Rapid City to test LED street lights

A Rapid City traffic engineer says the city has positive results since changing over to LED traffic lights three years ago, so it's going to try out LED street lights. John Less says light emitting diodes are guaranteed for five years while a regular bulb could last as short as a year.

Acuity Brands Helps Begin Revitalization of City of Rock Falls

Acuity Brands announced its participation in a pilot outdoor LED lighting and revitalization project in Rock Falls, Illinois using its Holophane brand of luminaires and innovative SiteLink pole system. The Holophane brand has been a recognized leader in high-quality and lowest total cost of ownership lighting solutions for commercial, industrial, and outdoor applications for more than 110 years.
Working with Paul A. Jakubczak, PE, Electric Director of the City of Rock Falls Electric Utility, Acuity Brands' Holophane unit will bring the lighting of the Rock Falls City Hall area into the 21st century. The chosen state-of-the-art LED lighting and innovative Holophane branded SiteLink pole system has many unique features and functions beyond simply suspending a streetlight in the air.
Focusing on the City Hall parking lot for now, the City of Rock Falls' overall objective is to eventually revitalize the entire downtown area. The revitalization project will be highlighted by new LED lighting, which will increase energy efficiency, improve overall quality of light and reduce overall maintenance costs.
The main goals of the lighting component of the revitalization efforts are to obtain high vertical illumination with no less than .5 footcandles of horizontal illuminance and cutoff optics, while utilizing "green technology." The City selected Holophane Esplanade 150-watt Utility Tear Drop LED luminaires mounted on SiteLink SL5 poles and North Yorkshire style decorative pole bases to satisfy its lighting and aesthetics criteria. As part of a comprehensive lighting solution, the City also will be using photocontrols from Acuity Brands' DTL controls brand. DTL photocontrols save energy and reduce utility replacement costs, offering an integrated intelligent outdoor lighting and controls solution that saves energy by providing both excellent reliability and accurate light sensing.

Pumpkin Illumination 101

The traditional method of pumpkin illumination is the tiny tea light candle. While there's nothing wrong with tea lights for brief and temporary illumination, they have their limitations. Read over the following list for some ideas on how you can illuminate your pumpkins.

LED Modules for Entertainment, Architainment and Special Effects

Until recently, professionals tended to use halogen lights for lighting production of spectacular stage shows or buildings; now, though, OSRAM Zelion H offers a particularly energy-efficient, durable and robust alternative. Compact, available in light colours white, red, blue and green and with two different reflectors (6° and 10°), this module with its flexi ble applications impresses with its very high axial luminous intensity, achieved with the aid of four highly efficient light diodes in combination with an optimised reflector design. These LED modules are suitable for a wide range of different applications and are easy to integrate into different luminaires. Extensive optical and thermal simulations and tests throughout the development process, including some in the airfield sector, have made OSRAM Zelion H an adaptable light source suitable for a wide range of applications. It will continue to perform even when conditions turn somewhat rougher, for example as the result of vibrations during a concert. Energy-efficiency and reduced maintenance requirements Energy efficiency is a particular hallmark of Zelion H LED systems. With a light intensity of 2000cd per Watt, which equals a 75 per cent energy reduction in comparison to a halogen solution (500 cd/W). Additionally one 48W halogen lamp (24 kcd) can be replaced by only four LEDs with a total of 19W (38 kcd) which results in further saving potentials.

LED Installation Makes Walking Fun Again

If you’re someone who walks a lot, then you know that, for the most part, it’s not all that fun. After all, the only interaction you get is from other people. But, what if the ground you were walking on actually interacted with you, with each step you take? Phase 7, a performance art group, has just debuted their brand new interactive LED installation in Berlin, which brings LED lighting effects to the ground itself, which will interact with those who step on it.

Reclaimed Wood To Eco-friendly Mushroom Light

Do you love mushrooms? Do you like how they look as they sprout? Well, you will love them even more because you can now have this wonderful creature of nature into your room in the form of a cute and playful yet eco-friendly lighting system.

Made from reclaimed wood, this one of a kind lighting system mimics the look of a mushroom and uses LED technology for its illumination need.

Brighter LED units top upcoming lineups

LEDs with a power rating of 1W and above are expected to become the mainstream light source in mainland China-made outdoor wall lamps within five years. Advancements in related technologies and lower costs are projected to fuel adoption of the diodes, which are already incorporated in 50 percent of output in the LED-fitted category. Greater economies of scale are also anticipated, with the environmental movement fueling demand for solid-state lighting.

New Control IC for Automotive LED Headlights

Renesas Electronics Corporation , a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the availability of its new control IC (part number PD168891) for automotive light-emitting diode (LED) headlights. The main features of the PD168891 IC are an integrated current-control function for constant-current drive of LEDs and a pre-driver function for driving external metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs); integrated protection functions essential for automotive applications, including LED current and external MOSFET overcurrent protection; and a newly developed compact package with low thermal resistance. The new device can be combined with other devices, such as MOSFETs, Schottky diodes, and choke coils to build electronic-control units for LED headlights in automobiles.

Restaurant chains leading with LED lights

Apparently, the parent company of the Chil’s and Maggiano’s restaurant chain is going LED. Brinker International is in the process of installing more than 125,000 exterior and interior LED lamps from Eco-story at all 827 of its corporate-owned restaurants. Those lights are, in turn, based on technology from Cree, a publicly traded LED company that has been posting admirable growth.

Toshiba puts OLED displays on hold

Toshiba is saying toodle pip to OLED display production and will concentrate on turning out LCD screens instead. Toshiba and Panasonic had both worked on building an OLED production factory in Japan. According to Reuters though, Toshiba has put its interest in OLED technology on hold for now.

OLED ceiling lamp shows commercial potential

Organic LED specialist Universal Display Corporation (UDC) and lighting system partner Armstrong World Industries have demonstrated a high-efficacy panel that meets the requirements for niche lighting applications.

The ceiling-mounted system, where each luminaire consists of four 15 cm x 15 cm white OLED lamps that snap into Armstrong’s modular structure, has been developed under a $1.9 million US Department of Energy (DOE) program, and could become a commercial product within two years.

Scientists create 'nano LEDs'

Chemists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have stumbled upon a way of producing light from nanowires. While they were refining a method for producing horizontally-grown wires across a substrate, Babak Nikoobakht and Andrew Herzing electrically charged an array of junctions between two materials and caused illumination to occur. The pair hope to further refine the technique so that these nano LEDs can be applied in the development of light sources and detectors useful in photonic devices or lab-on-a-chip platforms.