Lighting Going Green

As the adoption of more energy-efficient light sources becomes more widespread in the coming years, the resulting energy savings naturally will increase. “LEDS are semiconductor light sources that produce directional light. Thus, the light is delivered precisely where it is needed so much less light is wasted as scattered light, and light pollution is reduced,” said Dr. Berit Wessler, Head of Innovation Management for OSRAM Opto Semiconductors (Regensburg,Germany). “LED light sources already consume much less electricity than most other conventional light sources.”

Light-emitting diodes have considerable potential for increases in brightness and efficiency, and can deliver even more potential energy savings than traditional light sources. Development work is ongoing and light-emitting diodes already are penetrating the general illumination sector.

The Imaging Source (Charlotte, N.C.) announces a new series of cost-effective LED lighting modules, which seamlessly integrate with The Imaging Source USB, FireWire and GigE cameras. Features include: very bright LEDs; direct connection to the camera; all parameters can be set via the shipped software, IC Capture and IC Imaging Control or by custom-built software; compatible with The Imaging Source USB, CCD, FireWire and GigE cameras. All cameras manufactured by The Imaging Source ship with IC Capture and IC Imaging Control.

As a result of CoolLED’s (Andover, Hampshire, U.K.) continuous development program, the company is pleased to announce the latest release of new LED wavelengths for its fluorescence excitation products. The new wavelengths are at 365, 380, 440, 470, 550, 615, 700 and 770 nm. These wavelengths are provided on LAMs (LED Array Modules) that can be interchanged within CoolLED’s modular fluorescence excitation sources and systems.The additions expand the wavelength range into the UV and IR regions. CoolLED offers its LED technology for wide-ranging applications. A total of 18 wavelengths now are available. CoolLED’s LAMs are arrays of LEDs that are actively cooled for the highest stability and intensity. Lifetime is measured in tens of thousands of “on” hours with no warm-up or cool-down periods required. There is very little reduction in intensity over lifetime. Switching is almost instantaneous.LED technology does not use hazardous materials.

Multi-chip LED Belt out up to 2,000 Lumens

It is said by LedEngin (a US LED company) that the high flux LED gives the brightest 40W light source with the highest light output and flux density for architectural and general lighting applications.

The LED light source has a thermal resistance of 0.7 C/W, and the company claims, is brighter than the competition by between six to 10 times.

The company is also offering 24 and 35 lenses optimized for the LED and mazimizes the light with uniform color. LedEngin says that there are no shadows or fringe effects that other lenses offer.

The 40W LED and lenses are available now, and the company is sampling them on a custom MCPCB for easier installation and alignment with the lens and lens holder.

LED Projector in Hot

Recently, LED light sources have been widely applied in many domestic and foreign brands of projectors. Especially in the second half of 2008, LED projectors in the market has experienced unprecedented success, that among micro-projection, handheld projectors and home theatre projectors, LED light sources reviewed a clear lead in sales figures.

LED sources are being considered in the industry as the alternative for ultra-high pressure mercury halogen lamps and new projector bulbs, due to its excellent performance. As a cold-light source, LED light source advances over the traditional light bulb with its low heat, long service life of 20,000 hours. Therefore, LED projector sizes can be reduced mobile phone sizes, while also easy to maintain, without having the trouble to replace light bulbs every two years. In addition, LED light sources are also more environmentally friendly, as they do not cause mercury pollution.

In fact, as early as three or four years ago, LED light sources have been applied on projectors, but with a performance of dozens lumens brightness, those products cannot meet the general requirement of thousands of lumens, thus they were largely in the laboratory stage, without going into mass production. The development bottleneck was finally being overcome in 2008, with the projector light bulb manufacturer, Osram developed a new LED light source system that can achieve a brightness of more than 500 lumens. The breakthrough in technology allows LED projectors to finally emerge onto the markets, and with prices coming down quickly, the current home projector now costs about RMB8,000.

At present, the technology may not have reached a highly mature level, LED projector sales is no better than traditional projectors, but its energy-saving, environmental friendly, and other extraordinary features will make it a new favour in the projector market.

New Light Standards for Energy Saving

Just like the public telephone, the conventional incandescent bulb’s and the ubiquitous (and ugly) fluorescent tube’s days may be numbered in U.S. New federal standards announced June 29, 2009 sets new national minimum energy standards for the standard bulbs that light our offices, homes, stores, and factories. The standards also phase out conventional incandescent reflector lamps, effectively extending the phase out of inefficient incandescent products initiated by Congress in 2007 to the common cone-shaped bulbs used in recessed light fixtures and track lighting.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), lighting uses nearly 40% of all electricity used in commercial buildings. The standards announced today affect the more than 500 million fluorescent tube lamps and 265 million reflector lamps sold each year in the United States. About 7% of all energy consumed in the United States is for lighting.

According to DOE, the new standards announced today will save up to 1.2 trillion kilowatt-hours over thirty years, an amount about equal to the total consumption of all homes in the U.S. in one year. Businesses and consumers will gain up to $35 billion in net savings and global warming carbon dioxide emissions will be cut by up to 594 million metric tons, an amount equal to the annual emissions of nearly 110 million cars.

For the past several years the City of Milwaukee has actively tried to reduce energy use in City Hall and other city facilities. Since 2005 or so the Department of Public Works has been installing LED traffic signals throughout the City of Milwaukee. An LED (light emitting diode) traffic light provides as much or more light as a conventional bulb using a quarter of the energy, while lasting much longer. Mayor Barrett was quoted in today’s Milwaukee Journal  Sentinel that street lighting aacounts for well over 50% of the energy used by the city. According to Ann Beier, Director of Environmental Sustainability, the city has been replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent lamps and replacing older, less efficient fluorescent lamps with smaller, more efficient bulbs.

With the change of standards it should get easier for the average consumer to make the shift to more efficient light bulbs. No more standing in the store aisle and reading labels to make sure the bulb in your hand is “energy smart”.

A Green Light for Cities

It is said from officials of the shanghai Science and Technology Commission that lights on roads, bridges, tunnels, public transport and governmental buildings will all use environmentally friendly technology in three to five years.

LED (light-emitting diode) lights have a longer lifetime and can use less than half the energy of traditional bulbs. About 20 percent of the city’s electricity is used on lighting.

The development and promotion of LED lighting have been widely embraced by both government and industry.

Shanghai is one of participants in a recent project by the Ministry of Science and Technology to promote LED lights in major cities.

“We have finished a draft on LED adoption and promotion in Shanghai,” said Guo Yansheng, director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission’s high-tech industrialization department.

“The 2010 Shanghai World Expo is an excellent opportunity to showcase LED technologies. All landscaping lights in the Expo zone use LED lighting, while road lamps and exhibition halls will mainly use LEDs.”

The exhibition, which will run until Friday at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in the Pudong New Area, also has an LED road-lamp contest. Winners’ designs would be used in the Expo zone and introduced to the government for wider use.

Since the price of LED lights is still higher than traditional products, the city government is studying subsidy policies to help promote them in the market and streamline their public use. Nearly 95 percent of local traffic lights use LED lighting, while the next steps are for road lamps, public transport lighting and government buildings.

Buy a LED Night Light

It is a better choice to choose an ultra-efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) to add a little safety and peace of mind to hallways, kid’s bedrooms, bathrooms and other spaces.

The technology behind laptop computer screens, LEDs are greener than standard incandescent, and even fluorescent, lightbulbs because they generate almost no waste heat. Most of the electricity used is output as light. LEDs remain cool to the touch, so they don’t add excess heat into living spaces, which means less cooling is needed. They last for literally hundreds of thousands of hours, meaning they can go years before they need to be changed, thereby cutting down on landfill waste.

In terms of cost, size and brightness, LEDs are getting better all the time, and are seeing many new applications. Even the best LEDs still aren’t really bright enough for use in primary indoor or outdoor lighting, but they work great for accent and decorative applications.

In general, LED nightlights are competitively priced with standard nightlights, and many companies sell now. They cost only pennies a year in energy, and result in much lower carbon emissions over traditional lighting. They can be found at most home improvement, value and even drugstores.

Test on SAMSUNG LED TV B7000

LED is a kind of tiny light-bulb like those we use as break light at the rear of the BMW or Mercedes. Compare to the former CCFL Cold cathode fluorescent lamp on LCD TV, the LED light is brighter, no heat, last longer and more energy efficient. Samsung has incorporated an LED light-source in order to accentuate a deeper black, more dynamic contrast, enhanced visual fidelity and definitely the inevitable charm of slimmer panel design.

4 Picture Mode (Dynamic / Standard / Natural / Movie)

Black color variation range to bright white is nicely detailed.

Sorry Mr. Bond but your wrinkle is clearly countable due to glass panel.

Great depth and color vibrant.

Picture quality is so high that we can read out the multiple choice selections.

Sanyo Turning to LED Light Technology

Sanyo is turning to a hot new area (LED technology) for experimentation, to squeeze three uses out of a single lamp. It is said form Sanyo that there is a new Eneloop Lamp – a desk light that can also work as an emergency flashlight and even send some healing energy your way.

Operating on rechargable AA “eneloop” batteries, Sanyo’s new Eneloop Lamp based on high-luminance LED technology can be situated anywhere in the room since no cords constrain the placement.

It also uses a contactless charging system and has no metallic contact on the product body interrupting the design. The batteries are recharged by putting the lamp unit on the charging stand.

In low-white-light mode, one 12-hour charge lasts an impressive 45 hours, but on high output it only lasts 3 hours.

The Eneloop Lamp also features a blue lamp “Healing Light” mode that according to Sanyo “creates a healing ambience.” We don’t know exactly what the lamp will heal, nor have we seen any scientific data confirming this claim.

Finally, when the body is tilted 90 degrees or more, “a built-in acceleration sensor” turns the lamp into a flashlight that lasts up to six hours on one full charge. Sanyo suggests the flashlight be used in an emergency situations like a midnight earthquake or for more frequent day-to-say use as a handy portable light.

There has been no official price about the new desk light goes on sale in September 11 yet.

Mix Solar LED Lights

It is reported from Matter Network that the Lexus of Albuquerque car dealership is going green and not just by selling hybrids. The dealership recently switched their stadium lights from fossil fuel power to solar power.

For Lexus of Albuquerque, solar/LED (light-emitting diode) lights are powering down electricity from the grid and saving the overhead energy costs of their overhead lighting. Using Visible Light Solar Technologies’ solar/LED system, the dealership harnesses the sun’s power and converts it for use by the LED lights. The solar energy is “collected, sized and utilized at the point of application rather than generated from a remote solar collection location,” according to Visible Light Solar Technologies.

Basically, the dealership lamps are collecting energy during the day and storing it in batteries for use later at night. The lamps remain connected to the grid for emergency needs or when a series of cloudy days uses up the solar power generated, drastically cutting back on fossil fueled energy. Chips in the lighting system monitor power generation and consumption to switch to the grid when necessary and to turn off lighting when it is not needed. In keeping with environmental progress, Lexus of Albuquerque’s existing stadium lights are reused instead of thrown out. Doing so reduces landfill waste and additional raw material generation.

Lexus of Albuquerque found that switching to solar powered lamps is 88 percent more efficient than previous lamps and last longer so that the dealership no longer has to spend upwards of $3500 on new bulbs annually, according to Tom Bohlman, Managing Partner, Lexus of Albuquerque, as quoted by the Business Journal of Albuquerque.

Conversion of the stadium lights to the solar lamps is something Lexus is considering for all of their dealerships. While it seems as though use of stadium lights overnight is a bit of overkill because not many prospective buyers are shopping for a vehicle at midnight, at least the lights are powered from a clean source. If this energy-saving policy were used by dealerships across the country, it could make a difference in reducing electricity and fossil fuel consumption, and they would prove to consumers that they are listening to their demands for conscientiousness.

China Changes to Taiwan LED makers

It is reported on June 11 that China plans to turn to Taiwan companies to put LED technology into street lights in 10 Chinese cities.

The project aims to cut electric bills in Chinese cities by using LED in city lights. LEDs give off less heat, consume less energy and last longer than traditional lights, according to China’s National Semiconductor Lighting Industry Alliance, which oversees the project to light up China with LEDs. The technology is also inexpensive because it’s used in a range of projects, from Christmas lights and the displays of alarm clocks, DVD players and digital music players, to the backlights in LCD laptop screens.

The agreement was part of deals signed at a two-day conference between LED industry leaders and government officials from Taiwan and China.

Delegates from the conference also signed a letter of intent to work together to promote LED technology, including in research, development, qualification and the creation of new standards. Over 200 Taiwanese companies and 71 Chinese companies took part in an exhibition related to the conference, and around 80 government officials from China attended the event, according to Taiwan’s economics ministry.

The cooperation highlights increased cooperation between Taiwan and China over the past year. A new president elected last year in Taiwan has pushed forward a number of initiatives to strengthen ties with China, mainly economic, a far different tack than the previous administration, which advocated Taiwan independence. China and Taiwan separated in 1949 amid civil war, and China has vowed to attack if Taiwan moves toward formal independence.

A number of new policies have been implemented by the new administration in Taiwan, including direct flights between Taiwan and China for the first time in decades and greater business ties between the two places. Another example in the high tech area was last week, when Taiwan hosted the first ever China pavilion at the Computex Taipei 2009 electronics show.

LED sales to China’s lighting industry stand to be big business for Taiwanese companies, according to investment firm CLSA Asia Pacific Markets in Taipei.

“The fast-growing economic growth in China will inevitably lead to urbanization and higher electric lighting consumption,” said analyst Andrea Su, in a report on Thursday.

She believes China will increase spending on LED lighting to lower energy costs and that currently, lighting consumption per capita in China is only 10 percent that of North America.