Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) and the DLC, along with assistance from their project team at the Lighting Research Center (LRC), has developed a new independent listing of qualified solid state lighting (SSL) products. The DesignLights™ Consortium (DLC) Qualified Products List provides a central place for lighting manufacturers to submit product specifications for energy efficiency program administrators to determine whether an LED fixture qualifies for their incentive programs.

According to NEEP, manufacturers need only to submit product data once to be considered for more than twenty utility and state efficiency programs throughout the Northeast, Midwest, Northwest, California and Canada. Utility program administrators save time not having to review individual manufacturers' specifications and can be assured that qualified LED fixtures meet energy efficiency, color quality, and projected lifetime requirements.

Most energy efficiency program administrators use the ENERGY STAR listing as an indication of a product's quality and performance. However ENERGY STAR for SSL does not currently cover all lighting applications. The DLC effort complements and expands upon the ENERGY STAR for SSL.

The DesignLights™ Consortium Qualified Products List application requirements are nearly identical to those of ENERGY STAR. The DLC requires manufacturers to submit demanding industry standard test data on their products as part of their application which can be found at http://www.designlights.org/solidstate.manufacturer.overview.php. These include submission of IES LM-79 test reports, LM-80 reports, UL 1598 reports, full IES files and product lifetime claim evidence.

DLC analysts examine manufacturer's test reports, passing or failing applications based on performance criteria. Products which meet the minimum DLC performance criteria are then added to the DLC Qualified Products List. The list is available to all DLC Sponsors and Participants to use in their programs for promoting SSL projects.