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GE Introduces Evolve LED Decorative Post Top
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 14, 2010...GE Lighting Systems Inc. has introduced the GE Evolve Decorative Post Top Fixture
which it says offers historic look of yesterday meets the energy efficiency and quality of light of today. According to GE, the new energy-efficient LED fixture has a long, 50,000 hour rated life at 70 percent of initial lumens. Its output is 5400 lumens at 88 watts. It features a high color temperature (5700K), a 70+ color-rendering index and a low-glare optical design enable low light trespass in residential roadways, walkways, historic urban settings, shopping centers, malls, plazas and parks.
"A lot has changed in outdoor lighting in the past 100 years, but LED technology is poised to truly change the industry," says Andrew Lindstrom, senior product manager, GE Lighting Systems. "Our fixtures are built on GE's decades of experience with LEDs and designed specifically as LED fixtures. Landscape architect and lighting designer customers examining this new fixture will appreciate the wide range of photometric options and designs that we're offering."
The fixture features several traditional decorative options as well as contemporary options. It is housed in die-cast aluminum with cast heat sinks to transfer heat away from the electrical components. This adds to its long LED life. It is painted inside and outside with polyester paint for superior corrosion resistance and also features an impact-resistant lens. Like other LED fixtures it reportedly operates well in cold temperatures and is RoHS compliant, making it a mercury-free lighting solution.
Company News Release
Albeo Has Record Year and Triples LED Lighting Manufacturing Space
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 12, 2010...The LED lighting industry as a whole grew substancially in 2009 as demand for LED lighting grew. During 2009, like many other LED lighting companies, Albeo Technolgies was able to capitalize on the growing demand, and it began to adjust is supply chain and scale its manufacturing processes accordingly. Albeo Technologies of Boulder, Colorado USA posted a record year for revenues in 2009. Albeo also reported that in Q4 of 2009 it tripled its manufacturing space into two buildings at its Sterling Circle location in Boulder and added new manufacturing jobs. The company's C-Series LED high bay, T8LED troffer, and GarageLED fixture volume are reportedly driving the expansion. Company News Release SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
LED Streetlights from Delta Electronics Light Up Taoyuan County, Taiwan
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 12, 2010...Delta Electronics of Taipei, Taiwan, Inc. celebrated the installation of its new LED streetlights along a road in Taoyuan, Taiwan two weeks ago. Delta and the Taoyuan county government set up an LED street lighting pilot project on Taoyuan’s DaShin West Road to reportedly support of the county’s long-term goal of greater energy efficiency. The county switched from existing 250W HPS streetlights to LED lighting for the project. According to Delta the LED streetlights on DaShin West Road represent the county’s determination to protect the environment and save energy while providing residents with safer night driving. Delta Electronics News Release, SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Euro Motorsports Gets Lighting Upgrade from Hi Score
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 12, 2010...Hi Score Corp. of Windsor, Alberta Canada installed LED Lights at Euro Motorsports of Fort Lauderdale. Euro Motorsports is reportedly now saving 60% off of its lighting bill after Green LED Technology Inc. (a subsidiary of Hi Score Corp.) installed the lighting. Euro Motorsports is a luxury and exotic car dealership which specializes in Lamborghini, Ferrari and Rolls Royce. Euro Motor Sports had Pina Farina provide the concept and realization for their new showroom. The custom lighting that was provided by Green LED Technology not only made the showroom as exquisite as the cars its contains, but it also significantly reduced the expenses from the lighting Hi Score News Release
LEDtronics' A19 LED Bulbs Promise 40W Incandescent Replacement
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 12, 2010...LEDtronics released an LED replacement for A 19-style bulbs for home and commercial use.
The DEC-A19-5X1W DécorLED Series has softly diffused, precision domed lensing that directs light at a 95-degree beam. It comes in either Warm White (3000 Kelvin) or Pure White (6000K) versions. LEDtronics says that the bulbs offer long-term durability, low power consumption, environmental sustainability and money savings. They reportedly run on a flexible voltage range of 85-265 VAC requiring no special adapters. According to the company, they replace 40W to 50W incandescent bulbs while consuming less than 7 watts of power.
In addition, the series DEC-A19-5X1W DécorLED boasts an outstanding color quality of up to 85 CRI, a horizontal beam spread of around 130 degrees, powerful 416 (XPW) and 340 lumens (XIW) of brightness.
LEDtronics contends that the bulbs allow easy drop-in installation in existing 26mm Edison or E27 European screw-in base sockets. The bulbs have a UV-stabilized polycarbonate lens over five 1-watt, high-power Cree XR-E LEDs encapsulated around a unique grill-style, heat-sinking magnesium-alloy housing.
The bulbs reportedly have an average estimated lifespan of more than 50,000 hours (5.7-plus years) or more than 20 times longer than the equivalent incandescent bulb. Series features enhanced passive cooling that reduces junction temperatures, extending the life of the lamp. The fact that they run remarkably cool also means they greatly reduce the fire hazard normally associated with the use of incandescent lamps.
LEDtronics says that the directional lights are perfect for use in recessed lighting, table/floor lamps, accent and decorative lighting, garage or workshop lights, down lights and ceiling cans, marquee signage and retail display. The lamps come with a 3-year warranty period and CE safety assurance, and are RoHS certified-they adhere to strict European guidelines concerning the Reduction of Hazardous Substances such as lead and mercury. They retail for $57.90 each.
LEDtronics News Release
Once Innovations files formal requests with the Department of Energy
Scott McMahan, SSLightingDesign News Editor
January 8, 2010...LED lamp standards have been a contentious issue for many years. After significant industry input, the U.S. Department of Energy recently released the Energy Star requirements for integral LED lamps. However, the operating frequency requirements remain a point of contention. Along side the requirements were comments that the industry insiders had made and the change in the standards that resulted from those comments.
Once Innovations of Plymouth, Minnesota USA, a LED lighting design, research, and manufacturing company, formally requested that the U.S. Department of Energy reveal the basis for Energy Star's change in the operating frequency requirements of integral LED lamps. This week the company filed two formal requests with the U.S. Department of Energy under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Once Innovations indicated that it essentially disagrees with the frequency standard and wants to know how, and with what studies, information, or input the DOE chose to raise the frequency standard from 120hz to 150hz.
Once Innovations News Release
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Philips LED Floodlights Installed Atop Boston's Prudential Tower
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 8, 2010... Steven Rosen and Bill Kadra of the Massachusetts lighting design firm Available Light collaborated with Philips Color Kinetics on design, integration and programming. They chose over 25 ColorReach™ Powercore high-performance LED floodlights, which were permanently installed on the building's crown. The light from the floodlights saturates the local landmark with vivid color and color-changing effects. These architectural floodlights can generate millions of colors without the need for gels or filters. This allows the color scheme to be changed on the fly to support local events, whether to cheer on a local sports team, celebrate holidays, or reflect the brand colors of individual organizations to promote their events. Philips Color Kinetics News Release
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New LED lighting from Philips Color Kinetics lights up the Prudential Tower in Boston. The tower adds to the impressive list of landmark skyscrapers that use its LED lighting fixtures to dynamically transform their façades. The new LED lighting distinguishes the Prudential Tower along the city skyline, and offers colorful illumination to celebrate local occasions and organizations.
Lighting Science Group Announces Prominent New Board Members
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 7, 2010...Lighting Science Group has added several new members to its board of directors. In addition to adding the company's CEO since June 2009, Zachary Gibler, the company added the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce under George Bush from 2005-2009. Other new high-profile members of the board include Joe Montana, the famous National Football League quarterback. Michael Kempner, the founder, president and chief executive officer of MWW Group, one of the nation's largest public relations and marketing firms was also added to the board. Michael Mosely, a United States Air Force four-star general and former chief of staff of the Air Force, was also added to the list of distinguished new board members of Lighting Science Group. The new members agreed to officially join the board once the company completes its previously announced rights offering which is expected to close in mid-February of this year. Company News Release SSL Design PageTwo members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
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Commentary & Perspectives...
Lame news update: LED traffic signals and snow stories miss the big picture
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
January 14, 2010...December snows blew up some interesting news as a year-end reminder that even when you're doing things right, critics make their living off criticizing, not praising. In this case, the 'big news' was that LED traffic signals, the SSL industry's poster child of adoption curve success, don't melt snow. The reporting told us that because LEDs use so much less power (true) that they generate less heat than the old incandescent bulbs (true) and don't melt the snow off the traffic signal lenses (true) like the incandescent bulbs did (hmmm... do they? always?). The news made headlines that labeled them as "unintended consequences" as though this good idea was suddenly a bad idea because the new thing didn't do something that the old is presumed to have done. I call that 'missing the big picture'.
First and foremost, let's make it clear that the fact that LED traffic lights don't melt snow does not come as a surprise to anyone in the LED traffic signal business. They kind of knew this, and as I polled around some folks that are or were involved in the LED traffic signal market, this also wasn't a surprise to the customers (typically municipalities) either. One source reported that over a number of years, they had only gotten one request from a customer in Canada to propose a way to melt snow on the signals. In that case, the customer decided it wasn't worth the additional cost to deal with it. What, not worth the cost? They must have been looking at the big picture.
To simplify the discussion, although I truly tend to doubt that incandescent signals always melted the snow off (is that yellow light really on long enough to generate enough heat to melt accumulating snow), let's unconditionally grant that incandescents did and LEDs don't. I know first hand that it's not true, having lived in the Lake Tahoe California area for a winter a few decades ago. Good snowstorm, steady wind, and some traffic signals were obscured. Seems to me that's why they invented the brake pedal. But, let's go ahead and grant the old stuff a pass and claim they were always snow-free. From that position, we can launch into the other half of the story that wasn't reported... the LEDs are probably saving many more lives by simply being on in the first place, than they would ever cost due to rare snow obscuration events. Heck, one could claim that electricity is the culprit, if anyone has ever been injured in a traffic accident when the power failed and the signals went dark. It might sound something like, "Before these ee-lectric traffic signal thingies, we'd only have that old, reliable stop sign, and never have we seen one of them fail... well, except when people didn't see it and would run right on through it."
So here's the truth... the LED traffic signals seem to have an incredible ability not to fail (7+ years and counting for many). Incandescents failed regularly, but unfortunately not like clockwork. Given their on-off cycle, reports seem consistent that they would typically have a 8000 hour life span, or a year or two, depending on the cycling. That suggests that any individual signal could be expected to go dark for some portion of at least a, if not longer, once a year. If we make an optimistic guess that they would be dead at least 4 hours before the city repair crew got around to them when they failed during the day, and say something like 10 hours average when they failed at night, we have something we can get our heads around. Average of 4 and 10 is 7 hours per year, that any given signal is going to be dead... not signaling... presenting the opportunity for someone to run them and crash into someone else. If red and green are equally important, that's potentially 14 hours of "danger" per signal head each year. 14 hours with some certainty, versus a few hours if a once in a great while snow storm with just the right kind of snow and wind-angle combination hits on a particular year (presumably in the kind of storm that thins traffic to virtually zero, and if you're driving, common sense suggests no one can stop predictably). Bear in mind that much of the US, from the west coast, across the mid-south, and on to Florida rarely sees snow, and if it does, it won't ever reach the magnitude needed to block the light from a traffic signal. But those same states would see just as many incandescents fail for just as many hours each year. Heeellllooo? 7 years, some rare darkness on some heads due to a rare snow event every few years, versus a predictable period of dark from every signal everywhere, every year. Which one is dangerous? Can you hear us media? We lost one life in 2009, but how many did we save since those LED traffic signals were installed?
So, can we do better? Maybe, but at what cost to get to "never fails to signal"? $100K in this city, $200K in that one... Is that money best spent on preventing the possibility of snow accumulation in the next blizzard because one person in the US, as unfortunate as that is, had their death attributed to an obscured traffic signal in 2009? Could those hundreds of thousands perhaps be better invested in an extra ambulance in an underserved area, or perhaps in adding another police officer, or even more to the point, in adding a traffic signal to a current high-risk, uncontrolled intersection? Big picture.
As an industry, let's make sure we don't get caught up by what the critics may turn into the 'potential for the disaster' story of the day. It doesn't matter if it's "if you stare at an LED, it could blind you, and now we've installed them in our TVs!" or "they're talking about LED automobile headlights, and we all know that LEDs can't melt snow off of traffic signals, so what's going to happen in our cars!" Yep, we've kept that one in sight for years, and that one does need to be solved before LEDs can work there. We're keeping the big picture in mind, and we just need to share it every chance we get.
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