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Cree Claims Record-Breaking LED Light Bulb
November 3, 2009...At Cree's annual shareholder meeting, Cree chairman and CEO Chuck Swoboda demonstated an A-lamp LED light bulb which it claims has the highest highest lumen output and efficacy reported in the industry. The bulb produces 969 lumens at an impressive 102 lumens per watt, which is the light output equivalent to a 65-watt incandescent bulb, yet it uses only 9.5 watts.
Cree notes that the demonstration A-19-style bulb features the company's latest production XLamp® XP-G LEDs and TrueWhite Technology, a patented method of delivering warm-white light with superior color rendering and efficiency. Cree says it offers a 2800 K warm-white light with a 91 CRI. All of its performance data was reportedly verified by third-party testing under steady-state operating conditions.
“We are pushing the industry by demonstrating what’s possible,” said Swoboda. “With every improvement in LED components, new applications become achievable. We are excited to show the world not only what can be done, but what they should expect in an LED light bulb.” Company News Release
Diogen Lighting Signs Brand License Agreement With Ed Begley, Jr. and Living with Ed
SSLighting Design News Staff
November 3, 2009...Diogen Lighting, a maker of holiday light strings based in
Centennial, Colorado USA has entered into a long-term brand and endorsement licensing agreement with the producers of the hit TV series Living with Ed and its co-star Ed Begley, Jr.
Diogen notes that Mr. Begley has “lived green” for decades and his unwavering drive to save energy by using the most efficient technology and tools makes him a perfect fit for Diogen Lighting.
Also, Begley’s years of dedicated work have earned him numerous awards from some of the most prestigious environmental groups in the nation, including the California League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Coalition for Clean Air, Heal the Bay and the Santa Monica Baykeeper.
“Energy efficient lighting is essential in the battle against wasted energy and Diogen’s LEDs (light emitting diodes) represent one of the most highly efficient technologies today,” stated Mr. Begley. “In fact, I’ve already switched some of my home’s lighting to Diogen LEDs and am very satisfied with the results.” Company News Release,
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Albeo’s C-Series LED High Bay lighting Saves Dole 95% in Energy Consumption
SSLighting Design News Staff
November 3, 2009...Albeo Technologies Inc. of Boulder, Colorado USA, a leading LED lighting manufacturer, announces the retrofit of a Dole cold storage warehouse with the Albeo's C-Series solid-state high bay. Dole, the largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, replaced 400W metal halide fixtures with Albeo C-Series High Bay fixtures. Albeo says that at the cold storage warehouse light levels nearly doubled with the fixtures mounted at 28 feet and temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit.
Albeo says its high bays with integrated motion sensors provided 95% energy savings.
Since the Dole installation in January of 2009, Albeo has upgraded the C-Series High Bay to provide over 13,000 lumens at 175 Watts. Albeo says that optics for racked isle warehouse applications provide optimized horizontal and vertical light distribution.
“Cold storage with sub-zero temperatures is a demanding environment for lighting,” said David Shankel, Engineering Director at Dole. “There is continuous activity inside the warehouse moving and staging product. To maximize worker productivity, safety, and energy efficiency we require high light levels with no start delay, and motion sensors. We selected Albeo’s High-Bay because it was the only solution that met our needs.”
“Independently certified by LM-79 testing, Albeo’s C-Series High Bay surpasses any fluorescent, HID, or other LED solution available for efficacy, light output, and low temperature performance,” said Paul Winker, Product Manager, Albeo Technologies, Inc. “The lifetime of our LEDs in a motion sensed cold storage environment can be measured in decades, making our product the obvious choice for any value-minded customer, especially progressive industry leaders like Dole.” Albeo News Release
Cree CEO Discusses Economy and Energy with Energy Secretary Chu
SSLighting Design News Staff
October 29, 2009...At the Clean Energy Economy Forum, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu discussed science, innovation, and job creation in the new clean economy with Chuck Swoboda, chairman and CEO of Cree, Inc.
Swoboda was reportedly one of four CEOs invited to participate in a panel discussion and question-and-answer session on energy efficiency and the creation of new jobs in clean technology that will help drive American energy independence.
Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner, and Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cathy Zoi were among the other featured speakers at the event. Cree News Release,
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Action Services Group Installs LEDs for Second Ice Rink
SSLighting Design News Staff
October 29, 2009...Action Services Group reports that LED lighting fixtures have been completely installed in the second ice rink at Ice Line Quad Rinks ice skating facility. Ice Line had Action Services Group install Stouch Lighting, LED lights in one ice rink in July of 2009. Then in October 2009, they made the decisions to retrofit their second rink. Stouch Lighting is a local distributor of Appalachian Lighting Systems’ LED lighting. Action Services boasts that it is the first ice arena to use LEDs for general lighting.
Ice Line needed the LED lighting system to enhance the quality, brightness and white color of light, while ensuring that it would meet the energy consumption reduction requirements of the state Department of Environmental Protection Small Business Energy Grant.
Ice Line will reportedly receive 25%, or up to $25,000, when they meet the energy saving requirements of the program, which is a 25% reduction in energy consumption. Action Services Group News Release,
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LiteLED illuminates Leeds City Entrance
SSLighting Design News Staff
October 29, 2009...After hours of hard work, bespoke design and technical challenges on the Neville Street site, the lighting project of the Leeds City entrance is now completed. As a key part of the Holbeck urban village development, the Light Neville Street project was designed to provide a new, exciting, welcoming gateway to the city of Leeds.
Leeds City Council teamed up with artist Hans Peter Kuhn, Bauman Lyons Architects, ARUP Consultants, Saferoad BLG nearly four years ago. After yhard work and dedication, the project known as 'A Sound and Light Transit' is now complete and fully operational for the public view.
The lighting scheme on the East Wall features custom built pixels which disperse light, cold white in colour from Philips Lumileds' Luxeon Rebel LEDs via an injection moulded light pipe. The pixels have been housed in bespoke anodised aluminium wall panels in a matrix format. The lighting scheme will change every 24hours through DMX control, to achieve an artistic lighting effect.
The West Wall employs the power and durability of a custom L-Series Luminaire. The L-Series Luminaire’s are IP67 rated and use narrow beam optics and a dimming system to achieve moiré effect.
LiteLED News Release
LEDtronics Shoebox and Cobrahead LED Luminaires Help Light the Bolling Air Force Base in D.C.
SSLighting Design News Staff
October 27, 2009...Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. has harnessed the light from LEDtronics LED fixtures. In use since it was founded in 1918 on the east side of the Potomac River, Bolling AF Base is home of the USAF 11th Wing, "The Chief's Own." Once an important airfield in the Air Force's inventory, About 200 LEDtronics LED30MH-600-XPW-001 high-power, acorn-style street lamps light up the Bolling AF base’s Angell Street. Several different LED lighting products from LEDtronics are used in the project. A set of SLL003PC-400-XPW-005 ceiling/wall Slim Line Shoebox luminaires illuminate the pedestrian tunnel; another set of SLL003P-400-XPW-004 pole-mount Slim Line Shoebox luminaires, 27 watts each, lights the walkway leading into and out of the tunnel (they usually replace 70-watt HPS or Metal Halide lamps), and in the SLL002P-3D60W-XPW-004 M400 Cobrahead-style streetlight luminaires replaces 200-250-watt HPS lamps with an 82-watt LED fixture. LEDtronics News Release, SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Mellina Utilizes Lighting Expert Greenlight Initiative
for new Marco’s Pizza Locations
SSLighting Design News Staff
October 27, 2009...Greenlight Initiative (GLI), an LED-lighting sales and solutions provider based in New York, New York USA , reports that it has completed the installation of an LED-based lighting system for the first of a number of new Marco's Pizza franchise restaurants across Georgia. Mellina LLC, the design builder for the Georgia projects says that this first installation has been well-received in terms of quality and energy-savings. It is the first of 80 new locations over the next 3 years to be lit entirely with GLI’s qualified LED lighting solutions.
Vipul Patel, President of Mellina LLC, commented, “I was personally very surprised at how well the LED solution worked out for this installation. We began using solid state lighting solutions in our green building projects in 2007, but bringing in the GLI team made the difference. We no longer waste resources wading through confusing claims by SSL manufacturers. Instead, we’ve tapped their expertise and they proved it on this first restaurant.”
With the help of the Greenlight Initiative's approach, Mellina was able to replace the standard linear fluorescent fixtures with approximately one-half the number of Albeo Constellation 8-foot linear luminaires. Also, GLI-qualified Array LED bulbs replaced the front service counter PAR lamps. Overall lighting energy was cut in half and maintenance was virtually eliminated. Greenlight Initiative News Release,
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Commentary & Perspectives...
Summit 2009: What we learned
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
November 5, 2009...The 2009 SSL Design Summit just wrapped up its November 3-4 run in Jersey City, New Jersey, on the shores of the Hudson river, right across from Manhattan's world trade/financial district. Delivering a few beautiful evening views of the New York City skyline, it isn't hard to soak in the big picture of just how massive the opportunity for solid state lighting is. There are a lot of fixtures on that island, with many of them on 12 to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also saw an economy in pain. New building is negligible, vacancies are clearly visible good ideas that save operational expenses are being welcomed. We took the hint from a number of beleaguered end of year travel budgets, and in consultation with our planned speakers, we have shifted the LA/Long Beach Summit out into early 2010, specifically Jan 20-21. We like water, and the venue we're finalizing with the shift is very "on the water". Logos and announcement changes are in process, so if you spot a leftover December date, fear not. (or, in the words of our hotel's "security command center" on Wednesday morning blared out nearly continuously from 5:45 to 6:15 am.... "please disregard the alarm"... may I disregard your "disregard" announcement and please go back to sleep now?). It's all good.
At this 2009 Summit, thought leaders came together and elements of the industry shared and learned. That's what it's all about, because frankly, there aren't all that many individuals involved in the process of leading a market. While 80/20 applies in many "numbers and results" types of analysis, when it comes to "the human factor", the "3% rule" is more the norm. That rule simply postulates that when 3% of the people have the passion to lead something, and it rings true with, the majority of the other 97%, the 3% can then proceed to make something happen. Revolutions come from the 3%. It happened in India with Ghandi and his followers, around the 1920s, and still earlier, with the 13 colonies that formed the United States when they had had enough with excess taxation and lack of representation to address their grievances. (Nothing personal against Great Britain, they just had a bit of a run going on. Similar numbers were in play when czarist Russia turned over, and when the French monarchy fell). It's human nature. Think about your high school prom planning committee, or the number of "superstars" in the typical sports organization, and you get the idea.
The Summit, as with our other conference events, has always been about the strength of the agenda. It's never just a list of topics and speakers thrown up based on whoever says "yes" to an invitation, or as a response to a "call for papers". It's a topic flow, based on the assessment of our informal advisory board, including the co-chairs, key contributors and our network of industry friends, all aimed at making the industry stronger and moving it forward faster. As one of our lighting decision-maker attendees wrote this morning, "This was the only seminar that I have had attended on SSL other than at Lightfair, and feel that it was not only complete in scope, but that the speakers really wanted to be there. As a past employee of [three huge names in lighting/lighting componentry], I just wanted to tell you that your effort, attitude and professionalism are world class." So what did we learn? One big thing was that these LED things are working really, really well. LED-based luminaires are still tricky to get right, but the LEDs aren't the sticking point any longer.
If we agree that the most fundamental burden of progress in solid state lighting falls upon the shoulders of the LED manufacturers, their understanding of where the technology can go, and how to get there, we're looking at a pretty select group of industry leaders that make a big difference. Sure there a few other smaller LED innovators that might bring forward such a good idea that they eventually join the leaders, but as it stands, if you have Osram, Nichia, Cree, and Lumileds in the same room, you're looking at the companies that are shaping the fundamental message of the LED lighting industry (no slight intended on Toyoda Gosei, Seoul Semi, or Epistar who are all big volume players, they're just not as prominent in shaping the impressions that a market such as ours is built on). What we heard from that group at the 2009 Summit was not so much what they were doing, but rather what they are learning in areas such as standards development, long term testing or while pushing the technology to it's limits (and guess what, the LED is definitely no longer even close to the weak link in the chain when it comes to luminaire color consistency or lifetimes). Be sure to check into the agenda to see what Osram's Jian Jiao and Cree's Ralph Tuttle, were there to share... and keep in mind the backstory that those learned gentlemen are also the past two chairs of the NGLIA.
One portion the engendered some lively discussion concerned Cree's findings that have come out of their LM-80 testing program, which in a nutshell is suggesting to Cree that depreciation curves for LEDs in their first 5000 hours may potentially be meaningless when it comes to predicting the ultimate (or 70% lumen maintenance aka "L70") lifetime of their devices. In Cree's testing, they found that while a number of factors will affect the variance and depreciation (or appreciation in some samples) of their power LEDs in the first 5000 hours, that after things settle down, they may be seeing a different, and much flatter depreciation curve. If that bears out in testing across their future product lines, and if other manufacturers see the same type of "2-step" curve down the road, it may ultimately cast some doubt on the specific relevance of the Energy Star commercial requirement requiring 94.1% lumen maintenance to be a presumed predictor of that minimum 35,000 hour lifetime that Energy Star is looking for. We don't intend to suggest that if a manufacturer can't make the 94.1% cut-off that the industry should simply "trust them" that things will flatten out later on and everything will be fine. The point is that such a 2-step curve, which appears to be there in some other manufacturer's LM-80 data, and which Cree reports it found when testing other manufacturer's products, might imply much longer lifetimes that any of us have imagined. I would throw in the personal analogy of when I purchased my first music CDs. It was brand new technology, and the best manufacturers of the day could offer was an expectation that "they should last at least 5 years", but that ultimately they didn't know if the materials would hold up over the long term. 20 years later, I haven't had a single CD from that original collection bite the dust due to material degradation.
At the luminaire level, we were pleased to hear from Lightolier (now Philips Lightolier), and Elumen, two companies that made the cut with regard to our vetting criteria, earning a place to talk product, not just theory. Both were able to offer keen insights into product consistency over time. In the case of Lightolier, VP of Strategic Development and Innovation Ken Czech, shared details on the Calculite product which was last year's "Most Innovative Product" winner at Light Fair International. The Calculite takes a remote phosphor approach as the way to isolate the customer from generational changes so that tomorrow's available downlight matches the brightness and color consistency. The theory is simple, blue emitters are very efficient, and constantly getting better, so shoot as many of them as you need to at a phosphor target that effectively acts as the "lens" of the downlight. As blue LEDs get brighter, Lightolier uses less of them or drives them more gently to produce a product that puts out the same amount and color of light, while simply using less power, from generation to generation. The same principle applies to making brighter versions as well (just keep the same number of LEDs and you get more lumens from the same power in).
Elumen, produces roadway and area lighting products, shared a bit on how their streelights have placed a lot of intelligence into the driver functions (driver = power conversion + control functions), to basically allow them to take whatever approach the market is most desiring. Ben Frank shared that as currently implemented, they use their built-in feedback mechanisms to maintain the overall lumen output within the prescribed range throughout the life of the product. As the LEDs output degrade on hot nights or over their many tens of thousands of lifetime hours, they tweak up the current, as needed, to maintain a constant light level. If the market is demanding longer life rather than constant output, they could just as easily allow lumen depreciation to a certain pre-set level before beginning the compensation, which tends to mess with the whole concept of L70 types of lighting design approaches. Plus with the intelligence built in, there are obviously a range of options in how to handle such things as "end of life" notfication, including shut-off, dim or later, "phone home". Right now, those aren't user programmable functions, but when one of the kick off speakers was Margaret Newman, Chief of Staff of the New York City Department of Transportation, is it just maybe possible that one of the largest streetlight consumers in the world shared some of their vision of what the market needs?
It's good to have those 3% willing to invest in the industry's knowledge base. More reports to follow, but don't expect all the details here... Long Beach will be the place to be.
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