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2008-08-14
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Applications,
design and technology news from across the industry
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| Features:
Editorial: Lighting Designers' SSL Skepticism Justified
... "Lighting designers are generally jaded," quipped a lighting designer friend. "We're all about creativity, but when it comes to something new, like LEDs and solid state lighting, it's easiest just to say, 'That stuff doesn't work,' and be done with it for now." Well, there's one opinion. Then, just...
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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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Beijing Games Become Worldwide LED Showcase
SSLDesign News StaffAugust 14, 2008...The world is looking on as the Beijing Olympics continue. LED technology is extremely prominent in the buildings of the games. Cree reports that two of the most notable installations include its lighting. The National Stadium known as the “Bird’s Nest” and the “Water Cube” (National Aquatic Center) present visually stunning LED lighting. Cree points out that the buildings are a symbol of the “greening” of the global lighting market. A Chinese company called PG Lighting also supplied LEDs for some of the installations and ceremonies at the games, and another American company, PolyBrite International supplied its Red Borealis Modular Lighting systems for the entrance signs at the Bird's Nest. Osram Opto Semiconductors and Tong Fang Co. Ltd. lit a beautiful water fountain in Olympic Park in Beijing.
The LED lighting installations are a sign of the coming revolution in lighting that will replace many of the old products and ideas about lighting that began with the incandescent bulb over 100 years ago. It will also give lighting less of an environmental impact, because of using less electricity than conventional lighting.
Cree says that about 496,000 of its XLamp LEDs in red, green and blue illuminate the exterior of the Water Cube, where Olympian Michael Phelps set the record for the most Gold medals won. The Water Cube is made of 3,000 “bubbles,” each with the ability to display millions of different colors. The building displays a different computer controlled color pattern each evening. It is programmed to display different colored designs, including ones inspired by themes including “Blooming Flowers,”” Rainy Day” and “Night at the Disco.”
SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
SGM Fixtures Light Santa Cristina della Fondazza
SSLDesign News StaffAugust 14, 2008...In Bologna, Italy, Santa Cristina della Fondazza has reportedly undergone a restoration. As part of the restoration, the interior lighting of the historic church was changed to almost exclusively LED fixtures, according to an article of L& Si Online. Lighting design company, Bigi + Gregoli was able to showcase the artwork and architecture of the church without taking away from its sacred atmosphere. They chose SGM LED fixtures to light the church’s interior. SGM lighting has been supplying lighting for the entertainment industry for about 30 years.
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August 14, 2008...Lighting Science Group announced the global availability of its LED-based retail display product line. This follows the release of the company’s Eyeleds and Replacement Lamp products lines earlier in the year. The company says that the new line of display lighting will increase its presence in the retail lighting market. The company notes that the LSG retail display luminaires give retailers an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient solution that can significantly lower operating costs and reduce the carbon footprint. The company also contends that the lighting can enhance the shopping experience. The new line of retail lighting is ideal for indoor environments. The LSG luminaires will be available worldwide through the company's extensive channel partner network of agents, distributors, designers, and Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).
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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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Cree Posts Record for Quarter and Year After Addition of LED Luminaire Products
LIGHTimes StaffAugust 12, 2008...Durham, North Carolina LED company, Cree Inc. reported a record fourth fiscal quarter for 2008, and a record year will revenues of $493 million. The company reported a revenue increase of 25 percent over fiscal 2007. Today Cree posted quarterly revenues of a record $135.9 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 29, 2008.
This represents a 9% increase compared to the fiscal third quarter of 2008 and a 22% increase
compared to revenue of $111.2 million reported for the same period a year ago. Net Income for the fourth quarter was $8.4 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared to net
income of $6.4 million or $0.08 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.
From a company that sold LED chips primarily, Cree has transformed itself into an LED Luminaire product maker. The majority of the transformation has apparently taken place over fiscal 2008.
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Band, 311 2008 Tour Shines with Coemar ParLite LED Lights
SSLDesign News StaffAugust 7, 2008...ICD-distributed Coemar Infinity Wash XL and ParLite Led lights shine brightly behind and above Sony BMG/Volcano's alternative rock group.
Lighting designer/director/programmer Joe Paradise, took pride in developing the spectacular display. He is working with 16 Infinity Wash XLs and 36 ParLite Leds, which the company says complement the tour's layered design. The Coemar lights play off of the rig's huge circle with a 60-foot truss running through its middle.
"I use the ParLites as truss toners, and the Infinities for general upstage and mid stage wash," explained a 12+-year lighting design veteran Paradise. "I'm also using hazebase base hazers, mounted in the circle to give atmosphere downstage."
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Cree Releases New XP-E and XP-C LEDs
LIGHTimes StaffAugust 7, 2008...Cree Inc. of Durham, North Carolina USA, introduced what it claims is the smallest footprint lighting-class LEDs in the industry, the XLamp XP-E and XP-C LEDs. According to Cree, the new LEDs offer the same high-quality lighting performance and proven reliability as Cree XR-E and XR-C LEDs in an 80-percent smaller package. The low profile XLamp LEDs, measure just 3.45 mm square by 2 mm high and are ideal for backlighting, signage, outdoor, indoor, and portable lighting.
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Sharp Jumps into LED Luminaire Market
SSLDesign News StaffAugust 7, 2008...Sharp of Osaka, Japan has jumped into the LED lighting business headfirst. The company is releasing six new LED Luminaire downlights. According to the company, each of three out of the six new models will offer the equivalent of a 150 W incandescent light...
The company says that the DL-D007N Transparent Panel, Neutral White Downlight delivers a brightness of 1,400 lumens. The company contends that this brightness is equivalent in intensity to a 150-watt incandescent lamp. Sharp says that the unit can be used as main lights even in commercial facilities with high ceilings.
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Avago Technologies Announces 1-Watt Warm White LED for Lighting Applications
LIGHTimes StaffAugust 7, 2008...Avago Technologies of San Jose, California USA, introduced a new low-profile power LED in its Moonstone line. The company says it provides greater efficacy and brightness with an output of up to 95 lumens.
Avago indicated that the ASMT-MY09 LED can have great efficacy even at higher drive currents. It is reportedly encapsulated in a heat and UV resistant silicon compound which the company says gives it better reliability and longer life. According to the company, designers will like its wide viewing angle and low-profile for applications in which height is a constraint. This combination of performance, viewing angle, and low profile make it perfect for applications such as: architectural façade lighting, track lights, spot lights, and decorative lighting applications. Avago says that its high light output and high reliability make it ideal for commercial task and decorative lighting.
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Our news features are reported
by the SSL Design staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - solidstatelightingdesign.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - solidstatelightingdesign.com
or call +1 (512) 257-9888
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Commentary
& Perspectives...
Lighting Designers' SSL Skepticism Justified
Tom Griffiths - PublisherAugust 7, 2008..."Lighting designers
are generally jaded," quipped a lighting designer friend. "We're all
about creativity, but when it comes to something new, like LEDs and solid state
lighting, it's easiest just to say, 'That stuff doesn't work,' and be done with
it for now." Well, there's one opinion. Then, just a few hours later, another
friend who is more involved on the product side of LED-based lighting was relating
a challenging day that had just passed. "The architects and lighting engineers
were just flat excited about what LED-lighting looks like it can do, then in strolls
the lighting designer and pooh-poohs it as inferior quality light that's unreliable...
and then I showed them the current generation of fixture and their jaws dropped
at the quality of what they were seeing." In this case, the choice of fixtures
wasn't something randomly selected out the many offerings now appearing on the
market. It was chosen after a pretty thorough qualification effort that was based
on more than the numbers and included subjective light quality, ease of installation,
ruggedness of the construction and warranty. Along with that came a look at internal
design issues such as the types of LEDs used, how the heat is managed and how
light output is maintained over the life of the product. Those are the issues
that separate "real products" from the "knock-offs" and, if
I may be blunt for a moment, from the junk out there. So what's the challenge
in communicating to the lighting designers what the quality leaders in the LED
lighting industry already know? To answer that, it will probably help to
understand at least one take on where they're coming from in all this. For decades,
lighting designers had worked with a known and useful set of lighting elements.
I can't comment much on life before today's fluorescent tube, but it's not hard
to imagine designers reluctantly agreeing that as the quality improved, it was
useful to save as much energy as one does in the comparison between fluorescent
or HID technologies and standard incandescent solutions. 8-10 times less energy
consumption is big enough to make it an acceptable part of "the design palette",
given how appreciative the client must have been when presented with operational
cost savings that translated into. Color and ambience were the role of incandescent,
or perhaps even some neon components in the mix. All was well, and our creative
lighting artists could ply their trade relatively unimpeded. Then along
came the "green" wave that took energy conservation and awareness to
a new level. For a while, it meant a few more efficient sources, some more natural
lighting and some education to be able to understand and design to efficiency
and sustainability specifications like LEED and California's Title 24. However,
they were caught in a trend that was incrementally restricting the designer's
choices, and making it progressively more difficult for designers to practice
their art. Things continued to get more restrictive, perhaps hitting the real
crescendo with the whole "ban the bulb" moves, starting in California
and quickly spreading as a governmental darling across the world. "We'll
just force them to use better technologies," say the legislators and environmental
oracles. But what technologies were better? The designers were staring at a palette
consisting of fluorescent tubes, gymnasium lights and mercury-vapor street lamps
(the latter being the greatest conundrum... great efficiency, color rendering
of minus something, and loaded with a heavy metal that gets installed in a Midwestern
park and ends up in your can of tuna fish). The lighting designers were being
left with 3 crayons and a paper napkin and being told they were still expected
to come up with art still worthy of hanging next to the Mona Lisa. After a
few US postal workers over a period of years had some issues with their workplaces
and guns, "going postal" became part of the vernacular for "losing
it to the extreme". In retrospect, the lighting design community showed incredible
restraint in not adding "going LD" and conjuring the image of a crazed
gunman with a tie-dyed head scarf blasting away at fixtures in their local art
gallery or Neiman Marcus. "But worry not! LEDs are here to save the
day!" they are told. Energy efficient, great color capabilities, and all
the benefits of semiconductor technology that changed the world with computers
and created the internet! Unfortunately, that wasn't today, but 2-3 years ago...
They weren't even working very well for flashlights, much less as the primary
light source for a commercial or public project. Lighting designers were probably
excited too, but without the tools to evaluate and substantiate the claims, they
tried a few fixtures and found them lacking. "The next generation will be
brighter, will have less color shift over time, and will last those 50,000 hours
we're claiming," came the LED industry response. And while the underlying
LED technology continued to do just that, the translation into a fixture was still
lagging, except in a few rare cases. Still without the tools, a few of the sharpest
lighting designers created their own knowledge base, likely by persistence and
a bit of luck, and showed some success that was virtually impossible to recreate
for someone without the same experience. "Use LEDs!" said many architects
and lighting engineers. "They don't work for what we're wanting to do,"
insist the lighting designers. "We hear they're working pretty well,"
say the project managers. "Show me the ones that do," answer the designers.
"They all look like they should work, but it seems random, and given their
prices, are you willing to explain to Mr. Trump why the building needs a million
dollar lighting refit in a year if they don't?" Given the context of the
last decade or so, I've come to the conclusion that their skepticism is fully
understandable, but only justified by the fact that they don't have the knowledge
tools they need to identify the current generation of winning solutions. The
near-term realizable promise of LED lighting is that it is the one tool that will
not only restore their full range of creative options, but that will also give
them a bigger canvas to paint on than they ever had before. The reality is
that there are good solid state lighting solutions that are available today for
a rapidly escalating number of applications. The lighting design innovators realize
that, and are investing in their own knowledge-base, and relationships, to effectively
pick those winners. The right knowledge-base will allow designers, specifiers
and other decision makers to know what they're looking at, what kind of subjective
evaluations to apply, and what questions to ask to assure themselves that what
they see is what they'll get, both today and down the road a few years. That's
the point of the SSLdesign Summit,
fast-approaching August 26-27, and being held just across the river from Manhattan.
To quickly highlight, our co-chairs, Jeff Miller, President of the International
Association of Lighting Designers, will share his experiences and insights
into what the lighting design community needs, and needs to know, to encourage
SSL adoption while Govi Rao, CEO of Lighting Sciences,
will be able to share the current and coming reality of a market with modular
solutions that will enable the luminaire manufacturers to better meet those needs.
We're also pleased to welcome as a keynote speaker Matthew Tanteri, award winning
principal of Tanteri & Associates,
who will share insights into the success of media facades, including his highly
regarded LED implementations on the Chanel buildings in Asia. Given that we're
only a short time away from effectivity of the commercial and industrial Energy
Star program, every lighting and sustainability specifier and decision maker will
need to understand how SSL-based lighting projects can qualify for what is likely
to be hundreds of millions of dollars in program incentives. To that end, the
Summit is welcoming Jeff McCullough, who is with the Energy and Environment Directorate
of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, and whose ability to communicate the key points of the SSL program
can save someone a day or more of their own research time to fully grasp what
they need to know. For some global thinking, Jed Dorsheimer, Principal - Equity
Research, Sustainability with Canaccord
Adams will translate the knowledge from his research practice, as well as
his time spent as a lighting advisor to the William J. Clinton Foundation's Climate
Initiative, into a practical understanding of why we, not just investors, all
need to care about solid state lighting. Those equipped with the information,
as well as the understanding of how to sort and distill it, are accomplishing
things now that could only be dreamed of just 5 years ago, and the pace is only
accelerating from here. The Summit is here to bring the rest of us along so we
can catch this train before it gets too far out of the station.
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