Solutions for Lighting: Manufacturer: April 2008 Archives

Manufacturer: April 2008 Archives

In September 2007, Cree Inc, announced it had demonstrated light output of more than 1,000 lumens - an amount equivalent to the output level of a standard household light bulb - from a single R&D LED.

Cree’s achievement demonstrates continued leadership in the development of LEDs that can make traditional light bulbs obsolete.

A single-die LED, driven at four amps, produced 1,050 lumens in cool white and 760 lumens in a warm-white version. Efficacy of the cool-white LED was 72 lumens per watt and 52 lumens per watt from the warm-white device. Both LED versions operated at substantially higher efficacy levels than those of today’s conventional light bulbs. Historically, Cree’s R&D demonstrations generally have been commercialized within 12 to 24 months.

“Cree’s XLamp® LEDs are the best-performing commercially available LEDs, but we won’t be satisfied until light bulbs are obsolete,” comments John Edmond, Cree co-founder and director of advanced optoelectronics. “We’ve worked 20 years to achieve lighting-class LED performance, and we still have plenty of ways to advance the technology further.”

For more information on Cree power LEDs, please call (919) 313-5300 or visit www.cree.com.
For additional information on the benefits of converting various lighting applications to LED lighting in the work environment and to learn more about LED Workplace, visit www.ledworkplace.org.
Cree is using its headquarters facilities as a testbed for LED implementation. 

They are converting all lighting at its Durham headquarters and manufacturing facility to LED lighting and released the results of the first phase of the conversion. The parking lots, entryways, lobby and conference rooms at Cree's headquarters building are now 100-percent lit by energy-efficient, environmentally friendly XLamp(R) LEDs.

Cree's LED Workplace(TM) conversion validates the energy savings, quality of light and reality that LED lighting is now a viable option for business and residential consumers.

In a study of the energy usage before and after the lighting conversion, Cree confirmed the energy savings of the newly installed LED lights.

The findings indicate that in total the new LED lights use 48% less energy than the incandescent, fluorescent and high-pressure sodium lights they replaced.

The combination of the energy savings, reduced maintenance and disposal costs and the environmental savings demonstrate that LED lighting is now a real alternative to traditional lighting solutions.

Duke Energy Collaboration

Cree's local utility, Duke Energy, is collaborating with Cree to explore the benefits of LED lighting. "Our customers are always interested in understanding how to save money through energy efficiency, so we make it our business to support innovative technologies such as LEDs," said Ted Schultz, Duke's vice president of energy efficiency.

"We expect our energy efficiency plans to be approved next year (2008) and are committed to having a complete line of lighting solutions available for customers," said Schultz. "At that point, we expect to have programs developed that will take advantage of LED technology."

"Conventional wisdom is that LED lighting is years away from widespread adoption. The truth, however, is that the performance of Cree's LED technology enables real LED lighting solutions today," said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. "The conversion of Cree's site demonstrates that the LED Lighting Revolution is well underway and will illustrate the benefits in energy savings, maintenance costs and environmental impacts."

Cree also announced that it has launched a new website to share the results and implementation details of the LED Workplace lighting conversion with other organizations.
 
The new LED Workplace site,
 www.ledworkplace.org,
 
...will include lighting vendor information and the light, energy and maintenance metrics that form the basis for LED lighting's cost savings. This site will also feature other LED Workplace installations.



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