European Union organization says LEDs have no direct adverse health effect

The European Union (EU) Scientific Committee on Health, Environment and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) has published a lengthy draft report entitled “Potential risks to human health of LEDs.” The overall conclusion in the report states. “The Committee concludes that there is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs in normal use (lighting and displays) by the general healthy population.”

Of course, there has been a long debate in the lighting sector as to whether the short-wavelength blue energy peak associated with most phosphor-converted white LEDs can pose a risk to the human eye as solid-state lighting (SSL) usurps the lighting market. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has addressed the issue several times. And we published several feature articles on the topic including an article about IEC activity in the space.

Great Neck to replace 800 streetlights with LEDs

The village of Great Neck is moving forward with its project to replace 800 streetlights with LED bulbs. At a recent public meeting, the board of trustees voted to approve a $600,000 bond resolution for the street lights. Village Clerk Joe Gill said that the bond was a precautionary measure in case the village exceeds the $250,000 state grant it received for the project.

North Carolina Awards Contract to Upgrade Highway Lighting

The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a contract for nearly $31 million to make traveling on interstates and highways a little brighter. The contract, announced Monday, will fund upgrades for more than 10,600 roadway light fixtures at more than 350 locations across the state. In addition to improving lighting, the agreement with Trane U.S. and J. Brady Contracting will save the state more than $56 million in reduced electrical and maintenance costs over 15 years. That savings will come primarily from switching from existing high intensity roadway lights to longer-lasting and lower-maintenance LED lights.

Google Home isn’t working with Philips Hue bulbs for some users

Google Home is capable of a multitude of things, and for a lot of users, one function of Home that’s the most helpful is using it to control smart home devices. Philips Hue light bulbs are the most popular connected lights on the market, and according to numerous reports on the Google Home Help Forum, they simply aren’t working for a lot of people. AndroidPolice first spotted this debacle, and for the affected Google Home users, asking the smart speaker to turn Philips Hue bulbs on or off will result in it responding with, “Sorry, I can’t do that. I’m learning every day.”

Cree Expands Architectural Lighting LED Range

Cree has expanded its family of Architectural Lighting Class LEDs with the new CLQ6A RGBW (red, green, blue and white) LED. The first individually addressable one-watt RGBW LED in its class, the CLQ6A LED unlocks new designs that were previously not possible. The four-in-one LED provides a single point source for excellent optical control, efficient colour mixing and simplified design, enabling lighting manufacturers to offer beautiful and differentiated architectural lighting.

Shopping mall chain invests in powerline communications for IoT lighting

Amid all the recent talk about Bluetooth, ZigBee, visible light communications, and Power over Ethernet as communication channels for Internet of Things (IoT) lighting, it's easy to forget there's a ubiquitous infrastructure already in place that can also connect lighting to the Internet: electricity cabling. A major owner and operator of malls and shopping centers in the UK and Spain appears to see the potential in that technology, called powerline communications (PLC), which runs both data and electricity over standard 120V and 240V lines.

UV LEDs sanitize escalator and powered walkway handrails

LED maker LG Innotek has said that an ultraviolet (UV) LED-based device can sterilize handrails on escalators and moving walkways in public spaces, thereby allowing germ-fearing visitors to hang on to the safety-centric moving stabilizer rails without fear of infection and illness. Many people are hesitant to touch the handrails used by thousands of people each day, despite the fact that holding onto the rails is much safer for users. The LG Innotek device offers the further benefit of being powered by the moving rails.

Just How Good Are LED Lights for Growing Cannabis?

Over the last decade, LED lighting has gained quite a bit of popularity among indoor cannabis growers. Though LEDs (light emitting diodes) have been around since the early 1960s, they were not able to produce the wide spectrum of color they’re now known for until later on. LEDs were also very expensive, making them an unreasonable option for grow lights compared to HID (high intensity discharge). With today’s demand for energy-efficient lighting, however, LEDs have dropped in price and increased in quality. Now you might be wondering if LEDs are right for your indoor grow; here are some of the benefits to consider.

Energy Department Invests $8 Million in Efficient Lighting R&D

The U.S. Energy Department has announced funding for seven R&D projects that will support key scientific advancements in solid-state lighting (SSL) technology. The projects are designed to help accelerate the development of high-quality light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting products. By 2035, SSL could reduce national lighting electricity use by 75% — which would equate to the total energy consumed by 45 million American homes today and could save American families and businesses $50 billion annually.

A Total Solar Eclipse Inspired Edison's Light-Bulb Moment

As the August 21 total solar eclipse approaches, it's inspiring to consider how the study of past astronomical events led to a slew of modern innovations. Among them is Thomas Edison's light bulb, but his big breakthrough had more to do with learning how to handle people than science. Edison, who was 31 at the time, had just invented the phonograph, which wowed the scientific community and the public. But Edison, who wasn't formally educated, was driven to continue to prove himself a respected scientist.

Fit your health care facility for the future with LEDs

Installing energy-efficiency lighting provides a unique opportunity to cut costs, while impacting patient satisfaction and staff performance. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting accounts for as much as 42 percent of the electricity used in health care facilities. Due to recent developments in light-emitting diode technology, facilities can achieve long-lasting energy reductions and superior light quality with rapid paybacks. For example, electric customers of ours can see as much as 75 percent of the total project cost through 2017 covered through rebates for certain LED solutions.

Plessey extends LEDs to all general lighting applications

Plessey has extended its LED product portfolio into a variety of mid-power LED packages and now offers lighting equipment manufacturers a complete and competitive portfolio of solid-state lighting products and solutions for all general illumination market applications. Plessey’s mid-power LED product offering, called Midion, includes products with efficacy up to 210 lm/W, said the firm, and up to 90 CRI. All lumen maintenance is certified to LM-80 and offered in standard colour temperatures for general lighting applications.

Inspired LED, LLC Named The Largest Stocking Distributor Of Magnitude Lighting Converters In Arizona

Local lighting company Inspired LED, LLC announced it has been named the largest official distributor for Magnitude Lighting Converters in Arizona. With a wide variety of LED drivers in stock through their online web store and in their showroom, Inspired LED is poised to bring Magnitude products to a greater range of customers nationwide.

Magnitude was founded in Orange County, CA in 2008, with the goal of using breakthrough technologies to yield the highest efficiency ratings in the low-voltage lighting industry. With their combination of quality and performance, they quickly earned the reputation as a leading manufacturer of LED drivers in the nation.

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Inspired LED founder Jim Levante was developing his vision of bringing high-quality LED lighting to the market. Initial product development revolved around the creation of simple plug-in kits, but after setting up shop in Arizona, Levante soon recognized an opportunity to create more integrated systems using a different type of power source for LEDs which would enable customers to utilize wall dimmers from companies like Lutron and Leviton.

“It began as a matter of convenience for our customers,” Levante explained. “A standard plug-in power supply functions with a low voltage controller such as an in-line switch or remote control. But in order to design systems with a more traditional wall dimmer switch, we needed to incorporate a dimmable LED driver into our product line.”

Magnitude’s 12V magnetic low-voltage drivers were the first selected for this purpose, due to their compact design and long-term reliability. The pairing was so successful that Inspired LED soon adopted the electronic models into their product line. More recently they also picked up Magnitude’s 24V drivers, as well as the sleek new Lindrive models. Inspired LED now designs and manufactures their LEDs specifically for use with Magnitude brand transformers.

Since 2009, Inspired LED has distributed Magnitude products as part of their low voltage lighting systems, and as of this week, they have officially been identified as Arizona’s largest stocking distributor of Magnitude products.

This tiny IoT startup thinks its networking tech can help spread smart lighting

If you're asked to name a country that's a frontrunner in the promising field of the Internet of Things, Estonia may not immediately spring to mind. But one company wants to change that.

Thinnect is a startup founded just two years ago to focus on developing technology that enables management of the last 100 meters of IoT networks. Its technology is already being used in five countries to manage lighting, heating, and cooling systems in buildings as well as in intelligent street lighting deployed in cooperation with another Estonian company, Cityntel.

The best desk lamps you can buy for your office

Society may be moving away from paper toward digital records, but desk lamps continue to have a role in the workplace or in the home even if you’re rarely hunched over your desk, staring at a pile of paper these days. The best desk lamps take full advantage of LED lighting technology, creating lamps that are both stylish and energy efficient. The great quality of light you receive from LED makes these lamps enjoyable to use anytime you need a bit of extra light. Some people may even prefer a desk style lamp on a nightstand near the bed because they work great as a reading lamp for those times when you prefer a printed book over an iPad.

Utility replacing streetlights with LEDs in northern Indiana

A northern Indiana utility says its equipping streetlights that it owns in nine cities this year with more energy efficient technology. Northern Indiana Public Service Company's says it plans to add light-emitting diode, or LED, lights to 42,000 streetlights by the year 2022. The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports that about 7,200 streetlights will be upgraded this year in East Chicago, Hebron, Highland, Kouts, Munster, Schererville, Valparaiso, Wheatfield and Whiting.

Recycling boss cites ‘alarming’ environmental breaches by LED vendors

One out of every five LED bulbs sold through independent online retail websites in the UK violates environmental law, according to a non-profit company that oversees lamp recycling for the industry in Britain. Nigel Harvey, CEO of Recolight, said most of the vendors providing the non-compliant products are based in China including Hong Kong, yet many of the bulbs are available for next-day delivery. The companies are selling the lamps through “some online multi-seller retailers,” he noted. Recolight did not publicly name either the retailers or the vendors and brands.

Blue LED light can get psoriasis sufferers in the pink again

Having previously experienced a bout of really uncomfortable eczema, I have loads of empathy for those who suffer from skin conditions like psoriasis. These two issues are related but not the same. Caused by autoimmune dysfunction and inflammation, these types of skin conditions not only produce physical discomforts but also cause embarrassment when they’re visible to others. While in-office healthcare practitioners have been leveraging lasers for some time in the aesthetics and dermatology business, we’ve seen more and more consumer-targeted, LED-based personal care devices hit the market, intended to bring solutions safely into the home — such as anti-agers, acne treatment, and even hair removal.

Is your outdoor lighting too loud?

Sitting at Carol Jacobs’ dining room table, one can see an expansive view of Mille Lacs Lake from her large windows. Her house sits along the shoreline near Father Hennepin State Park, and the magnificent view was one of the things that led her and her husband, John Gilbert, to purchase the property. Malone Island’s shoreline accents the horizon, and the Jacobs often enjoying sitting around a campfire near the water, taking in the night sky. But over the years she said they’ve increasingly noticed that much of the horizon glares at them from unshielded outdoor lights reaching across the lake and in to their yard. This got Jacobs wondering why these lights were shining outward, rather than down, directly on what they were intending to illuminate.

Ultraviolet LEDs Take Aim At Disinfection

Earlier this year, Germany-based Osram Opto Semiconductors signed a long-term licensing deal with US-based Hexatech to accelerate UV-C LED device development based on HexaTech’s material. And just recently the LED manufacturer revealed it was leading a project - UNIQUE - to develop and commercialise high power AlGaN-on-AlN UV LEDs for industrial disinfection processes. Supported by the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology, Osram Opto is joined by five Germany-based partners, and will establish the necessary supply chain to produce these LEDs.

Cinemas may soon replace the 125-year-old projector screen with gigantic TVs

In the not-too-distant future, theatergoers may be watching movies on huge TVs instead of the movie projectors they’re used to. Samsung recently unveiled a large LED screen—like the TVs in many houses—for movie theaters. Previously, only film projectors were equipped to play films in cinemas that nowadays usually use sheets made of white vinyl. But the South Korean tech giant’s new digital 4K-resolution screens reportedly comply with guidelines from the Digital Cinema Initiatives, a joint venture by movie studios Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. that sets the standard for technical performance, reliability, and quality in digital cinemas.

Can You Successfully Use LED Lights for Portraits?

BMW considers smart lighting for showrooms

Carmaker BMW is kicking the tires on a smart lighting system for showrooms that would dynamically change settings to draw attention to different models and features. The Internet of Things (IoT) scheme, if deployed, might also help deliver information to smartphones as customers peruse the floor. BMW is sampling the technology in a Munich test center, working with UK lighting vendor Aurora Group. Gary Bennett, managing director of Aurora's Aurora Projects division, described the setting as a “showroom environment.”

Aven OptiVue LED magnifying desk lamp: convenient, compact, and versatile

Aven’s OptiVue LED Magnification Desk Lamp is designed to add style to any workspace while delivering high-performance functions and flexibility. The lamp offers shadow-free illumination with 36 SMD LEDs that have a minimum life span of 20,000 hours. The crystal clear 4-inch, 5-diopter round glass lens provides 2.25x magnification and is easy to replace. The OptiVue Desk Lamp stays in place in any position thanks to an 11-inch bendable gooseneck arm, and the built-in handle and swivel head add extra flexibility. The budge-proof weighted base adds stability and is highlighted with a decorative silver ring. A lens cover protects the lens when lamp is not in use.

Photon Beard to Show Highlight LEDs at 2017 IBC

Photon Beard will feature its Highlight LED range at this year’s IBC Show, Sept. 15-19. Its sister company, Projects Department Ltd. (PDL), which has designed, supplied and installed studios around the world, will also be on hand to discuss its specialist consultancy service for television lighting.

Highlight LEDs offer outstanding color rendering and TLCI (television lighting consistency indexes) through the clever use of remote phosphor technology. The fixtures are totally silent in use thanks to being passively cooled.

£50m research centre with Bath Uni targets LEDs and radio technologies

A £50m project is aiming to be Europe’s leading centre for compound semiconductors such as gallium nitride and silicon carbide for LED, radio and power applications.

The Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult will be based in Newport, Wales, with support from the University of Bath. It is about to appoint a chief executive and create a technology campus.

Along with Bath, the Catapult is working with universities at Cardiff and Swansea and has approached Bristol, says Crofton. It is funded with £10m a year for the next five years.

A $50 Lighting Setup for Product Photography

National Academy of Sciences reports on the state of LED and OLED lighting

The US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) has issued its second report on LED- and OLED-based lighting entitled “Assessment of Solid-State Lighting, Phase Two.” The report projects that adoption of solid-state lighting (SSL) can deliver a 40% reduction in the amount of energy used for lighting by 2030. Moreover, the report suggests that the US Department of Energy (DOE) SSL program has been a key element in a faster-than-originally-predicted transition to LEDs and further suggests that the R&D funding by the agency should continue. NAS issued its first report of SSL back in 2013. The reports are intended to inform the US Congress of progress in SSL and are required under the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007.

LEDs to brighten up streets by September

The civic administration of Pune has expedited its LED (light-emitting diode) street light installation drive across the city. The project is expected to be completed by September this year. So far, the civic administration has installed as many as 40,000 LEDs, while the remaining 30,000 will be installed over the next three months. PMC officials said that around 70,000 LEDs will be in place on almost all city roads by mid-September.

Decorative Light Bulbs That Will Transform Your Fixtures

Bid your flame-tipped candelabra bulbs adieu—and say hello to their new competition. "Decorative light bulbs have come such a long way," says Sarah Kirk, the director of product development and management at Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.. "The range of available shapes, sizes, technologies, glass colors, and finishes make choosing a bulb just as much of a design decision as choosing a fixture finish or shade." It's not just how they look—with the rise of LED, decorative light bulbs can be just as long-lasting and efficient as any other bulb in your home, and fixture options have even evolved to better show them off.

Lumileds is officially an independent company

Lumileds announced that funds affiliated with investment firm Apollo Global Management (New York City, NY) and Royal Philips (Amsterdam, Netherlands) have been transferred to complete their previously disclosed transaction (see below), resulting in Lumileds operating as an independent company. Lumileds develops lighting LEDs for the automotive, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), and illumination markets. Lumileds began as part of Royal Philips; in 2014, Royal Philips split into two companies, one concentrating on LED lighting (Lumileds) and the other on health care and consumer lifestyle (Royal Philips). Lumileds was owned by Royal Philips.

Wimbledon Centre Court aces transition to LED lighting

Wimbledon, among the most famed sports venues around the globe, installed LED lighting in the retractable roof that can cover Centre Court during periods or rain or darkness. Prior to The Championships taking place in July, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) made the move to solid-state lighting (SSL) to improve the quality of TV broadcasts of featured tennis matches while also meeting the needs of players and simplifying the logistics of closing the roof and instantly striking the lights. Musco supplied the LED lighting and worked alongside ME Engineers on the project.

New HomeKit-enabled LED Light Bulb from Koogeek arrives at $37

Koogeek has officially released its new HomeKit-enabled Wi-Fi Smart LED Light Bulb. Its $37 price tag represents one of the lowest entry-points that we’ve seen when it comes to HomeKit lighting. Unlike Philips Hue, Koogeek does not require a standalone hub to deliver smartphone control thanks to its built-in Wi-Fi radio. More details below. There are any number of ways to bring HomeKit-compatible lighting to your home. Koogeek already offers an add-on socket that while easy to install, isn’t as sleek as an individual bulb like the one announced today. Outside of a few other brands, there simply aren’t many viable options for LED lighting that works with Apple’s ecosystem.

Municipal Utilities considers switch to LED lights

Watertown Municipal Utilities is currently in the evaluation process to see about replacing current streetlights with LED bulbs. The current high-pressure sodium lights give off a yellow tint, while the LEDs have a white glow. LEDs (which stands for light-emitting diode) also last longer, use less energy and require less maintenance than the high-pressure sodium lights. Municipal Utilities installed some LED streetlights south of Lake Area Technical Institute to see how they looked, but director of operations Todd Chambers said that particular brand is brighter than they want and is “offensive to the eye.”

Wearables f.lashes LED eyelashes turn your face into a rave party

You might think mascara does a pretty good job of enhancing the eyelashes, but f.lashes really puts them in the spotlight. Essentially just a small LED strip that sits on your eyelid and is connected to a small motion-sensing controller located at the back of your head, f.lashes brings eyebrow enhancement into the 21st century. After designer Tien Pham wore his f.lashes prototype at Maker Faire in San Mateo, California last May, the idea went viral and now his crowdfunding campaign has more than doubled its goal with over two weeks left to run.

Packaged LED technology climbs new peaks

Typically, as we head into the summer months, we see a little bit of a slowdown. People are packing up and heading for adventure or a little downtime, product announcements and business moves become fewer, and new developments are slower to come into focus. But we’ve noticed a lot of recent activity in the packaged LED space, as evidenced by our news coverage. Note the latest from Lumileds, which has extended its range of chip-on-board (COB) LEDs with high-output capabilities for sports venue, street and outdoor area, and industrial luminaires such as high and low bays. And Samsung has passed a previous efficacy milestone with the release of its LM301B mid-power LED that tops out at 220 lm/W.

Clarkstown begins installing LED streetlights

New streetlights will bring big savings to the town. Clarkstown has begun its $2.9 million project that will retrofit the bulk of its streetlights with energy-efficient light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Since work started in June, nearly all the streetlights in Central Nyack have been outfitted with the new fixtures, Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said. Crews were on track to replace the streetlights in West Nyack before the Fourth of July weekend.

LEDs will be throughout Saratoga by end of summer

Saratoga is about to get lit. For green energy, that is. Energy-efficient LED bulbs will soon replace the city’s current high-pressure sodium vapor bulbs throughout much of Saratoga. The city council agreed at its June 21 meeting to have PG&E replace all city-owned streetlights with LEDs that use 50 to 75 percent less energy. Last year, PG&E replaced all lights it owns within the city limits with LEDs, and now its offered to do the same for the nearly 80 lights the city owns. The utility company will dispose of the old bulbs.

LED vs. CFL vs. Halogen

Now that most incandescent lightbulbs are pretty much a thing of the past, consumers now must choose between LED (light-emitting diode), CFL (compact fluorescent), and halogen bulbs to light their homes. But which is the best option? It all depends on your needs. Traditional incandescent bulbs measured their brightness in watts; if you wanted a brighter bulb, you bought one with a higher wattage. However, with the advent of LEDs and other types of lighting, that yardstick has become meaningless, and as a result, a bulb's brightness is now listed as lumens, which is a more accurate measurement of how bright it is, rather than how much energy it consumes. Below is a conversion table which shows how much energy, in watts, an incandescent bulb and an LED typically require to produce the same amount of light.

Osram targets camera flashes

Osram Opto Semiconductors has announced a new member of the Oslux LED family intended for camera-flash applications with the modular package integrating two LEDs at different CCTs and a silicone lens. Lumileds has announced new Luxeon Core Range COB (chip-on-board) LEDs that extend the maximum output to 30,000 lm for extreme lighting applications. Cameras in mobile phones and tablets have advanced far beyond the novelty stage with many devices now matching the fidelity of standalone still and video cameras. LED manufacturers have been tasked with delivering a key component in photo or video quality — the camera flash

A New Way to Think About Office Lighting

Most offices have adequate but aging lighting systems that often operate inefficiently, can waste vast amounts of energy, and annoy employees. Wasted electricity, excessive or uneven illumination, and difficulty concentrating are three top complaints of office workers. More significantly, increasing awareness about the building sector’s growing role in climate change is shifting tenant and investor preferences and influencing owners to improve the performance of their buildings to stay competitive. U.S. buildings consume nearly three-quarters of the country’s electricity and are responsible for 39% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Purple-emitting LEDs Get Closer to the Sun

Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd., in partnership with Toshiba Materials Co. Ltd., has created an LED that it says more closely mimics the spectrum of natural daylight. Called SunLike, the LEDs combine Seoul Semiconductor’s high-brightness purple LEDs with advanced red, green, and blue (RGB) phosphors developed at Toshiba Materials. Up to now, most approaches have mimicked daylight by combining blue-emitting LEDs with yellow and red phosphors to fill out the rest of the spectrum, but that method results in peaks in the blue spectrum.