Larson Electronics Releases a 100 Watt LED Work Light for Industrial Applications

Larson Electronics, a leading supplier in the industrial and commercial lighting industry, continues its commitment to providing high grade lighting equipment to specialty markets with the release of a 100 watt LED light bar for industrial use.

The IL-LED-10X2E-CPR LED light bar from Larson Electronics is designed for heavy equipment use in demanding, industrial work sites. This 100-watt light bar features ultra-bright CREE LEDs with a sturdy aluminum build featuring a spot beam configuration. The LED light bar is capable of emitting up to 8,000 lumens of light and operates on DC voltages ranging from 9 to 64 volts. The housing is made of aluminum, while the lens is constructed of polycarbonate. The LED work light includes a 20’ harness terminated with a DT04-2S Deutsch connector with blunt cut ends. The unit is mounted using a U-bracket style trunnion mount, making vertical light direction adjustments easy to implement. This unit complies with CE, ROHS, and E4 standards and carries an IP67 waterproof rating providing the unit with complete protection from dust and water immersions up to three feet.

City zoning board approves billboard switch to LEDs

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Zoning Board of Appeals bucked the city’s transit-oriented development objectives for the East Street areas by approving plans to upgrade an advertising billboard. The panel voted 7-0 to grant a variance allowing Outfront Media LLC to convert its billboard at 1385 East St., adjacent to the southbound lane of Route 9, to an electronic LED display. City ordinances prohibit signs with flashing or moving displays, according to City Planner Steven Schiller.

St. Paul asks residents to rate the glow of different LED streetlights

The city’s effort to reduce energy use and save money by putting LED bulbs in streetlights has had some unexpected side effects, particularly in neighborhoods like Hornseth’s, where old lantern-style lights direct the glow out, not down. Residents started avoiding their front yards and stopped lingering to chat with neighbors on the street. Before St. Paul takes the new lights citywide, it’s asking residents to take a stroll and weigh some options. In three neighborhoods, the city has set up demos with different combinations of light bulbs and fixtures. Residents can travel the streets in the Payne-Phalen, Hamline-Midway and Lexington-Hamline areas and fill out a survey by May 19.

Are You Team Xenon Or Team LED?

We've long known that having xenon headlights on your car makes for a huge improvement over regular halogen bulbs, both in terms of safety and, let's face it, styling too. But what about the next step in this so-called headlight evolutionary scale; do LED lights really provide a clearer view of the road at night? Luckily, two Porsche 911s were on hand to provide assistance in figuring out just which of the two technologies is better.

LEDs are set to change horticulture by increasing yields

Ninety percent of plant genes are regulated by light. So, by changing the light spectrum, it is possible to change how a plant grows, how fast it develops and its morphology. The color of LED light can be used not only to assist the growth of plants, but it can also be used to improve their year-round taste and quality and potentially increase their nutritional value. The advantages of LED are considerable: As well as altering the light spectrum, the low temperature of LED means that they can be placed near to the plants without damaging them. There are also no heavy metals or glass in LEDs, whereas sodium lights do sometimes break, leading to contamination.

Mimicking the Brain with Superconductors and LEDs

The human brain is a highly efficient processor, using less energy than a light bulb to perform quadrillions of operations. The world’s fastest supercomputer, Sunway TaihuLight in China, performs a few times more calculations every second than a brain but consumes about 800,000 times more energy. Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Colorado, have proposed a new computing system—superconductor devices communicating using light—that mimics the brain’s neural architecture. The team’s calculations suggest their system could operate on less energy and perform more calculations than a human brain. The team’s artificial neuron consists of a superconducting wire connected to a LED. The two elements act as the signal detector and the signal sender, respectively. In the absence of incoming photons, the LED is off and the neuron is inactive.

Windsor restaurant applies filament LED lamps in architectural lighting design

Fettle Design has delivered a new architectural lighting design in a new UK gastropub located near Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, relying on filament-style LED replacement lamps in both open fixtures and inside vintage globes. Chef and owner Steven Ellis, who trained under Gordon Ramsay, has converted two former gamekeepers’ cottages that date to the 1800s into a restaurant where the lighting design had to match the rustic setting. LED Eco Lights supplied the solid-state lighting (SSL) from its Bright Goods line to deliver warm CCTs and fully-dimmable capabilities.

Process of replacing city’s streetlights with LEDs begins

The company the city hired to replace all the streetlights with LED lights is now conducting an audit of all the existing streetlights to start the process. The City Council voted unanimously last December to hire Tanko Lighting at a cost of $1.7 million to do the job, as an energy efficiency and maintenance savings initiative. LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lights are considered very energy efficient and long lasting.

How Many Inventors Does It Take To Invent A Light Bulb

Many credit the invention of the incandescent light bulb with Edison or Swan but its development actually took place over two centuries and by the time Edison and Swan got involved, the tech was down to the details. Those details, however, meant the difference between a laboratory curiosity that lasted minutes before burning out, and something that could be sold to consumers and last for months. Here then is the story of how the incandescent light bulb was invented. It starts in 1761 with Ebenezer Kinnersley. In a letter to Benjamin Franklin he described experiments he did for testing if heat was produced by electricity. His power sources were electrostatically charged capacitors made with a case of bottles, or Leyden jars, batteries not having been invented yet.

Plessey LEDs support vegetable and flower horticultural lighting applications

LED manufacturer Plessey has announced four horticultural lighting trials in the Netherlands that are using fixtures developed by the company that mix colored LEDs with its phosphor-converted white LEDs based on silicon substrates — generally referred to as gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) LEDs. Dutch companies Villa Gerbera, Gebr. Koot BV, Together2Grow, and Slijkerman are respectively testing the solid-state lighting (SSL) on Gerbera (daisy family), tomatoes, Alstroemeria (lily family), and Kalanchoe (a decorative succulent). The trials will run through the summer at which point the effectiveness of the LED lighting will be evaluated.

Simplify your rave setup with iLuv's new Rainbow8 HomeKit light bulb

iLuv just launched a light that works with HomeKit, meaning you can use Siri for controls. It also doesn’t need a hub; instead pairs over Wi-Fi. Called the Rainbow8, the LED light glows in millions of programmable colors and can group with other bulbs, so you can control multiple at once. You can even program them on a schedule to turn on when you get home or are going to sleep.

Philips Hue Reveals New Candle Light Bulb Coming to Europe in April

Philips Lighting announced the launch of the Philips Hue E14 candle light bulb, making Philips Hue the most extensive connected lighting system for the home. The highly anticipated light bulb will be available in both color and white ambiance versions.

“The candle has been one of the most requested products by Philips Hue customers. We’ve spent time ensuring it is of the highest quality and available in both white ambiance and white and color ambiance. It is an important next step to ensure seamless integration in all rooms, giving you the freedom to personalize lighting throughout your home,” says Sridhar Kumaraswamy, Business Leader Connected Home Systems at Philips Lighting.



The new candle gives you even more opportunities to use Philips Hue white ambiance to support you in your daily routines. The E14 candles are commonly used in decorative lamps often found in the bedroom. When controlled by the Philips Hue app, white ambiance can support a better night’s sleep, by slowly dimming down before bed and, in the morning, wake you up gently as the light gradually brightens.


The Philips Hue candle light bulb is a 40W equivalent E14 – 470 lumen at 4000 kelvin – and is available in white ambiance, providing a broad spectrum of white light; or white and color ambiance, with a range of more than 16 million colors. Both bulbs feature deep dimming from warm white to cool daylight with a 2200k – 6500k color temperature range. This new bulb joins the current Philips Hue range of bulb forms, which includes: E26, A19/E27, B22, GU-10 spot light and BR30.  

The new Philips Hue candle is available in Europe by the end of April and later this year in North America, priced from 34.95 euro.

IoT lighting specialist Organic Response enters financial protection

Australian trailblazer Organic Response has entered financial protection, prompting speculation that a rescuer — perhaps a lighting vendor that already uses its Internet of Things (IoT) technology — is on the horizon. “The company’s directors placed the company into Voluntary Administration on 24 February,” a former spokesperson told LEDs Magazine via email. “The Administration enables the company’s finances to be restructured and for its financial problems to be dealt with. The administrators, directors, and key personnel are working to restructure of the company’s finances to secure the best outcome for the company and stakeholders.”

Cree Second Generation Extreme High Power LED Delivers Unmatched Efficacy & Lumen Density

Cree, Inc. (CREE) introduces the XLamp XHP70.2 LED, the second generation of the highest output Extreme High Power LED, which delivers up to 9 percent more lumens and 18 percent higher lumens-per-watt (LPW) than the first generation XHP70 LED. The XHP70.2 LED provides up to 58 percent higher lumen density than the closest competitor LED of the same size, enabling smaller luminaires and better optical control for high-lumen lighting applications than ever before.

The XHP70.2 LED features the same 7.0 mm x 7.0 mm footprint as the previous generation and provides an easy drop-in upgrade for customers with existing XHP70 designs. In addition to light output and efficacy enhancements, the XHP70.2 LED improves optical uniformity through secondary optics, enabling lighting manufacturers to deliver better lighting performance. The XHP70.2 LED has LM-80 data available immediately, reducing the time required to receive ENERGY STAR® and DesignLights Consortium® qualifications.

'Fantastic' new lighting: Caverns shines with 300 new LEDs

Fantastic Caverns just wrapped up a big project replacing all 300 of it's underground lights with energy-saving LEDs. The lights illuminate the formations seen along the route taken by trams. "The cave is the star. So, anyway, we can showcase that and can bring that to light we like to. It worked out real well,' said Kevin Pratt, Maintenance Supervisor at Fantastic Caverns. "We are just really glad we got the chance to do it." The cave worked with Ozark Electric and Batteries Plus to install the lights along the tour route. It was no easy job for the cave crew; their job entailed climbing and getting into tight spaces to change the lights.

Fairbury to upgrade lighting with LEDs

Fairbury is about to get brighter after a vote from members of the City Council. The group authorized a lighting initiative to replace light fixtures with LED lights. A grant from the Illinois Energy Now Program is expected to cover about half of the cost with Fairbury's total bill at approximately $40,000. The move is expected to save electricity through more energy efficient lighting. Alderman Charlie Hoselton said Chenoa just put up a test LED light and the only visual difference is that LED's are white which differ from other colors.

ThinkLite breaks LED light level barrier with 180 Lumens Per Watt product line

ThinkLite, the company that offers the only driverless, ballast bypass LED retrofit kits and tubes available announces a 'breakthrough in lighting efficiency'. The company has released a new line of lamps that deliver 180 lumens per watt (LPW), making ThinkLite the most energy efficient commercial LED retrofit line available and far surpassing the company's earlier efficiency benchmark of 131 lumens per watt.

A total of 8,875 ThinkLite LED retrofit tubes were recently installed in Boston's Prudential Center Garage, the largest parking garage in New England. This immediately reduced energy consumption for lighting by a dramatic 73% from the existing 32W fluorescent tubes, down to a ThinkLite 8W LED Retrofit Tube kit. This revolutionary reduction is a message to the world of ThinkLite's ability to produce the highest energy efficiency in the LED market. The norm in the fluorescent-to-LED conversion industry is usually a 50% drop in wattage at the best. In a massive parking garage with over 3600 spaces and round the clock operation, 73% savings are substantial.

ThinkLite's 180 lumens per watt product line includes traditional T8 retrofit tubes, T5 retrofits for high bay applications, u-shape tubes, BIAX lamps, as well as ThinkLite's exclusive Dual Shine tube the world's first LED tube offering 360 degrees of exceptional light.

CSP LED Lighting Modules: A Revolution within the LED Industry?

CSP LEDs add value through power density offered from a small surface, confirm both partners. The first targeted application was smartphone flashes. As smartphones get thinner and add functions, so too must integrated components/modules. The small form factor and wide beam angle of CSP LEDs have also driven their use in TV backlighting units. Wide beam angles mean the pitch between LEDs can be larger, reducing the number of devices needed and in turn lowering backlight cost… But CSP LEDs are also a means to develop new functions in lighting products and this will be the next growth driver for such LED device, detailed Yole and PISEO in their report. Some general lighting applications are likely to adopt these light sources to reduce the cost of the full system (lamp and/or luminaire).

BU researcher invents cost-effective UV shield for LEDs

A PhD scholar at Barkatullah University has developed a nano-technology based invention to cut down the impact of UV rays from LED lights on human beings. Touseef Ahmad Para was awarded the 'best scientist award' for his zinc oxide technology at the Young Scientist Congress held by Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology (MPCST) in Bhopal recently. His invention is cheaper than the costly phosphor that acts as a shield against UV rays, he said, adding that it will not only help check the impact of UV rays on humans but also reduce the cost of LEDs as more households and offices switch to LED.

'LED street lights are disturbing my sleep'

In towns and cities across the world, the colour of night is changing. Traditional yellow sodium street lights are steadily being replaced by white LED bulbs. The new lights use less energy, dramatically cutting carbon emissions and saving money. But not everybody is happy.  "When the leaves left the trees and I tried to sleep, I turned to one side and the light's shining right in my eyes." Like most of us, Karen Snyder had never really paid much attention to street lights. But that all changed last year when the city council began installing LED lights outside her home in a quiet corner of Washington DC.

This machine-washable sensor will let you wear your heart on your sleeve

Researchers at Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Dubendorf, debuted a new fiber optic material in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface that can be woven, knitted or embroidered into existing fabrics. The material can be used to create comfortable, flexible wearable sensors that can blend right in to existing clothing. It's even machine washable. The material contains both embedded LED lights and a heart rate detector. It also has enough leakage to let light from the LEDs shine onto the skin and bounce back into the detector.

LuMee Duo iPhone case uses LEDs to illuminate your selfies

A new iPhone case uses strips of LEDs to illuminate your selfies and ordinary mobile camera images. Called LuMee Duo, this case is designed specifically for Apple’s handset and it is now available around the world in some Apple retail stores. Unlike ordinary phone cases, Duo features strips of LED lights on the front and back of the case, boosting the quality of photos taken with the smartphone.

SCHOTT Presents its Solidur LEDs and Autoclavable Medical Connectors At AAOS

SCHOTT, already known in the medical industry as an established supplier of glass optical fibers, will present its Solidur LEDs and autoclavable medical connectors at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting for medical device manufacturers. SCHOTT will display these components along with an array of specialized lighting and imaging products at the San Diego Convention Center from March 15 through 17 at booth #1015.

Designed for medical and dental devices, SCHOTT Solidur LEDs and medical connectors can be autoclaved over 3,500 times, expanding the range of design possibilities available to medical device engineers and offering opportunities for new and distinct designs, all while meeting strict regulatory requirements for medical devices.

SCHOTT Solidur products are the first line of High Brightness (HB) LEDs that can be autoclaved. They have been tested to withstand up to 3,500 steam cycles at temperatures nearing 275 degrees Fahrenheit. The Solidur product line includes three basic designs that can be further customized: the Ring LED, TO LED, and Mini LED (which has a diameter of only 2.3 mm). Each is hermetically sealed using inorganic, non-aging materials that can withstand the harsh conditions of medical environments.

Autoclavable LEDs unlock innovative design possibilities, and the customizable Solidur® products allow device manufacturers to explore new designs and even integrate lighting into devices which traditionally lack illumination, such as retractors, surgical tools and equipment.

Other medical and dental devices, including endoscopes, drills, and curing rods can now be equipped with a fully autoclavable light source directly at the tip of the device, bringing the light source directly to the treatment site.

Cree’s XLamp CXA2 LEDs Set a New Standard for Better Performance

Cree, Inc. announces enhancements to its industry-leading XLamp CXA2 family of chip-on-board (COB) LEDs, including new premium color options, higher light output levels and the longest lifetimes published for this type of LED. The premium color quality options include high fidelity (98 CRI) and specialty color points for the 9 to 19 mm LES sizes with up to 50 percent higher efficacy than LEDs of similar sizes and light quality. These enhancements to the CXA2 family LEDs give Cree’s customers the ability to upgrade the performance of existing designs and to sell their products into lighting applications where color quality is important, such as museum, retail and medical lighting.

The CXA2 Standard Density LEDs now deliver up to 10 percent higher light output levels across all CRIs and light emitting surface (LES) sizes, providing the highest COB LED efficacy for all applications. Further demonstrating Cree’s leadership in reliability and lumen maintenance, the CXA2 LEDs are the only COB LEDs in the industry to have more than 11,000 hours of LM-80 data available. Based on this data, the CXA2 LEDs provide L90 lifetimes well beyond 60,000 hours, even at extreme 105°C test conditions.

Three Filipino siblings invent lamp that runs on salt and water

European lighting regulations could help usher in human-centric lighting

Look at the strategic 10-year roadmap for the European lighting industry, and the thing that stands out the most is the drive toward human-centric lighting (HCL) - the designing and tuning of LED light's biological, visual, and emotional effects to foster human health, wellbeing, and performance. As charted by Brussels-based industry association LightingEurope, HCL will emerge as the top business force in a few years' time, and will continue to gain prominence after that. Human-centric lighting represents a big part of a necessary sea change in the lighting industry business model, and one that could help ensure a future for the 1000+ companies, 100,000+ jobs, and €20 billion of yearly revenue.

Basil grower slashes energy usage and boosts production with LED horticultural lighting

Osram Opto Semiconductors has released the details of a horticultural lighting project in Italy in which LED-based fixtures developed by Ambra Elettronica have been deployed in greenhouses used for basil production. Grower Servizi Ambientali Bassa Reggiana (S.A.BA.R.), located in the Reggio province between Parma and Bologna, has slashed energy usage by 56% relative to the high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting used previously, and increased yield via a five-day-shorter production cycle enabled by the solid-state lighting (SSL).

Fixture manufacturer Ambra is a member of the Osram LED Light For you (LLFY) SSL-centric partnership program and offers a number of LED-based horticultural lighting products. The range includes the 42W AE32 fixture for vertical farming, a number of linear products intended for greenhouse applications, and the 200W AE200 rectangular fixtures that can provide the greatest intensity in a focused area

LEDs Deployed at Sports Venues in VA

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Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, VA, is one of the highest profile NASCAR race tracks – and, now, one that is lit by LEDs. The “Light It Up Martinsville” project is complete, according to Ephesus Lighting. The initiative features Easton’s Ephesus Stadium 750 LED professional sports lights, which the story says are located around the perimeter of the track and in the infield. The LEDs, the story says, will provide better illumination, greater flexibility and be more efficient than the metal halide lights that they are replacing.

Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Little Sun Diamond’ lamps bring light to remote locations

Olafur Eliasson, the Danish-Icelandic artist behind many striking installations, has unveiled a third design in his series of solar-powered mini lamps created for people without reliable access to energy. Launched in 2012, the Little Sun lamp project already features two designs: the Little Sun, a toy-like yellow lamp, and the Little Sun Charger, a flat, blue lamp that doubles as a charger. His third design is dubbed the Little Sun Diamond, and has a faceted exterior that mimics a diamond form. All three lamps are pocket-sized.

DOE Gateway report documents LED lighting performance

The US Department of Energy has released another report in its Gateway series covering real-world installations of solid-state lighting (SSL) technology in general-lighting applications — in this case focused on four very different indoor applications. The projects span new construction to large-scale retrofits and involved the Hilton Hotel in downtown Columbus, OH; St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, WA; the Carl Icahn Laboratory at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ; and the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (CSPAC) in College Park, MD. The long-term study does reveal energy savings, but the DOE concluded that the projects illustrate other reasons ranging from maintenance savings to controls to improved light quality that justify the installation of LED-based lighting.

Flow Table Lamp doesn’t just illuminate

Any lamp can shine a light on your marketing plan. But if your desk goals stop at functionality, you’re doing it wrong. The Flow Table Lamp doesn’t just illuminate, it invigorates, with a design that, contrary to its name, doesn’t evoke water so much as a maximally pared bonsai tree. A flat LED chip eliminates the need for bulky bulbs and keeps the profile sleek.

Redding lightbulb swap this weekend

Redding residents will have the opportunity to exchange lightbulbs for more energy efficient bulbs for free at the Redding Community Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Participants can exchange up to five incandescent light bulbs for energy-efficient ENERGY STAR LED bulbs. Residents must bring identification to the swap. Additional LED bulbs and lighting products will be sold there at a discounted rate.

More Atlantic City street lights to switch to LEDs

Michael “Gidget” Maltese, the bartender at the Rainbow Room, remembers how dark it was on his club’s street when it opened in April 2013. But since the city began installing brighter LED lighting in the neighborhood two years ago, lighting on Bellevue Avenue is good, Maltese said. The city will start again in the spring converting its street lights to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

Energy efficient light bulb, appliance rules started with Ronald Reagan, could be cut under Donald Trump

Federal appliance efficiency standards began with legislation signed into law in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. The standards were continued and strengthened by successive administrations through the Barack Obama administration. But Trump has issued an executive order demanding that two old regulations be eliminated for every new regulation promulgated by a federal agency. That could be a problem, said Tom Eckman, veteran energy efficiency expert with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, based in Portland, Oregon.

Tenterden councillor calls for illuminated pavements in Kent

Pavements should be illuminated with strips of light so "smartphone zombies" can cross the road more safely, says a town councillor. The scheme, being trialled at a crossing close to three schools in the Netherlands town of Bodegraven, sparked an enthusiastic reaction from Tenterden councillor Sue Ferguson, who tweeted Kent County Council suggesting it could be introduced in Kent.

Is This The Most Popular Desk Lamp Ever? It Might Be

This could be the most popular desk lamp ever. It has been reviewed hundreds of times, and a whopping 91 percent of customers have given it a perfect 5 out of 5. Ninety-one percent! That leaves it with an aggregate 4.9-star rating, which is unheard of. This lamp is made of “aircraft-grade aluminum alloy” that “acts as passive heat sink” to “protect and prolong LED lifespan.” With three color modes and six brightness settings, there are 18 possible adjustment levels to choose from. Also, the USB port is super convenient for when you need to charge any device.

White-light lasers challenge LEDs in directional lighting applications

Legacy halogen and metal halide light sources can produce highly directional beams, but with low efficiency and short lifetimes. And while light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are highly efficient with longer life, divergence angles <10° are difficult to produce from compact LED luminaires. Engineers at SoraaLaser (Goleta, CA) have found a solution by developing the first commercial solid-state, highly directional, and efficient white-light laser source with a luminance up to 100X better than LED luminaire devices.1

Think Pink for a brighter British strawberry future

The Total WorldFresh research team, located at the Berry Research and Development Site in Langley Kent, have begun trials utilising the combined technologies of a Cravo retractable rafter house and supplementary light-emitting diodes (LED) lighting to investigate the possibility of extending the harvest period of locally grown British June-bearing strawberries from April to December. The flexibility of movement and control of the retractable rafter house maximizes internal climate conditions, whilst allowing any available external radiant heat to be utilised when conditions are favourable

LG Innotek Unveils the World's First 70mW UV-C LED

LG Innotek announced that the company has developed the world's first 70mw UV-C LED for sterilization applications. As its sterilization performance is 1.5 times higher than the competitor's 45mW module.

UV-C LED produces the short wavelength ultraviolet rays in the range of 200 -- 280nm, allowing it to be used for sterilization purpose. It prevents the proliferation of bacteria by destroying their DNA. LG Innotek's product emits UV in the range of 280nm.

Until now, UV-C LED has been mainly applied in small sanitary products because its low optical power led to low sterilization performance. The power of LEDs for toothbrush sterilizers is 1mW and that for sterilizing the water tank of humidifier is 2mW.

LG Innotek improved UV-C LED's optical power to 70mW by utilizing its proprietary LED vertical chip technology. While the product measures only 6mm in both its length and width, its sterilization performance is the world's best.

The company overcomes the UV output limit with specialized LED chip technology. The epitaxial structure design and vertical chip technology to maximize light extraction have increased the output and ensured quality reliability by effectively exhausting heat.

As the company's product is compact and boasts high sterilization performance, it can be applied to various fields such as water purifiers and air purifiers as it allows you to sterilize flowing water and air.

It is also good for use in hardening equipment in the manufacturing industry. The UV output is strong, the performance of the curing device can be enhanced.

A decent lower-midrange phone, but its vivid LED backlights make it stand out

It’s not easy for a phone to stand out when once-impressive features such as multiple cameras and sub-8mm thickness are now normal. Alcatel manages it, however, with the A5 LED by using a completely different tactic: it has a bunch of RGB LEDs that perform a light show whenever you get a notification or play music, or pretty much whenever else it has even the slightest excuse to fire them up.

Energy Source completes LED retrofit for Axcelis Technologies

Energy Source, a division of Revolution Lighting Technologies, announced that it has recently completed an LED retrofit project for Axcelis Technologies, Inc., in Beverly, Mass. The "turnkey" retrofit of Axcelis's 400,000 sq. ft. advanced technology center facilities, including interior and exterior spaces, is expected to reduce annual lighting energy use by more than 50% and achieve a payback of less than three years.

Energy Source's "turnkey" services began with the detailed testing and evaluation of Revolution Lighting's LED tubes, concluding its LED solutions will improve lighting efficiency by over 50%, while increasing light output for enhanced safety. After the initial stages of development, Energy Source worked closely with Axcelis Technologies to achieve the lighting retrofit energy savings on time and within budget, managing all phases of the project, including scope and budget development, final material selection, pursuit and securing of project incentives, and project management.

As a world-leading provider of equipment and services to the semiconductor manufacturing industry, Axcelis was focused on incorporating the latest LED lighting technology to achieve its operational, safety and environmental goals. Energy Source made it easy to achieve these goals, carefully analyzing existing facility lighting to recommend the most compatible high quality LED solution to maximize return on investment and long term benefits. Revolution Lighting's T8 Uni-Fit Ballast Ready LED tubes were selected, providing an industry leading 70,000 hour lamp life, which is three times longer than conventional lighting, combined its market leading 10-year warranty, to provide years of energy and maintenance cost savings for Axcelis.

Highland Park residents lighting up their streets with solar power

Highland Park is a small community, and a poor one. When the city found itself facing a four million dollar unpaid street lighting tab in 2011, it couldn’t pay. Enter a group called Soulardarity. It started out with a simple goal: crowdfund enough money for one solar-powered streetlight in Highland Park, as a kind of demonstration project. Participants paid anywhere from $80-$150 to purchase and install the lights.

Samsung expands COB LED family

Samsung Electronics has announced a second-generation (Gen2) of chip-on-board (COB) LEDs in the company’s D Series of components for spotlight and other directional lamps and luminaires. The LEDs hit the 160-lm/W efficacy mark at a 5000K CCT with 80-CRI color performance and operated at 85°. Samsung’s COB LED portfolio is a bit difficult to navigate and the various series have overlapping components in terms of size, and electrical and photometric performance. The product development targets are generally tied to some industry need that might not be immediately evident.

Alexa now works with Sengled carbon neutral LED bulbs

Sengled's Element LED bulbs now have a skill that allows Alexa owners to directly control the lights with voice commands such as "Alexa, dim the bedroom lights" or "Alexa, turn on the kitchen lights." Alexa can also control numerous other smart lighting systems, such as Philips Hue, Cree and GE. Only Sengled will plant a tree for every bulb you buy, however. That promise, in partnership with nonprofit One Tree Planted, makes the usage of the bulb carbon neutral for its lifespan, according to the company.

Gadgets controlled with touchless gestures and charging themselves with ambient light

Cellphones and other devices could soon be controlled with touchless gestures and charge themselves using ambient light, thanks to new LED arrays that can both emit and detect light. Made of tiny nanorods arrayed in a thin film, the LEDs could enable new interactive functions and multitasking devices. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Dow Electronic Materials in Marlborough, Massachusetts, report the advance in the Feb. 10 issue of the journal Science.

Brightest LEDs Ever?