LED Lights to Illuminate Berhampur Streets

Berhampur will switch over to LED (light- emitting diode) lights on Thursday. Under its street light programme, the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) had installed 25 energy-efficient LED lights along half km stretch from Courtpeta to New bus stand road which will be put to use on Thursday. At present, the city has five high-mast lights and sodium vapour lights at other places. The BMC pays `16 lakh towards electricity charges for these lights.

Auger effect identified as main cause of efficiency droop in LEDs

High-kinetic-energy electrons emitted from an LED clearly indicate that the Auger effect is the dominant cause of efficiency droop. Much of the cost of an LED lamp results from so-called efficiency droop: a decrease in the conversion efficiency of LEDs at high current densities. To maintain a high efficiency (lumens per watt), LED chips are operated at low current densities, which increases the number of LED chips needed for a given lumen output. Understanding the cause of efficiency droop is therefore of great interest, so that appropriate remedies can be developed.

Greenhouses will get more energy efficient and productive with LED

LED lighting for greenhouses is an investment that should pay for itself within a few years. LED Lights should improve yields and the quality of output even more in the next few years. This is a complex topic with numerous subtleties. There is no shortage of arguments in favor of eating locally grown food because of the lower transport costs. Greenhouses allow for a wider variety of fruit and vegetable for a given climate. LEDs give farmers greater flexibility at a lower cost and a smaller environmental footprint. Plant physiologists have long known that chlorophyll absorbs mainly in the blue, green and red parts of the spectrum but absorbs a little in the orange and yellow. So it makes sense to produce light only in these parts of the spectrum. That’s easy with LEDs, of course, but impossible with sodium lamps

LEDs: Better red makes brighter white

Chemists at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have developed a novel type of red phosphor material, which significantly enhances the performance of white-emitting LEDs. In cooperation with Dr. Peter Schmidt of Philips Technologie GmbH in Aachen, a team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schnick, who holds the Chair of Inorganic Solid-State Chemistry at LMU Munich, has developed a new material for application in light-emitting diodes (LEDs). "With its highly unusual properties, the new material has the potential to revolutionize the LED market," says Schnick. The two teams report their results in the latest edition of Nature Materials.

Chicago is getting lamp posts that count people and track pollution

Apparently, Chicago is becoming even more like its Watch Dogs doppelganger than we first thought. Researchers are deploying networked, sensor-equipped lamp posts from this July onward to learn how they could help urban planning and safety. They'll collect environmental data like air quality, noise levels and wind, and they'll also measure foot traffic by counting the number of passing cellphones. If the project takes off, Chicago officials could easily tell if air pollution is on the rise, or if a narrow sidewalk is creating a choke point.

2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS Features Facelift, LED Lighting

The Mercedes-Benz CLS now has a freshly redesigned nose for the 2015 model year, integrating the company’s new LED lighting system. A new nine-speed transmission and new engine choices round out the rest of the vehicle, along with new entertainment system technology. Highlighting the front of the 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS Coupe are a set of new LED headlights, surrounded by a more aggressive front bumper. A set of 24 LEDs rests in each headlight cluster, with four control units to calculate the lighting for any scenario. A front mounted camera scans the conditions 100 times per second, and each LED has 255 stages of dimming to adjust light to every possible setting.

Solar Powered LEDtronics LED Area Lights Offer Security to Mesa Residential Community

When residents of the Park Centre Casitas residential community in Mesa, Arizona, got together and hired a security company to survey the property and suggest ways to keep it safe, the security company suggested adding perimeter lighting.

Having received approval from the city’s utility department, residents of the complex, which consists of 192 condominium-style units in 25 buildings a few blocks north of downtown Mesa, first considered conventional lighting. After receiving a few quotes from various vendors, it became apparent that the cost would be too great, not to mention the inconvenience, time and installation hazards. They began to look for alternatives.

 The city’s Energy Resources Department encouraged them to take advantage of its just-launched solar pilot program for customers in its electric service area. The program provided financial incentives and, if they used LED lighting powered by photovoltaic panels, there would be no additional cost for trenching, underground wiring and expensive power poles.

 A modern-day urban retreat surrounded by the Sonoran Desert and with over 325 sun-drenched days a year, solar energy opportunities abound in Mesa — the third largest city in Arizona, some 15 miles east of Phoenix. The Park Centre Casitas residents decided to accept the city's offer.

 This brought them to LEDtronics. With the help of the local representative, Howard Industrial Sales, a shipment was arranged of 10 shoebox-style LED luminaires specifically designed for alternative-energy sources. Operating on a voltage input range of 10-to-30VDC, the LEDtronics SLL003-400-TPW-10/30VM3 units consume only 23 watts and can replace metal-halide area lights up to 100W. They are ideal for parking lots, parks, walkways and pole-mounted area and periphery lighting.

 In addition, for a desert city like Mesa, LED lighting reduces light pollution — no wasted light, and conforms to the international “Dark Skies Initiative.” The City completed the installation, including the LEDs, solar panels, battery boxes and light poles. Four lights were installed, with the rest reserved for emergency service and replacement. Now the residents feel safer strolling after dark to the ball field where the Chicago Cubs have their winter home, within walking distance from the Casitas.

 In a bid to pursue a more energy-efficient, healthy and sustainable environment, the City of Mesa so far has installed over 840 kW of renewable solar energy inside its service area, and more solar projects are in progress.

LEDs offer almost natural sunlight colour spectrum

Kyocera Corporation has developed a new type of light-emitting diode (LED) that produces a color spectrum close to natural sunlight which makes the device ideal for color-inspection applications. The LEDs offer low power consumption and long life in an array of lighting options, including fluorescent tubes, standing lights and compact handheld lamps which makes the devices an alternative to large, heat-producing xenon lamps in areas such as automotive paint inspection.

An LED showcase: Cree lights up San Francisco Bay Bridge

Cree just may be hard pressed to find a better way to display the sharpness, power and durability of its LED lighting than a just-unveiled project along side partner Musco Lighting. One of Cree's LEDs for the bridge projectCree LEDs - more than 51,000 of them and known as XM-L - shine brightly on the new East Span of the majestic San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The Lava Lamp Workspace

Lava lamps aren't just novel relics of the '60s and '70s. Lined up in a colorful collection, they can be pretty neat office accessories, setting a tranquil mood. Lava lamps aside, Flickr user myelin8's home office is nicely set up, with all black furniture and hardware, as well a lots of (IKEA Galant) desk space to spread out. The floor alone is gorgeous.

As LED Industry Evolves, China Elbows Ahead

A year ago, China’s light-emitting diode industry seemed like a case study of industrial policy gone awry. Hundreds of factories built all over eastern China, often with lavish clean energy subsidies from state-owned banks and local governments, were operating at half capacity. The share prices of LED manufacturers were plunging. Now demand is surging, and the Chinese manufacturers suddenly find their factories running at full tilt, churning out LEDs faster and cheaper than global rivals. With a price war underway, the Chinese are taking share from top players in the United States, Europe and Japan, the industry pioneers that made crucial technological breakthroughs, and from Taiwan and South Korea, previously the leaders in low-priced LEDs.

Larson Electronics Releases 150 Watt Portable LED Work Light on an Adjustable Aluminum Frame

Larson Electronics has announced the release of a 150 watt portable explosion proof LED work light mounted to an adjustable frame. This portable unit produces 12,000 lumens of light while drawing only 150 watts of power. The LEDs used in this light use less energy and create less heat which reduces energy costs by lowering the amount of electricity needed to illuminate large areas.

The EPL-TFM-150LED-RT-100-2023 is a versatile work light that provides 9,000 square feet of work area coverage while drawing only 150 watts. The LED light head on this unit produces a brilliant flood pattern of light that is ideal for illuminating enclosed areas and hazardous locations where flammable vapors, gases and dusts may be present. The explosion proof LED work light is comprised of a 16 by 14 light head that is mounted on a tubular frame pedestal fabricated from lightweight aluminum with a convenient carrying handle built into the top of the frame. The light head features multiple LED drivers which help increase the operational life of the fixture. With traditional LED lights, in the event an LED array or driver fails, the entire fixture no longer illuminates. This new series of LED lamps contains twelve individual LED boards configured in a series of banks. Each bank contains two LED boards with an individual driver. In the event of a driver failure, only one bank of LEDs will be affected while the other banks will continue to operate. In the event of an LED failure, the mating LED will continue to operate. This light is multi-voltage capable and operates on 120-277V AC and includes 100' of SOOW cord.

The extreme durability, universal voltage, and LED longevity make this LED flood lighting system an ideal fit for tank cleaning, oil field maintenance and repairs, and offshore applications, said Rob Bresnahan with Larsonelectronics.com. The LEDs used in this light use less energy and create less heat which reduces energy costs by lowering the amount of electricity needed to illuminate large areas.

Larson Electronics carries an extensive line of explosion proof lights, hazardous location lights, intrinsically safe lights, oil rig lights and explosion proof tank lights. You can view Larson Electronics' entire line of explosion proof lighting at larsonelectronics.com. Larson Electronics can be reached directly by calling 1-800-369-6671 or 1-214-616-6180 for international inquiries.

$10 Million More For Low Cost LEDs

The price of a typical high efficiency LED light bulb has been falling off the cliff lately, and it’s going to take another steep dive because the Energy Department has just chipped in $10.5 million for a new push to get more low cost LEDs into more sockets. The money is aimed at taking foundational research that improves efficiency for both LED and OLED technology, and applying it to improved models for commercial development. The new low cost LED funding will be distributed among nine one- to two-year projects in six different states. The total Energy Department contribution adds up to $10.5 million. The recipients will chip in an additional $3.7 million for a total of $13.7 all together.

Toyota catches up to William Gibson with LED hood

In William Gibson's 1994 novel Virtual Light, one of the characters' cars features “an animated hologram of a waterfall on the hood.” Fast forward 20 years and Toyota might just be about to deliver: at the 2014 Tokyo Toy Show the company showed off a vehicle with a hood covered in LEDs. The hood was hooked up to cameras, beneath which kids were encouraged to thrust their drawings.

Bridgelux Enables The LED Revolution From Behind The Scenes

LED lighting is a fascinating technology.  It’s not like incandescent lighting – where you heat up a filament until it glows (with the inevitable result that you generate 90% heat and relatively little light). It’s not like fluorescent either – where an electric current excites a mercury vapor which ultimately leads the phosphor coating on the lamp tube to glow. No, solid state light emitting diodes are a completely different technology.  They are semiconductor devices that produce light as a consequence of an electric current. And unlike incandescents and fluorescents, LED lights are directional – you can focus them in one direction. And you can talk to them.

How LEDs Are Set To Revolutionise Hi-Tech Greenhouse Farming

LEDs outperform incandescent lights, hands down. But they should also give farmers unprecedented control over plant growth, development and nutritional content in future, say researchers. It won’t come as a surprise to discover that consumers all over the developed world are increasingly demanding seasonal vegetables all year round, even when the local climate simply doesn’t allow that kind of growth. Particularly sought-after are tomatoes, cucumbers and leaf vegetables. Which is why greenhouse farming has become a major factor in the food supply of the developed world.

LED lamps at LFI: Controls, dimming, and durability on display

The retrofit lamp area remains the most significant product sector in the LED-lighting market for now, and that fact was evident on the exhibit floor at LightFair International (LFI) with the technology maturing and innovation aplenty. Designs look increasingly like legacy incandescent lamps while feature sets are expanding with enhanced controls, dimming support including dim-to-warm characteristics, and more reliable designs. The LED replacement lamp is of paramount importance for two reasons, starting with the fact that such lamps are the first touch point for most consumers and solid-state lighting (SSL). And as we reported based on Strategies Unlimited market presentations at Strategies in Light, lamps will consume the largest volume of packaged LEDs over the next five years even as more innovation takes place in luminaire design.

Regional city to switch to LEDs

Warrnambool City Council is set to become the first in Australia to use highly efficient LED technology for a bulk changeover of residential street lighting, using finance from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The Victorian council is set to reduce its street lighting costs by almost 70 per cent through replacing about 2,000 mercury vapour lamps with LEDs, following the recent approval of the technology by local network provider Powercor. CEFC CEO Oliver Yates said there was strong potential for the $1.2 million Warrnambool upgrade, using about $600,000 in CEFC finance, to light the way for other councils seeking to substantially reduce their street lighting costs - the single largest source of energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions for the local government sector.

Apple's Latest Patent Could See Notification LEDs Arrive On iPad Smart Covers

Apple could be looking to beef up the IQ of its iPad Smart Covers, according to a recent patent filing. The application, first published by AppleInsider, describes an “Integrated visual notification system in an accessory device” that could see notification LEDs get built into future iterations of the Smart Cover. This would mean that rather than merely protecting an iPad, the Smart Cover could — at the same time — alert users when they receive messages, email, social networking notifications, or even when their iPad’s battery is running low.

City Oahu to replace all street lights with LED's

Changes are coming to street lights on Oahu. The city is moving ahead with plans to replace the current lights with new light emitting diodes, or LED's, over the next several years. The lights are similar to the ones that have been installed as part of the state's H-1 Freeway Rehabilitation Project. The Department of Transportation said any new street lighting projects will use the new LED fixtures. The city is going a step further. Mayor Kirk Caldwell wants to replace all 51,700 lights on city streets with LED's.

Cambridge to replace 5,000 streetlights with energy-efficient LEDs

On Monday, the Cambridge Department of Public Works began replacing cobra head light fixtures with Light-Emitting Diodes – or LED – to help save energy. The replacement of the roughly 4,800 cobra head lights will be completed sometime in August. City Electrician Steve Lenkauskas said the work will not interfere with residential traffic or parking, as the trucks used for replacement will follow the street sweeping schedule. He anticipates, between all the trucks, the city will replace roughly 100 lights per day over the next three months.

Cree Introduces Sleek New Outdoor LED Luminaire

Cree, a manufacturer of cutting-edge LEDs has released a new LED parking lamp: The OSQ Area LED luminaire. This is designed and priced to replace 54 million high intensity discharge (HID) parking lights across the United States, facilitating energy savings of up to 70%.

The OSQ Area LED luminaire features a slender 3.8″ housing (partly due to the fact that light emitting diodes are as thin as credit cards). Other features include colour temperature options such as 3,000K, 4,000K, and 5,700K. The 3,000K colour temperature closely resembles the flattering, warm white glow of traditional incandescent light bulbs. 4,000K is not quite as warm, but its a neutral white, and finally, the 5,700K version is cool white (which resembles the average CFL).

Fireflies Inspire Brighter LEDs

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are far more energy efficient than incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs. Unfortunately, much of the light LEDs produce remains trapped within the inner surfaces of the diode. Engineers tried to build a brighter LED, but when modifications hit a plateau, they sought inspiration from the bugs that light up many a summer night. An international team of researchers led by Annick Bay at the University of Namur in Belgium examined the light-emitting organ of Photuris fireflies under a scanning electron microscope and identified seven structures that showed promise for boosting LED output.

How GE created smart lights by integrating beacons into LEDs

Imagine you're at the grocery. You're in the toothbrush aisle, looking for a new toothpaste to brighten those pearly whites. About halfway down the aisle, as you're still deciding between brands, you receive a push notification on your phone -- a coupon for Colgate, which just so happens to be right in front of you. Little did you know, the General Electric LED lights above your head are programmed with tiny beacons, made by ByteLight, which are low-energy bluetooth locators that detect where exactly you were in the aisle and are programmed to send you a message when you were close enough to a certain product. And unlike other versions of beacons, these are compatible with almost any smart device.

Novel flexible LED modules

In recent years, solid-state lighting (SSL) products have been increasingly sold in place of traditional incandescent or halogen lamps. The replacement of linear fluorescent tubes by SSL devices has lagged behind, however, due to a number of challenges. First, the efficacy advantage of SSL linear products compared with fluorescent products is small. Competitive initial costs are therefore required to ensure a return on the investment of an LED upgrade. Second, there are many different types of existing luminaires (electrical devices that create artificial light) that require different-length LED modules. Linear LED modules could thus be built in several lengths for each of these applications, but this is not a cost-effective solution. Finally, upgrading a fluorescent luminaire to an LED usually requires additional wiring and mounting of multiple LED modules during installation, which is time-consuming and also not cost-effective.

Switching streetlights to efficient LEDs takes more than changing a light bulb

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, use less than half the electricity of old-fashioned streetlights, and they require less maintenance, too. Less juice to the pole means less pollution going from the power plant into the atmosphere. The cost savings are expected to pay for the more-expensive LEDs long before they fail. So why haven’t cities all over the metro area converted? Turns out it’s a complicated matter, and despite federal stimulus funding and a pilot project coordinated by the Mid-America Regional Council, only one metro city has fully converted to LEDs, along with a relative handful of light poles in other cities.

LEDs: Big lights come in small packages

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were first commercially used in the 1960s as replacements for neon and incandescent lamps found in expensive laboratory and electronic test equipment. The cost of infrared and visible LEDs units was so steep back then that there was limited practical use. These days, the technology has found its way in diverse applications ranging from consumer electronics to industrial, automotive headlamps, traffic signals, billboards and aviation lighting.

The use of LEDs in lighting applications has soared over the past decade because of advantages such as longer lifetime and lower energy consumption compared to incandescent light sources. However, manufacturing costs continue to hamper its uptake. Gallium nitride (GaN) on sapphire substrate technology, developed in the early 1990s and provided the foundation for high-brightness blue LEDs, is currently the most commonly used production process. Gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) is now emerging as a less costly alternative to sapphire.

Lights, lasers and LED: How concerts have shifted from songs to spectacles

Over time, smoke bombs gave way to pyrotechnics; levers and pulleys gave way to hydraulics, then robotics; strobe lights gave way to lasers; video advanced from oil on a projector lens to complex LED displays. Whenever Lady Gaga acts as the ringleader in a circus of flames, explosions and spurting fake blood; whenever Taylor Swift surfs on a huge floating robot catwalk; whenever Pink spins in a spherical cage 30 feet high — that’s because of generations of tinkerers and pioneers, beginning with Volz, who risked their fingers for theatrical immortality. “It’s totally changed from what it used to be,” says veteran effects man Jimmy Page Henderson, 67, vice president of Syncrolite, a Dallas lighting company. “Everything’s digital now. It’s so complicated now, you almost need to have a degree to go out and become a roadie.”

Lightwave RF Smart Dimmer tackles LED light flicker

If upgrading your lights to LEDs has left you in flickering hell, Lightwave RF's Smart Dimmer could give you smooth illumination and remote control. The British company's Smart Dimmer claims to fix the tricky power supply issues that lead to extreme flickering or even complete failure when dimmable LEDs are fitted in ordinary dimmer switches. You can also use your smartphone or tablet to control your lights via WiFi or even from beyond the home using other Lightwave RF smart home components.

Houston strikes deals with CenterPoint for LED lights, bike trails

All 165,000 of Houston's streetlights will be converted to more efficient LEDs over the next five years, halving electricity use and cutting air pollution in what Mayor Annise Parker said will be one of the nation's largest such initiatives. Also on Friday, the city said it had struck a deal to open up land under power lines for the construction of hike and bike trails, the result of years of negotiations in Austin to enact necessary legislation and months of local discussions. Both the trails and streetlights announcements involved agreements with CenterPoint Energy.

Will There Be LEDs In Your Lettuce's Future?

One of the best-known names in consumer LED technology, Royal Philips, is teaming up with indoor farming company Green Sense Farms (GSF) to create one of the largest commercial farms yet to use LED grow lights – approximately 7,000 of them across 30,000 square feet. Together, the two are developing “light recipes” optimized for baby romaine, kale, arugula and 11 different leafy herbs. It’s the latest example of how LED technologies could transform vertical farms, which are seen vital for growing local produce to supply an increasingly urban world population.

Cost benefits of LED luminaires in Ex environments

New technologies are being established in the illumination field. In particular, the use of LEDs is beginning to spread more and more in the lighting field. It is very important to analyse and know the possible failure modes of LED sources in order to design reliable and safe lighting fixtures.
This is particularly true in relation to the use of LED lighting equipment in potentially explosive  atmospheres that require quite complex safety systems in order to avoid igniting dangerous gases, vapours and dust. In the present day, ATEX Standards do not adequately cover LED luminaires, whether it relates to white light or coloured light. Therefore, these sources are used as traditional light sources (incandescent, discharge, induction). The safety of such equipment is entrusted exclusively to the mechanical strength of the casing and not the internal electrical equipment. 

An Audacious New Player About To Enter The Consumer Light Bulb Market

I recently heard about a new light bulb company called Finally, that plans to offer a warm white, highly efficient bulb replacement to the incandescent (The New York Times carried a piece about the company earlier this month). I was curious to find out more about the technology and about the bold company with the audacity to enter a market crowded with established players such as Philips  and Sylvania, as well as companies like Toshiba , Walmart, and pure-play LED manufacturer Cree (the author is a shareholder in Cree).  After all, with the federal lighting standards spelling the demise of the old and wasteful incandescent, it is a crowded space, with all make and manner of replacements out there in the form of compact fluorescents (CFLs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs).

New At LIGHTFAIR: ILUMINARC Colorist Quad Color IP 65 Rated Fixtures

Looking for a color wash solution for those tricky applications that fall somewhere in between permanent architectural installations and temporary entertainment lighting rigs? ILUMINARC, the architectural and architainment lighting division of Chauvet, has introduced a new series of IP65-rated fixtures with Quad-Color red, green, blue and amber LEDs, the Colorist Series, created specifically for this often-overlooked “crossover” area of lighting design.
A must-see highlight at the ILUMINARC LIGHTFAIR International booth 5816, the Colorist Series consists of high-output color-mixing RGBA LED pods, panels and linear fixtures that have the adaptability to be used across markets. They come housed in sleek, low-profile white cases that are designed to blend into all types of architectural installations, as well as provide an elegant look when used in public spaces for event lighting. Robust and weather-resistant, the Colorist fixtures are also very economical and easy to set up and/or install.

Hubbell Lighting to Showcase its Outdoor Lighting Products at Lightfair International

Hubbell Lighting will be showing a wide-range of high performance outdoor lighting products next week at LIGHTFAIR International in Booth #925 in Las Vegas, NV. From LED canopy luminaires and compact LED floodlights, to contemporary designed LED luminaires and wireless street lighting modules, Hubbell Lighting offers limitless lighting possibilities for outdoor illumination.

Designed to be a one-for-one replacement of 175 or 250 watt HID systems, Beacon Products’ Ceileo LED recessed canopy luminaire only requires 55 watts delivering an 80% increase in energy savings. Utilizing high-powered LEDs, the Ceileo’s unique LED bezel and optical-grade acrylic lenses produces seamless light distribution while eliminating light trespass, reducing glare and maintaining uniformity regardless of the mounting height.

From office buildings and monuments to bridges, schools, retail spaces, walkways, parking lots and garages, Spaulding Lighting will show a new line of high performance, beautify designed LED fixtures—Arceos area/site, floodlight and garage. The Arceos area and site luminaire (ARA 1, 2 and 3) has an internalized heat sink in its smooth, sleek and modern housing and comes in three different sizes. The compact Arceos architectural floodlights (ARF 1, 2, 3, and 4) deliver excellent uniformity, optimum performance and energy savings in four different sizes. And the Arceos garage fixture (ARS) also has a smooth architectural housing design with internal heat sink and comes in three lumen packages meeting RP-21 requirements.

Spaulding Lighting will also be showing its award-winning Cimarron CL1S with new EXO optic technology. The new technology limits observational astronomy interference, circadian rhythm disruption and eye-strain by shifting short wavelengths of light (blue light) associated with the spectral response of the human eye. The EXO optic provides high efficacy, superior optical control and color quality for HPS and LPS replacement. Two configurations are available for complete application control—dynamic utilizing a mix of EXO optics and traditional optics with wiHUBB controls or static with a complete EXO optic array.

Seoul Semiconductor launches high-power Acrich MJT 5050 LEDs for outdoor lighting

South Korean LED maker Seoul Semiconductor has released a new generation of Acrich MJT 5050 LEDs, with high lumen output, reliability and cost performance optimized for the outdoor lighting market. At a drive current of 20mA and a forward voltage of 64V, the cool-white SAW0LH0A LED, with a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 4700-7000K (5600K typical) and minimum color rendering index (CRI) of 70, delivers typical luminous flux of 180 lumens (at 25°C, 5000K) and can be driven to a maximum current of 60mA (delivering up to 440lm). The 2600-3700K CCT (3000K typical), 80-CRI warm-white SAW8LH0A LED delivers typical luminous flux of 155 lumens (at 25°C).

GE joins Phillips in introducing LEDs that fast-blink coupons to your phone

Get ready to shop in a store where the store lighting is telling your smartphone about coupons, specials, and product placement. This week at the big Lightfair show in Las Vegas, GE will show a new generation of LED lighting fixtures that communicate through visible light to your smartphone’s camera. “Anything that lets you personalize the shopping experience, particularly if you can do it in real time, is almost the Holy Grail,” Steven Kirn told VentureBeat. He’s executive director of the Miller Center for Retailing Education and Research at the University of Florida.

LEDs transform shipyard cranes into a giant, mesmerizing ballet

Back in 2000, an architectural lighting designer from Pula, Croatia, had an idea: What if the shipyard cranes that loomed over the port city’s industrial waterfront could be turned into shape-shifting monuments? It took 14 years for technology (and city politics) to catch up to his vision, but earlier this month, Dean Skira‘s project, called Lighting Giants, finally launched, transforming the Uljanik shipyards into a ballet of light and industry.