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Editorial: Insights Into Energy Star for SSL - The Battle Continues
... The battle as I see it is "simple versus valuable". In a June 24 web conference, we heard from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding their "technical amendment" to the Residential Lighting Fixture (RLF) specification 4.2. It's a simple way for a manufacturer to achieve Energy Star qualification...
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Summit
2008:
What we learned
The feedback is in, and the consensus was: Just
what we needed, do it again soon. In case you missed the Solid
State Lighting Design Summit 2008 in Weehawken, New Jersey, be sure to take
a look at the final
agenda for what went down in the first-of-its-kind event. The Summit brought
together industry thought leaders, pioneers, leading designers, lighting decision-makers
and innovators from the across the solid state lighting eco-system. Read
the conference report...
Solid State Lighting Design
is here to serve the information needs of lighting designers, specifiers, and
decision makers, along with luminaire designers, lighting system integrators
and lighting subsystem developers with application, product and market news
updates for this rapidly evolving technology. Our readership also includes LED
packagers, technology enablers and service companies seeking the the answers
to how best to meet their customers' needs.
Solid
state lighting promises to create unprecedented changes in what we can do with
light. Simultaneously, it will deliver on a promise of massive global energy savings
and access to useful nighttime lighting that has not been conveniently available
to nearly 2 billion people around the world. We're glad to have you join us in
the revolution!
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Lighting Science Group to Light Dome Theater Show in Macau Resort
SSLDesign News StaffJune 26, 2008...Lighting Science Group announced that it has been selected to be an LED lighting systems partner for a dome shaped theater in a Macau resort project called City of Dreams. The company reports that it will utilize its existing portfolio to illuminate and animate the screen inside the dome. The company will work closely with audio and visual suppliers to create a dynamic experience for visitors of the City of Dreams in Macau’s famous strip called Cotai. Additionally LSG will work with select lighting designer partners for the project, including Lightswitch of San Francisco. The production will reportedly combine high definition video, customized music, thousands of theatrical lights, and a variety of sensory effects to make a 10-minute visual extravaganza that will be a must-see attraction at the resort.
SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
June 26, 2008...The award winning special events venue of New York City, Metropolitan Pavilion, announced plans to be more responsible to the environment.
Metropolitan Pavilion is located at 125 West 18th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. It will be taking several steps to reduce its carbon footprint. Among those steps is to install LED lighting on one of its levels.
Scharff Weisberg Lighting, Metropolitan Pavilion’s exclusive light, sound and projection partner, and has been at the forefront of energy efficient lighting practices such as the use of lower-energy LED lighting fixtures in place of standard incandescent fixtures in their lighting rental packages. Scharff Weisberg installed LED mood lighting on the fifth floor of the pavilion.
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Philips France to Light Office Entirely with LEDs
SSLDesign News StaffJune 26, 2008...A subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, Royal Philips France, said that it will supply the LED lighting for the first office in the world to be entirely lit by LEDs.
The office, owned by Generali and located at 100 Champs-Elysées Avenue in Paris, will have functional office lighting and scene and atmospheric effects entirely done with LEDs. Generali commissioned Architect Anthony Béchu to design ‘an innovative window in the world of LEDs’.
Generali chose LEDs because of the extreme long lifetime of LEDs and the minimal maintenance costs.
Throughout the office space, 422 luminaires are integrated into a false ceiling with 600 x 600 grids. Philips says that each luminaire is powered by 16 or 12 high power LEDs of 2.6 W depending on their location in the office space. This provides an average of 300 lux everywhere and 500 lux on the working planes. Philips notes that part of the success of its LED lighting solutions has been come from the specially developed optics.
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Strategies in Light is an executive-level conference on high-brightness
LEDs produced by Strategies Unlimited and PennWell Corporation.
Now
in its tenth year and the longest-running conference in the LED
industry, this event is considered to be the premier annual forum
for presenting current commercial developments in high-brightness
LEDs and providing unparalleled networking opportunities for component
and equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and end-users of HB LED
devices. Strategies
in Light is the US-based event to learn about the latest innovation
in HB LED markets, applications, products, and regional activities.
This is the kickoff event of the year, which supplies the critical
market forecast you need to keep the industry working for you. Register
online now, or contact lubah@pennwell.com
for more information.
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Artemide Group Acquires Nord Light to Delve Further Into LED Lighting
SSLDesign News StaffJune 26, 2008...Artemide Group S.p.A. of Italy has acquired the majority share Nord Light S.p.A.
The Artemide Group, a high-end lighting company based in Milan, Italy, will gain the LED lighting expertise of Nord Light. The Artemide Group expects that the LED expertise of Nord Light will serve it well as it delves further into LEDs, which it describes as the “lighting of the future” because of their sustainability and flexibility in home and office applications. North Light apparently has a portfolio of products and has done many prominent LED lighting installations. Artemide Group says that it has sold decorative lamps for some time now that have taken advantage of LEDs.
"The acquisition of Nord Light perfectly fits into the strategy of ARTEMIDE for leadership in high-end lighting," said Luciano Iannuzzi, CEO of Artemide Group S.p.A. "Our position on the Architectural market is strengthened and our international competitiveness is increased in the widely expanding segment of LEDs. The acquisition of NORD LIGHT will also allow us to offer new top-level products and innovative lighting-technique solutions to professional customers, particularly in the hotel and retail sector."
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EPA Outlines Light Engine Standards for Residential Lighting in Teleconference
SSLDesign News StaffJune 24, 2008...The EPA outlined the basics of its LED module standards in a teleconference today. The EPA spokesperson explained that full-fixture photometry is not practiced for indoor residential lighting. The EPA sited the example of a light source that is often put into a mica or alabaster fixture to produce the right ambiance in residential indoor lighting. The EPA spokesperson said that the organization wanted a set of lighting standards that was technology independent. The EPA indicated that the goal of its guidelines is to allow designers to (at least some extent) directly compare LED lighting to incandescent, fluorescent, or compact fluorescent light sources. For this reason the organization reportedly chose to create standards at the light engine level, not at the fixture level.
The EPA defined the light engine as a packaged LED, a driver (rather than a ballast), and an incorporated heat sink. The light engines would be required to have 50 lm/W or higher efficacy for an uncovered LED light engine or 40 lm/W or higher for a covered LED light engine.
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Osram LEDs Light up Norwegian National Opera House
SSLDesign News StaffJune 19, 2008...The Norwegian National Opera opened its doors on the 12th of April 2008 after a five-year construction period. One of the highlights of the structure is a huge chandelier, reportedly the largest in Norway. Some 1,250 Osram LinearLight Dragon LED modules are integrated into the extraordinary luminaire, which is the main light source of the great auditorium. “Using special dimmers, the luminous intensity of the LED modules can be individually adjusted for highly diverse lighting situations. We are thrilled to give visitors to the opera such a sense of awe and amazement with our decorative and powerful LED,” explains Dr. Klaus Ziemssen, Head of the LED Systems Business Unit at Osram.
The chandelier measures seven metres in diameter and weighs more than eight tons. It is impressive in both form and size and fits in perfectly with the architecture of the opera theatre, while simultaneously ensuring a perfectly illuminated auditorium.
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DOE Addresses EPA’s SSL Guidelines and Confusion; Organizations and Critics Respond Against EPA’s SSL Standards
Scott McMahanJune 17, 2008...The DOE has addresses SSL Guideline Confusion related to the EPA’s recently released SSL module standards, and several organizations and critics have come out against the guidelines.
The Department of Energy’s SSL Program and SSLITA and OIDA have responded to the latest solid state lighting guidelines published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
While the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has worked with industry insiders and researchers for over four years to arrive at its recommended standards for LED Luminaires and Fixtures, one part to the DOE’s recommendations was not formally published, the standards for LED modules which combine into luminaires and fixtures.
For this reason apparently, the EPA published a new set of guidelines specifically for LED modules. Unfortunately, the specifications outlined in the EPA guidelines remain unclear, and seem to have left many technical questions unanswered. Critics of the EPA’s new SSL guidelines have charged that they are inaccurate, difficult to implement, and most likely harmful to the long-term adoption of LED luminaires around the country.
Tom Griffiths, publisher of LIGHTimes and a critic of the EPA’s SSL guidelines, stated in his recent column that the EPA guidelines in fact make the same mistakes that were made with the early guidelines of CFL technology. Tom argues that the early guidlines of CFL technology allowed dim and harsh lighted CFLs to be sold to the public with government approval, and this led to the slowed adoption of CFL technology. He contends that the EPA's guidelines allow the same mistake with solid state lighting technology. (Ref: Column).
David Rodgers, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy issued the following statement Friday regarding the release of the EPA’s LED module guidelines, "DOE is aware of the confusion created by EPA's release of the amended criteria. Efforts to resolve this confusion are on-going - in the meantime, the September 2007 guidance stands as the valid guidance for SSL." DOE News Release.
The Solid State Lighting Industry Trade Association, and the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association have also issued official statements regarding the guideline confusion. The Solid State Lighting Industry Trade Association (SSLITA) and the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) both of Washington D.C., announced their support for, “... a single minimum quality and performance requirement for Energy Star-approved solid state lighting (SSL).” SSLITA and OIDA acknowledged, “LEDs have the potential to be dramatically more effective at lighting spaces than current incandescent bulbs (standard bulbs) and even fluorescent and halogen bulbs.” However they explained that LED luminaires could also be made with unpleasant light qualities or could be made inefficient despite the high efficiency inherent in LED chips themselves. For this reason, the organizations, officially stated, “SSLITA and OIDA believe it is critical that high quality SSL products make it to market for U.S. consumers.”
SSLITA and OIDA said in a recent news release that “Numerous requirements appear to be in direct conflict between these two standards, which creates confusion in the marketplace In addition, the EPA version of these standards appears to have been developed without public comment or interaction with the SSL community.” SSLITA and OIDA also indicated that the EPA guidelines make the same mistakes that the CFL technology guidelines initially made CFLs were initially considered harsh, dim, and otherwise unappealing and thus consumers resisted adopting CFL technology. SSLITA and OIDA argued that, “As the CFL experience has taught us, if certain minimum expectations in the quality, reliability, apparent brightness, and directivity of the light produced are not met, the products will be considered of poor quality which has the potential of slowing adoption by the market of this critical energy-saving technology. With the critical impact SSL can have on both energy consumption and the production of green-house gasses, we consider this confusion a major detriment to the industry and to the nation.”SSLITA says it will support quality labeling, end-market promotion and education, and government initiatives to expand the use of SSL. SSLITA operates as a subsidiary of the OIDA.
SSLITA and OIDA News Release.
Other trade associations and organizations have taken note of the new EPA policies and have issued official statements. One such organization, Efficiency Vermont, has come out strongly against the current version of the EPA’s SSL module standards stating,
“As new solid-state lighting products come into the market, Efficiency Vermont is looking to use a comprehensive and rigorous specification that will maximize product quality and consumer satisfaction. With these objectives, Efficiency Vermont does not plan to use the currently proposed RLF 4.2 SSL specification developed by the EPA.” Osram Opto Semiconductors Announces LED Street Lamp Project in Mainland China
SSLDesign News StaffJune 19, 2008...Osram Opto Semiconductors Asia Ltd. (Osram) reported the formation of a new partnership with Shenzhen SED Industry Co., Ltd. to launch an LED street lamp project in Mainland China. The project will use Osram's Golden Dragon LED light engine with lens to produce what the Osram says will be a landmark product in the evolution of street lighting. According to Osram, the lamps will be first installed along one of the roads in Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park.
Shenzhen SED, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Electronics Corporation and manufacturer, will be involved in the design, development, production and sales of LED street and tunnel lighting fixtures for the project.
SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Gas Station/Convenience Store Chain to Get Outdoor LED Lighting Upgrade
SSLDesign News StaffJune 12, 2008...Thorntons, a gas station and convenience store chain based in Kentucky, has reportedly chosen LED lighting from BetaLED. LED luminaires from the Wisconsin-based company will serve as exterior lights for some 13 Thorntons gas station/convenience stores. Addtionally Thorntons says that all future renovations and construction will feature LED luminaires from the company. Thortons recently opened a gas station/convenience store location in Edgewood, Kentucky, which BetaLED says is the first LED Lit store in the state.
BetaLED says that Gas stations provide a perfect opportunity for using LED technology. According to BetaLED, gas station owners and operators are realizing that customers are drawn to their properties because of perceptions of cleanliness, safety, and a friendly atmosphere, and BetaLED contends that these traits of a gas station can be enhanced with LEDs.
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Commentary
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Insights Into Energy Star for SSL - The Battle Continues
Tom Griffiths - PublisherJune 26, 2008...The battle as
I see it is "simple versus valuable". In a June 24 web conference, we
heard from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding their "technical
amendment" to the Residential Lighting Fixture (RLF) specification 4.2. It's a simple way for a manufacturer to achieve Energy Star qualification for any fixture incorporating a qualified LED "light engine". If
you need a catch up, you can read more about the reaction to this "double top secret"
program in
our last editorial. Overall, it didn't play really well when the EPA announced
that it had effectively created a whole new technology specification without regard
to any public process, review or implementation mandates (Rule book? What rule
book?). We can only speculate on the EPA's motivation (which we did last time),
and it is really hard to assign them even somewhat noble intentions. You don't
secretly create industry specifications when you believe they are the best thing
for the industry. Nonetheless, our objective is to encourage the EPA to do the
right thing, and helping the industry and affected stakeholders understand the
issues will allow the collective pressure to continue urging them towards what
most of the industry sees as the correct path for retaining value in the Energy Star "brand". In a nutshell, the EPA
came up with module-level criteria that would allow "LED light engines"
to be the Energy Star qualifying unit in residential applications. Their introduction
to the spec sums it up pretty well, "EPA has adopted test procedures that
are focused on the light source, not accounting for the optical effects of glass
or plastic diffusers which tend to be selected by consumers based on aesthetic
versus performance considerations. Accordingly, the adopted test procedure is
designed to evaluate the performance of LED light engines, which integrate an
LED package(s), driver and heat sink into a single unit. This approach is consistent
with the existing RLF program approach to testing light source and ballast combinations
(a.k.a. "platforms") in the context of fluorescent technology."
In their conference call, the EPA calls it a "technology neutral approach",
which would seem to make sense when comparing fairly equal technologies that do
fairly equal things. LEDs differ from CFLs at least as much as CFLs differ from
oil lamps (and likely even more).
It is important to acknowledge that
the DOE's Energy Star approach, arrived at through the public and open process
that is mandated by the governing program regulations, does add a burden to residential
fixture manufacturers that they have not had in the past. Since Energy Star came
along fairly late in the market adoption failure curve for CFL technology, it
merely got to help clean up the mess rather than taking a role to help avert it.
By the time there was an Energy Star RLF qualification, consumers were generally
seeing that CFLs, in their different forms, provide them with a decent quality
and predictable light source. At that point, if they get a "bad one"
(slow to reach full light output or flickering), they simply take it back to their
local superstore and don't buy that brand again. Here is the difference with SSL:
Taking it back and choosing a different CFL "bulb" or fixture is a lot
different than taking it back and not buying that technology again for 3, 5 or
10 years. At the current residential early-adoption stage, if there is a poorly
performing fixture, it's the LED technology inside that will take the blame since
it is considered "the unknown" in the equation. The EPA RLF specification
allows such a range of light engines, from dim to bright, and from warm to harsh
white, that it seems unlikely that the consumer will be able to discern whether
a particular light engine is potentially useful to them or not, much less being
able to extend the thinking into the impact on the fixture would be. In their
conference call, the EPA addressed the classic "CFL failure" by stating
that, "We will actively protect the value of the Energy Star brand. If we
see harsh, dim lights showing up through the program, we'll take actions to eliminate
that." Obvious question: If you know that an inferior product solution can
achieve certification under the spec, why not simply define the spec in a way
that does not provide inferior combinations with the opportunity for certification?"
Obvious answers: A) When you're in too much of a hurry, details like that can
be overlooked or B) That would have led to the larger question of whether simply
basing a fixture's Energy Star rating on the qualification of the light-source
component even makes sense at this stage in the adoption curve. As far as
the stakeholders are concerned, there are two main camps. One would be the fixture
manufacturers that appreciate the EPA's approach because it lowers their burden.
DOE kept that in mind when they adopted a "qualifying family" approach,
which basically means that a fixture manufacturer can qualify the lowest performing
member of basic design, where a single housing has differing lenses, trim and
baffles, and apply the qualification to all the other members of the family. There
will be some testing by Energy Star to verify the rules are being met, and a violation
will simply need to be corrected. You aren't tossed out of the program. How much
does that testing add up to for a product family? Something on the order of $500
to $1500 for complete luminaire photometric and UL-conformant heat testing. Not
exactly a piggybank breaker given the current value of the LED-based products. The
other stakeholders who oppose the EPA approach are those specifically within the
solid state lighting specific portion of the lighting industry, who need SSL to
succeed, and the utility companies. The utilities invest billions of ratepayer
funds in support of energy efficiency programs. They also want to see SSL succeed
sooner rather than later, and as a result, the recognition that confusing or possibly
ineffective standards will slow things down is not escaping them. At least one
utility behemoth, California-based Pacific Gas & Electric Company(PG&E) made
a fairly clear statement against the current EPA approach. The statement was an element of a question asked by Mary Matteson Bryan, Lighting Portfolio Manager for Emerging Technologies at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (or PG&E) during the June 26 DOE conference Energy Star webcast where she asked, "With the release of RLF 4.2, PG&E is very concerned about potential marketplace confusion with two different SSL Energy Star specifications in place. In fact, until the current issues over Energy Star for SSL are resolved, PG&E does not plan to include products qualified under the EPA RLF 4.2 specification in our incentive programs. Has DOE been contacted by manufacturers or customers who share this concern and are confused?" The DOE answer was, "Yes, we have been contacted by a number of concerned stakeholders and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible, and at high levels of our two agencies." ... C'mon EPA, let's pull the spec back and re-do the process with stakeholder
involvement. Editorial Correction: A few weeks ago, in our coverage
of a Philips Lumileds Lighting announcement
regarding the adoption of their Luxeon Rebel products into several Philips LED
module products, we did not make it fully clear that the LED modules were not
a Philips Lumileds product. Philips Lumileds designs and manufactures LEDs, not
lighting modules and their intention was to highlight what they see as the advantages
of Philips Lumileds Luxeon products in modules of those types, regardless of whose
modules those might be. Other Philips lighting companies and divisions are responsible
for the design, production and sale of the variety of modules and luminaires.
We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from our original wording
in that article.
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