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EU Ban on 75-Watt Incandescent Bulbs to Begin, Packaging to Have New Info
SSLDesign News Staff
August 31, 2010...Beginning tomorrow the second stage of an EU regulation for the phase-out of incandescent lamps will be coming into force. The 75-Watt bulbs will gradually disappear from shop shelves. Retailers will be allowed to sell their existing stock, but production of the bulbs by manufacturers and importation of bulbs must cease.
As part of the phase-out plan a uniform Europe-wide duty to inform will also apply to new lamps to help consumers better understand the differences among efficient lighting technologies .
The EU regulation to inform consumers about lighting seems very similar to the labeling requirements of the United States Federal Trade Commission.
The mandatory data to be provided will include the service life, start-up time, and the mercury content. And like the U.S. labeling requirements, the most important changes for consumers concern the specification of the light output in lumens. The term
"Lumens" will replace "Watts" as the measure of brightness.
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Philips Lumileds Chroma-Q Color Block Provides Stage Backlighting for Event in Cologne, Germany
SSLDesign News Staff
August 31, 2010...At a large corporate event, some of Germany's most popular bands took the stage in Cologne at the Lanxess arena, one of Europe's largest all-purpose venues and host to concerts by an impressive range of international music stars.
Lighting designer Marcus Krömer specified 330 Chroma-Q Color Block 2 LED fixtures to provide stage scenic elements backlighting for the event.
Marcus needed a fixture that was bright enough to uplight a curved wall onstage reaching up to 5m high at its centre. At the same time, it had to be compact enough to fit inside and follow the curvature of the 32m span. The lighting also needed to feature built-in dimming, provide smooth color changing effects, and look good on camera because the whole event was being filmed in high definition.
Marcus used 330 Color Block 2 units mounted at the top and bottom inside the wall to light a bounce at the back of it. The wall was used in two different configurations. During the daytime there was an entrance opening for the daytime conference and awards. Then at night the wall was fully closed off for the evening concert.
Marcus employed soft color static looks for the daytime events, and he switched to bold color looks synchronized with the surrounding video panels and other effects lighting for the concert. Well known German bands Die Höhner, Drum Café and Pur performed at the event.
Burger King's First Energy Efficient Restaurant Employs LED Technology from Everlight Electronics
SSLDesign News Staff
August 31, 2010...Burger King opened its first energy efficient restaurant in early June in Waghäusel, Germany, with LED lighting technology from Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd.
According to Everlight and Burger King, the parking area is illuminated by six 60 W SL-Dolphin street lights in neutral white with Phoenix lighting pattern. The SL-Dolphin street lights feature a luminous flux of about 6,000 lm and a color temperature of 5,000 K. The asymmetric wide view angle ensures high uniformity at pole heights of 6-8 m. Everlight points out that this uniformity makes the SL-Dolphin ideally suited for parking and roadway applications.
Everlight says that existing SL-Dolphin lights are now being shipped with a patented electronic ballast developed and produced in Germany. Everlight boasts that the ballast excels with various dimming options and has a life span up to eight times longer than other LED street light solutions or conventional street lights. Everlight also touts the ballast's a high temperature protection mechanism and outstanding efficiency of 93 percent.
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Albeo Expands LED Lighting Production Line in Boulder, Colorado
SSLDesign News Staff
August 26, 2010...Albeo of Boulder, Colorado USA, reports that the company is expanding into a new 20,000 square foot facility.
Albeo says that its new space will house larger production lines, an expanded quality control department, and new engineering and test labs enabling Albeo to better serve its diverse base of customers.
The company has more than doubled its revenue each year for the past three years. The company posted an average annual growth of 110 percent for the past three consecutive years. The company anticipates adding 80 new employees over the next 2 years.
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Commentary & Perspectives...
LED Lighting Summit Buzz: Walking the walk with decision makers
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
August 26, 2010...It's interesting when you arrange something like the LED lighting-focused SSL Summit to see who's really ready to walk the walk, rather than just talking the talk. Here you have an conference that's bringing in real facilities-oriented decision makers that should represent somewhere between 200 and 300 million square feet of commercially managed property in NYC, and that demands the "product visible" companies to meet some basic quality criteria. Suddenly more than a few of the hundreds of manufacturers that you see at the big lighting shows, and in the news, seem to have cold feet. Time to walk the walk.
That's not to say that if a company isn't there that you should assume there's an issue. There are plenty of great companies that are simply looking at where the bodies have to be, and when, and not able to fit it in all into the schedule. "Attend the board meeting or go to the Summit... hmmm. I'll just blow off my investors, they'll understand," says the CEO (not). There are also more than a few startups that simply have $XXX per month to travel on, and those sales calls are already scheduled. Hey, we all have budgets, and the discipline to live with them is one key to success. There are also the ones who haven't heard about it (consciously). We have more than one industry friend who are avid readers, must have the banners in their faces at least weekly, and that reply with, "Oh shoot... I didn't notice the dates. Is that coming up in just a few weeks?" The sign-up typically follows the next day or two, as soon as they have the flights.
There will also be plenty of attending manufacturers that are bringing quality to the market, but didn't choose to be in the sponsor's showcase or didn't get in early enough to have a talk. Lack of product on display is not a measure of whether they have a worthwhile product or not. Those are decisions to be made about promotion and exposure. We all have our opinions on where and how it's best to invest, and we'd all do things differently with an unlimited budget, but no one in their right mind would ever give marketing an unlimited budget. (Insert your favorite political diatribe on government spending programs here for illustration...)
The companies that we find interesting are those big talkers that stormed Lightfair with their "wide range of products" and "great performance", who are suddenly confronted with the possibility of facing actual high-level customers. "We're not quite ready to be there yet." Interesting. If they could get through to the decision makers at all, they'd be qualifying with just the right words such as, "Looks good for availability this fall," when it could be rightly restated as, "If everything went smoother than ever has happened, we can make one available to the labs for testing to see if it comes close to matching what we put on our preliminary spec sheet." I guess that means, "Would look good for availability...". What I suspect they're hoping is that the only thing that will stick is the company name so they can get through again "when they're ready" and start things rolling for real. Good luck with that. Again, don't assume this is condemnation of anyone with a schedule slip versus expectations. If you don't plan aggressively, you won't achieve aggressively, and quite frankly, the only way you know you've gotten to the edge is to slip a bit and catch your balance. Ask anyone in motorsports. You need to go to the edge to find out where the edge is. The talent is in learning to hang on that edge without blowing out of the corner. That's why many, many entrepreneurs have a failure in their past. It's how they learned to do it right (and faster) this time.
So who will you find there? Winners. Not the only winners, but a good representation of companies that are offering competent solutions. All have made mistakes, I am sure, with some of those mistakes being visible and others having escaped the light of day. That decision making audience will also be made up of winners, whether they are designers, consultants or engineers, or personally managing a few million square feet (let's see... 2M sqft x $50/sqft rent makes a tidy little $100M business they're running with an equivalent market cap of a quarter to a half billion). Winners will also be there in lower key ways, even if their product isn't yet to the point they want to shine the kind of spotlight on it that others might. They're winners because they're working to engage with other winners.
Special thanks to our 2010 Summit NY and Series supporters, including diamond sponsors Lithonia Lighting and LEDnovation. Platinum sponsors include Wiedenbach Brown, Greenlight Initiative, Toshiba, Graftech and Array Lighting. This year's showcase participants also so far include Gold sponsors CRS, Cree, and Philips Lumileds.
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Don't miss the SSL Summit Series, kicking off September 14-15 in New York City, conveniently located on Manhattan in the financial district. 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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