meet increasing demand from cities across the country.
Alan Ruud, president of Beta Lighting, says his phones are busy because LEDway streetlights are green technology made in the U.S. He indicated that they provide a reduction in energy and operating costs, and they are ready to ship now. Beta Lighting News Release,
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U.S. Pentagon to Install Cree LR24 Recessed LED Luminaires in Renovation
SSLDesign News Staff
January 8, 2009...Cree, an LED lighting market leader, reports that it has received orders for for more than 4,200 LRS4 recessed LED luminaires to be installed in the Wedge 5 of the Pentagon. John J. Kubricky, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts, and Albert C. Ellet, acting director of the Washington Headquarters Service responsible for overseeing the renovation, signed an intra-departmental memorandum of agreement which kicked-off the initiative to install LED lighting in the Pentagon.
The LR24 units being used for the Pentagon renovation are being purchased from Cree by the Department of Defense's (DoD) Title III program as a part of its ongoing development program with Cree, and provided to the Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), which oversees the Pentagon renovation program.
Cree points out that its LR24 luminaires have undergone extensive government testing and business-case analysis, including a preliminary Pentagon installation to meter the fixtures and compare the results to the alternative fluorescent technology. Cree says that the independent analysis demonstrated a 22-percent reduction in energy usage and improved light quality.
Also, Cree notes that, the business-case analysis yielded a payback of less than four years.
The payback analysis considered energy savings, lifetime maintenance savings, savings from reduced load on the HVAC system, and elimination of hazardous waste disposal fees for mercury-laden fluorescent bulbs. Cree News Release,
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Albeo Technologies Launches SecurityLED LED Lighting
SSLDesign News Staff
January 8, 2009...There are certain applications where regular LED fixtures may not be rugged enough. Lighting for correctional facilities, prisons, jails and other secure institutions is required to be especially rugged and tamper-proof.
Boulder Colorao-based Albeo Lighting, has introduced its SecurityLED line of general illumination light fixtures. The SecurityLED product family, built with Albeo's white-LED TEMPR thermal technology. The company boasts that the fixture provides a high-efficiency, "zero" maintenance solution for demanding applications.
According to Albeo, its SecurityLED lights are premium anti-abuse fixtures constructed from heavy-gauge steel housings, thick "unbreakable" polycarbonate lenses, stainless steel tamperproof fasteners, and polyester powder coated finishes. Albeo says its solutions ensure correct light levels, high color-rendering-index, and quality light. Company News Release,
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Orb Optronix Says Some LED Products Not Eye-safe
LIGHTimes Staff
January 8, 2009...Orb Optronix of Kirkland, Washington USA, reports that several solid state lighting products they have measured might cause retinal injury if viewed directly. According to the company, which measured commercially available solid state lighting products, several exceeded the risk group category RG-1 blue light hazard limits in the ANSI/IESNA RP-27.3-07 ‘Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamps, Risk Group Classification and Labeling’ standard along with IEC 62471:2006. The RG-2 categorization cautions against direct viewing of light sources with the human eye.
David Jenkins, Orb's president stated, "It is clear from our testing that SSL products exist that exceed the ANSI standard's limits." ANSI's RP-27 describes the 'blue light photo-biological hazard' as the 'potential for a photochemically induced retinal injury resulting from radiation exposure primarily between 400 nm and 500 nm.'
The company concluded that testing should be done by luminaire manufacturers because the hazard levels in the standard are specific to the operating conditions of radiating products. The company says that it is essentially impossible for LED component manufacturers to provide conclusive eye safety information specific to the end product implementation of their parts because the information would be different for each end product that the LED components are in. The company contends that for this and other reasons, it is critical that product manufacturers incorporating LEDs properly test and label their products for their intended system application. Orb Optronix News Release,
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Avago Technologies Announces New 1-Watt High-Power LED Emitter
LIGHTimes Staff
January 6, 2009...Avago Technologies of San Jose, California USA, has announced a new 1-Watt LED emitter for solid-state lighting applications. The company says that the emitter can be used for applications such as architecture, decoration, gardening and retail displays. The ASMT-Ax00 LED features a low-profile package design with a wide 130-degree viewing angle and the ability to handle high thermal and drive currents. It comes in a variety of colors. Company News Release SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
eBay Supports Employee’s Cause With Gift of Lights
SSLDesign News Staff
January 2, 2009...Anna Sidana, an employee of Ebay, hopes to provide light to one million children in India and Africa. Thanks to a holiday donation by her employer, she is 15,000 lights closer to her goal. Sidana of Palo Alto founded the One Million Lights non-profit organization earlier this year with a goal of distributing one million safe, environmentally sound solar-powered LED lights to the homes of children in the poorest regions of the world. The “MightyLight” is specially designed LED luminaire made to work in rugged, rural areas where electricity is unpredictable or non-existent. According to its developers, the MightyLight offers a safe alternative to more dangerous and expensive kerosene lamps often used in developing nations. Cosmos Ignite Innovations, a company made up of young socially-conscious entrepreneurs from India and Stanford University, developed MightyLight. Ebay News Release, SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Osram Acquires Majority Stake in Traxon Technologies
SSLDesign News Staff
January 2, 2009...Osram of Germany has begun a joint venture with Traxon Technologies Ltd., of Hong Kong. The new company, in which Osram has the majority shareholding, is reportedly one of the leading providers for LED technology in the field of architectural, hospitality and shop lighting. The company will be called Traxon Technologies, an Osram company. It employs about 135 people and reported sales of around 17 million Euros in fiscal 2008. The company is already operating globally in Asia, Europe and North America. The price and terms of the the transaction were not disclosed, and the transaction is subject to the approval of what the company refers to as responsible cartel authorities. SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
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Commentary & Perspectives...
Ban-the-Bulb Intervention Backfires
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
January 15, 2009...As someone who generally takes a dim view of government regulation reaching deeply into consumer behavior, I must admit it was amusing to see the reaction to that the "ban the bulb" implementation currently unfolding in the European Union. In a zealous move to trim lighting-based energy consumption on the east side of the Atlantic, the EU has been implementing a fast-track program to pull standard incandescent bulbs from store shelves. The current ban is affecting 100-watt bulbs right now, with 60-watt versions the next in the "green crosshairs". Consumers have simply been directed to move to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) instead and to make sure and smile while they do it. Since CFLs had many of their most significant deficits worked out before they originally hit the shelves in the European markets, adoption has been relatively high compared to the US markets. (Early CFLs left a bad taste in US consumers' mouths, so to speak, and that market has not quickly forgotten those misses). The already high EU adoption rate calls into the question the real benefit anyway. Commercial users are already clued in to energy-efficient lighting and use it wherever it can be used, and home users are not 24x7 or even 12x7 lighting users. For those in the LED-lighting industry whose job is to "battle the incumbents", feel free to just skim the next few paragraphs worth of CFL-drubbing we're about to dish out.
The problem with CFLs is that while they do a pretty good job at a number of the most common applications, there are still plenty of features that are either missing, or that command a price premium. Dimming is the biggest example. Any incandescent dims with any kind of dimmer, and does so happily and with that trademark "warming" effect that humans generally find pleasing. (Lighting designers aren't thrilled by the uncontrollable color shift in many applications, but us common folks seem to like the "firelight orange" we see when it's time to change the room's mood.) Most CFLs are not dimmable, and when they are, they are a bit pickier about what kind of dimmer will do the job; plus the dimmable versions can command quite a premium price and may have a bit more bulky base to contain the needed circuitry. That leads right into another current challenge with CFLs, namely that the built-in ballast requires the bulb's base to typically be wider than the base of a comparable incandescent, something on the order of twice the diameter, which can limit its ability to fit in some standard fixtures. According to an article in the UK's Daily Mail, "A report for the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs in 2006 reported that half of all sockets in British homes were unsuitable for energy-saving lights." It's not very specific, but that may also be taking into account that if you live in a cold climate, the CFL's great efficiency is substantially eroded (and it seems to be a lot of that cold going around in Europe this winter season... global warming you know). Of course, it may also not be taking that into account, which makes them unsuitable for even more sockets there.
Have we hammered our twisted bulb friends enough? Since this is a news outlet that promotes the solid state lighting industry, I'd have to say, "No". Let's see... next on the hit parade is the challenge that shows up when the mercury swings the other way, and the CFL finds itself in an enclosed fixture when its a bit warm outside. Their lifetime tends to be adversely affected. Concerned about dangerous metal that gets into the ground water, and from there into the seafood we eat? Don't forget they're also laced with mercury (just a dash, of course) and are required to be treated as hazardous waste in the disposal process. Let's finish with one bit of techno-geek component, which is the power-factor issue. While they may only "consume" 14 or 23 watts to produce the light output comparable to a 60- or 100-watt incandescent, they actual need to be fed the equivalent of about 25 and 35 watts respectively. They don't use it up, but pass it back into the grid as "waste energy". While it might make you feel like "you're doing your part", you're actually just passing an inefficiency on to someone else to fix. An eco-analogy is found in the plug-in electric cars right now. While your eco-conscience may be fulfilled, unless that plug-power comes from a nuclear or renewable power source, you likely contributed more to whatever part of "the problem" you were hoping to help solve than you have imagined. I should state for the record that CFLs aren't "bad", they just aren't as suitable as the government might feel they are, and it appears plenty of people are well aware of that.
Hoarding, giveaways, and former ministers...
So how are the citizens in the UK responding to the ban? According the same Daily Mail article, consumers are buying every 100-watt incandescent they can get their hands on, whether they need them or not! It's great stuff and a classic story: Government bans "evil" product but misses the fact that their idea of a replacement isn't the citizens' idea of a replacement. Consumers stock up on the bulbs, and it seems likely that as their currently installed CFLs die, they'll replace them with part of their incandescent stash, mumbling something like "I thought that CFL was supposed to last forever". An absolutely priceless addition to the phenomena is that the Mail is responding by offering incandescent giveaways (look midway down in that article if that link doesn't load). You just have to buy 12 issues over the next few weeks (or read them online), and then print or clip the sequential tokens and send them in for 5 free 100-watt bulbs! Personally, I'm all in favor of thumbing one's nose at bad policies. For any LED lighting fan, it's a great read. The Mail also had another recent story on one former government minister who has skillfully positioned himself into owning a substantial share of a key CFL recycling corporation (it doesn't appear he had any direct influence in the decisions, but as Vice-Chairman of the BBC, one has to admit he was well-positioned for a lobbying effort after his moved on from Treasury Secretary). They're looking out for us alright. Yes sir.
Thankfully, here in the US, cooler regulation heads actually worked through the process and came up with a combination of incentives and a more common sense phase-out approach. Incentives came in the form of what is now called "the L-Prize" (ref. Dec 2007 editorial), offering tens of millions of dollars in awards in order to spur innovation towards cost-effective LED-based replacement lamps. In addition, the same legislation mandated that the US Department of Energy regulate the incandescent phase-out based on the economic realities of the alternative technologies. As part of the US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the 2012 phase-out is a target, not a fixed requirement. From what we see, LED lighting is on-track in that time frame and will do a fine job of meeting the real needs of the applications with both quality and environmental benefits that will be uncontestable.
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