By Scott McMahan, Editor of Solid State Lighting Design One year ago today, I moved into a new condo in the suburbs of Austin. The condo came equipped with a combination of LEDs and compact fluorescent bulbs. The master bathroom has a vanity mirror, two sinks, a shower, and bathtub. …
Editorials
Occupancy Sensors Not All the Same
Occupancy sensors can help save energy by automatically turning off lights when areas are not occupied. However, not all occupancy sensors are the same. Also, improper settings and placements of occupancy sensors can make building occupants view the system as more of an annoyance and than an improvement. Therefore, installing …
on April 18, 2016 in
Headlights Need Much Improvement, IIHS says
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tested all of the headlight configurations available on 31 midsize cars. The results were abysmal. Despite much of the new technolgy for headlights, IIHS found that the light intensity at long distances and glare of an oncoming vehicle to be less than ideal. …
Offices Beginning to Adopt IoT-based Lighting
In December of 2015 and the first couple months of 2016, a lot has happened in the LED lighting industry related to the Internet of Things. The biggest news comes from Current, powered by GE. Current powered by GE got a contract to install LED lighting at 500 branch locations …
MR16 technology stagnating, but we can do better
The technology improvements in LED technology should extend to all LED lamps and fixtures. However, that was not found to be the case with MR16 LED lamps. The U.S. Department of Energy’s CALiPER program has published a new Snapshot Report on LED MR16 lamps. The new Snapshot report updates a similar …
Discussion of Tom Griffiths’ Presentation at DOE Meeting on Connected Lighting
In early December, the U.S. Department of Energy held a meeting for solid state lighting industry experts about connected lighting systems. The presentations from the meeting are now available online. Among the main issues addressed at the meeting, interoperability and system complexity were the most talked about. Tom Griffiths, Sr. …
The SSL Industry in 2015; A Year in Review
by Scott McMahan-Editor of solidstatelightingdesign.com and lightimes.com This year has been the first year that the term Internet of Things (IoT) began to be used commonly in the world of solid state lighting. In 2014, the SSL industry brought the idea of the smart city, the smart grid, smart building …
on December 21, 2015 in LED Applications, Single and Multi-chip Packaged LEDs, LED Business News, Internet of Things
LED lighting and the Internet of Things; What has Been Done So Far?
Lighting, and specificially LED lighting is one of the main drivers of the Internet of Things. So far, municipalities, offices, and consumers are just touching the surface of what is technically feasible. Several years ago Philips launched what was among the first commercial products controlled through an iPhone app, the HUE. …
DOE Gateway Report Offers Incites Learned from Portland Streetlight Conversion Process
The U.S. Department of Energy published a Gateway report that outlined the conversion of high-pressure sodium streetlights to LED-based models in the City of Portland, Oregon. The report pointed out that the city is midway through the process of converting its street lighting system. So far, the city has purchased …
on October 9, 2015 in LED Applications, Research, Commercialization & Govt Organizations - SSL Design
DOE Follow-up Study of MR16 Lamps Looks at Performance with Transformer and Dimmer Combinations
The U.S. Department of Energy published a follow-up study that looked at the photoelectric performance of the same set of 27 LED-based MR-16 lamps that they tested for the 2014 CALiPER Application Summary Report 22. The latest study used commercially available transformers and dimmers and laboratory power supplies to provide …
