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Foshan Electrical and Lighting Company Ltd. to Collaborate With Bridgelux on LED Products for General Lighting |
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San Diego State University Selects Lithonia Lighting RTLED for Lighting Project
SSLDesign News Staff
August 3, 2010... San Diego State University installed more than 80 Lithonia Lighting RTLEDs for general ambient lighting and 30 DOM8 LEDs for downlighting. The University specified Acuity Brands Lighting controls to support the LED lighting.
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San Diego State University has installed Lithonia Lighting's RTLED in a new 215-person lecture hall. This is the first LED lighting project the University completed as a long-term solution to reduce energy consumption and costs.
San Diego State University Architect Jeffrey Herr had no apprehension leading San Diego State University into its first major LED lighting project. "LEDs are being used effectively in other industries and markets, and I was confident in the technology," said Herr.
Bridgelux Former President and CEO Becomes CEO of Intematix
LIGHTimes News Staff
August 3, 2010...Mark Swoboda, the former president and CEO of LED maker Bridgelux, has become the CEO of the phosphor expert company, Intematix. At Bridgelux, Mark Swaboda reportedly transformed the company from an R&D and chip design business into a vertically integrated solid state lighting product company. Prior to Bridgelux, Mark served as Executive Vice President of Philips Lumileds, where he led sales, marketing, applications and custom product development teams that pioneered the power LED product class and developed high-growth markets in applications including automotive forward lighting, mobile phone camera flash, LED backlighting, and general lighting. Additionally, Swoboda spent 17 years with the Hewlett-Packard Semiconductor Products Group in various sales, marketing, and channel management positions. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University. SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
TESS to Increase Monthly LED Light Engine Shipments to 500,000 Units at Year End
August 3, 2010...Topco Energy Saving System (TESS), a Taiwan-based maker of LED light light engines, shipped 50,000-60,000 units in May and 100,000 units are expected for July. The company, which gets the majority of its LED chips from Cree, says that its monthly shipments will rise to 500,000 units at the end of 2010, according to a Digitimes article. TESS is reportedly growing quickly. The company indicated that its current monthly revenues have already surpassed its 2009 full-year revenues of NT$30 million (US$936,227). TESS successfully entered Japan's LED lighting market in the first quarter of 2010, and it reportedly has plans to further develop its sales channels in Japan. The company also indicated that a major Japan-based distributor recently became a shareholder.
GE to Help Customers Navigate New Lighting Regulations
SSLDesign News Staff
July 29, 2010...The vast majority of U.S. consumers--77 percent--are unaware of the soon-to-be-imposed incandescent bulb ban. According to a survey conducted by GE, 77 percent of consumers, do not know that beginning in 2012 and continuing through 2014, federal government legislation aimed at reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions will ban the manufacture of standard incandescent light bulbs.
The 2012 through 2014 incandescent bulb phase-out will happen in stages.
Beginning in January 2012, 100-watt bulbs may no longer be manufactured . Then starting in January 2013, 75-watt bulbs may no longer be manufactured
And finally, at the start of 2014, 60- and 40-watt bulbs may no longer be manufactured.
GE has set up some online tools to educate and inform businesses and homeowners covered each step of the incandescent phase-out. GE created online tools such as its new Legislation Product Replacement (LPR) tool (www.gelighting.com/legislation) and new Understanding 2012 Lighting Legislation content (www.gelighting.com/2012). These site will work in concert with GE's award-winning Environmental Information Center (www.gelighting.com/EIC) to provide details on mandates, energy-saving calculators, and product replacement guides that lighting consumers can use to make informed decisions about which products are most fitting--in light of the new laws--for a wide range of applications.
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Carmanah Provides Solar LED Lighting for Bridge Lighting Project
SSLDesign News Staff
July 29, 2010...Carmanah Technologies Corporation of Victoria, British Columbia Canada is reportedly providing 26 EverGEN 1710 solar LED lighting units to illuminate the Selkirk Trestle Bridge in Victoria, BC. The lighting units will will provide illumination for pedestrians and cyclists along the length of the 300 meter long railway trestle bridge.
According to Carmanah, the EverGEN 1710 units incorporate Advanced Occupancy Sensing, leading edge occupancy sensing technology that is not offered by any other light on the market. The company says that the Advanced Occupancy Sensing allows all the lights on the trestle to be activated when just one light senses motion. Carmanah claims that this functionality significantly increases safety and security by allowing a pedestrian or cyclist to illuminate the entire bridge by moving under just the first light on the trestle.
Unlike more conventional outdoor lighting, the EverGEN 1710 units will require no electrical connections. They can install easily on the bridge and operate free of ongoing electricity bills as stipulated in the project requirements.
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Commentary & Perspectives...
LEDs Continues Sign Industry Push
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
July 29, 2010...With two online news publications under one umbrella, Solid State Lighting Design and LIGHTimes, we strive for the right amount of overlap to address the audience interests. LIGHTimes covers the broader LED industry spanning the supply chain from materials and technology, through equipment, chips, packaged LEDs and modules. LIGHTimes also covers the applications space for the non-general lighting LED-based applications, including areas like backlighting and displays, transportation, industrial applications and signage. SSL Design is focused on LED lighting/solid state lighting designed for the built environment, starting from the packaged LEDs and running through light engines, replacement lamps, and fixtures/luminaires, as well as the applications stories that bring it to life.
Most of the LIGHTimes readers already know this, but not all the SSL Design readers might. Most of our commentary finds its way connected to SSL Design's space, but it's important to recognize that much of the LED volume is directed towards those non-general lighting arenas. The volume in those applications spaces are bringing down costs for all applications, and lower costs increase market opportunities. Whether you're on the lighting or non-lighting side of the LED market, it only makes sense to stay aware of the general happenings in all the arenas in order to keep ahead of the information curve so you can spot the trends in time to take full advantage of them.
Separate from the cost/volume topic, while LED lighting is doing a better and better job of not looking like LED lighting, applications that do look like LEDs continue to help bring credibility to the technology. Traffic signals happily doing their reliable job, without dead strings and aside from the rare snow cover, are good industry PR. Similarly, adoption moves that can be perceived as "less risky" into the commercial/industrial space also help commercial/retail operators to believe in the capabilities of our technology to get the job done well, and to save them both operating and maintenance expenses, while contributing to enhanced revenues. Whether it is direct view billboards, internal or backlighting, or neon replacement approaches, signage is one of those applications spaces that help boost the industry credibility with the prime lighting decision makers.
Following is a quick Q&A with Carey Burkett, President of Lumificient Corporation. Founded in 2000 and subsequently acquired by Nexxus Lighting in 2008, Lumificient has made its name with LED illumination solutions for the sign industry.
The sign industry was an early adopter of LED technology, why?
LED technology addressed some of the challenges dealing with neon and fluorescent
lighting, including shipping and breakage issues, ongoing maintenance expenses
and high energy costs. From a sign company’s and an end customer’s
perspective, that was important. As LED technology has advanced, it has become
easier to make a strong business case for LED over neon or other forms of sign
illumination based upon the significant savings that can be attained from lower
energy and maintenance costs.
What is driving the movement to LED in signage?
There seems to be three factors that have led to the rapid adoption of LED technology
for the sign industry.
First, the ability for LED to meet the requirements of a sign company and its
end customers related to the level of brightness and the uniformity of illumination.
First and foremost, LED systems had to meet that standard. Today, there are
LED systems that can achieve excellent, even illumination and color consistency
that meet those requirements.
Second, the high maintenance costs of neon systems. End customers are often
required to sign up for costly maintenance contracts for these systems. To fulfill
the contracts, sign companies offer labor or service warranties at considerable
expense. With LED technology, maintenance requirements are limited. This will
lead to significant savings for the end customer.
Finally, it is also about the efficiency of LED illumination as compared to neon illumination. That difference represents substantial energy savings, and obviously that is a significant story these days.
What are the indisputable advantages of LED adoption, short and long term?
The advantages of LED illumination are many, most of which result in direct
savings. LED lamps produce brilliant light but consume significantly less electricity
when compared to neon lighting. They offer a much longer life in illumination
for the sign. As solid-state devices, high quality LED illumination systems
are durable and damage-resistant, requiring minimal maintenance. LED systems
are also environmentally sound.
What are the specific industry challenges that exist today within signage
that relate to LED usage?
With today’s economic uncertainties, signage as a whole has contracted.
Large big box retailers and multi-site retailers are not developing new sites
at the rapid pace that they once were. Retrofitting programs in some cases have
dropped off. Single site entrepreneurs or new business start ups have slowed
down, as well.
As a result, sign companies are chasing a smaller overall pie. It places a burden
on Sign Companies to respond with sound business solutions and services that
will allow them to grow during a difficult time. Sign Companies can win by offering
superior products and services that will significantly improve end customer
results -- results that can be quantified based upon the benefits that LED solutions
provide. It’s a solution that provides value to both the Sign Company and
the end customer.
We consistently urge sign companies to resist the temptation to consider lower-priced
LED solutions as a way to attain improved margins and/or business results. Low-priced
LED solutions will lead to higher overall costs, for the end customer and often
for the sign company. Having your end customer’s best interests in mind
is what will lead to long term success. Low-priced, high problematic LED solutions
will not lead to long term customer satisfaction or to long term success.
Where is LED signage not cost effective?
The up-front cost of LED illumination tends to be higher than that of neon.
That said, the total costs over the life of the sign will be substantially lower
for systems that are illuminated with LED. Neon will always have its place in
various more artistic or decorative signage where LED simply cannot play.
Are you finding that companies are adopting LED signage chain-wide or testing
in key markets? What kind of business category could benefit most from this?
LED adoption within signage is quite far along at this point. There are many
companies that have specified LED illumination for all of their new signs and
some companies that have come out with defined retrofit programs that involve
replacing neon in their older signs. So, there is broad acceptance within the
signage marketplace for LEDs.
All companies can benefit from the use of LED signage; the long-term savings
are significant even for an individual proprietor with one sign for a storefront.
Large multi-site businesses with a significant number of sites and signs stand
to save the most considering the overall cost-saving factors per sign, per overall
sites, times the years that the signs will be in service.
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Don't miss the SSL Summit Series, kicking off September 14-15 in New York City, conveniently in Manhattan. It's all about quality, so if you are a luminaire manufacturer that would like to connect with some of the top lighting decision makers in the area, you won't find a more efficient two days during this year. Any luminaire manufacturer receiving product visibility is being vetted for basic quality criteria, but if your company doesn't quite have those LM-79 reports and datasheets all matched up yet, fear not. You're absolutely welcome to attend for the top-level networking and "how to get it done" discussions that can make it even more critical that you find your way there. Visit www.SSLsummit.com for series details, or jump directly the NY overview here.
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