The New York City Waterfalls public art installation, by artist Olafur Eliasson, comprised four man-made waterfalls in the New York Harbor situated along the shorelines of Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Governors Island. One of the key features of the waterfalls was their use of LED lighting behind the water flow to simulate the effect of moonlight.

It’s known that LED is a semiconductor diode that emits light when an electric current is applied in the forward direction of the device, as in the simple LED circuit.

Recently, five large billboards, each measuring 4m high by 3m tall, have been installed at Barcelona airport by Sakma, a local manufacturer. The billboards use an array of LEDs, rather than fluorescent lamps, to achieve uniform lighting with much lower operating costs.

It’s disclosed that BetaLED’s revolutionary LEDway™ streetlights are part of a pilot program with the City of Raleigh in partnership with Progress Energy that expands energy-efficient technology to customers and communities.

It’s reported that Cadillac has introduced the first car sold here to use an all-LED headlight system. Hella, a German lighting supplier that developed the system, recently showed off the new headlights at a demonstration for journalists at General Motors' GM Proving Grounds. Siegfried Hetz, senior product engineer for Hella, pointed out that there are several advantages to the LED headlights:

Recently, Taiwan display maker Chi Mei EL unveiled its 25-inch screen that's less than a millimeter thick at the FPD International exhibition in Japan on Wednesday. The new screen is based on the emerging OLED technology and attracted a steady stream of show attendees who snapped pictures of the screen or who peered around the edge to take a look at just how thin it is.

It’s reported that Officials with Raleigh and Progress Energy are testing nine energy-efficient streetlights downtown to determine how well they withstand extreme heat, cold and rain. The last of the nine experimental lamps was installed Tuesday in front of Progress' downtown office tower on Davie Street. If the lights live up to their promise, they could take a significant bite out of Raleigh's $5.3 million annual streetlight bill.

Recently, Eastman Kodak Company, a pioneer in OLED technology, announced the introduction of a highly efficient OLED material that will enable low-power, full-color displays with outstanding lifetimes.

OSRAM have undertaken outstanding projects that demonstrates the wide range of colours available, their versatility, their compact size and ease of installation given to architects, designers and installers. All this offers freedom to devise completely new lighting solutions, some of which can be incredibly creative and dramatic. Below are four examples of outstanding LED projects.  1. OSRAM LED sculpture welcomes visitors to London Heathrow's Terminal 5

It’s reported that Nittoh Kogaku KK exhibited an LED light source module for use in low-power advertising signage as a reference at Kogen (light source) 2008, an exhibition that took place at Pacifico Yokohama from Oct 22 to 24, 2008.

Recently, Littelfuse Inc. has introduced the PLED 6 series, an open LED protector that provides a switching electronic shunt path when a single LED in an LED array fails as an open circuit. This ensures that the entire array of LEDs will continue to function even if a single LED in the array does not.  

It’s reported that Progress Energy and the city of Raleigh would complete the installation of LED streetlights downtown as part of a test of the lighting technology.

The residential zone, "Azabu no Oka," is located in Miyoshicho, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, and developed by Toyota Smile Life Inc. The roads and pathways in the zone, which has 204 housing plots, will be illuminated by LED lamps. It will take some time before the entire subdivision is completed, but LED lamps have been used since the start of the project.

It’a reported that Lighting Science (LSG), a global developer and integrator of intelligent and efficient LED solutions, and the ACO Group, the worldwide leader in water drain systems and intelligent water drainage, announced the global availability of the ACO Eyeleds solution for illuminating outdoor spaces.

Recently, Spectronics Corporation has unveiled the powerful Spectroline® OPTIMAX(TM) 365 - a cordless, rechargeable true UV-A (365 nm) LED flashlight ideal for industrial leak detection. When used in conjunction with Spectroline® fluorescent fluid dyes, it is easy to pinpoint leaks in hydraulic systems, lubrication systems, pipelines, condensers, water storage tanks and much more.  

It's disclosed that fewer than 12 months after the introduction of GE’s exclusive Vio™ High-Power White LED, five lighting fixture manufacturers are marketing and selling commercial and residential fixtures that incorporate the violet-based, chip-on-board LED package from Lumination, LLC, GE Consumer & Industrial’s LED business.

Recently, ROHM Electronics announces the availability of the BD8113EFV-E2, a white LED driver IC designed to provide constant current drive for white LED backlights in medium- to large-format automotive TFT-LCD displays.

It’s reported that LED backlight penetration will not be as quick as previously expected, it will only reach 10 percent this year. Previously LCD panel makers projected 15 to 20 percent penetration in the market this year.  

School goes GREEN

Recently, Fort Walton Beach's public works department plans to install lighted street signs at three busy intersections this week. Employees spent last week completing the wiring work to install the LED signs. Public Works Director Tom Murray said “At nighttime it just makes the street name signs much more visible.” “It's very low energy because it's LED lighting and they're very, very effective lights at nighttime, that's very helpful for our visitors in the area,” Murray continued.

Newly invented machines are now capable of printing "sheets" of light, which have found themselves in some business buildings in recent weeks. The light printers use eight-inch wide sheets of organic LEDs, or OLEDs, and cover them with a layer of metal foil. When electric currents run through the sheet, they produce a soft blue-white glow.

It’s reported that the nation's largest shopping mall, the King of Prussia Mall, located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania will replace nearly 300,000 incandescent Christmas lights with energy efficient LED Christmas lights this year.

Recently, LightWild announced that its Project Engineering Team has completed its LED lighting project for the Harley-Davidson Museum which is located in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley. The Museum opened to the public July 12, 2008.

It’s reported that General Electric has created a giant OLED panel printer to be specifically used for lighting.

It’s reported that Taiyo Yuden Co Ltd exhibited a high-speed wireless communication system at CEATEC JAPAN 2008. It’s disclosed that utilizes a white LED.

LED lighting isn't just a potential replacement for lighting technologies used today; in fact, it is being eyed as the next-generation wireless communications technology. It’s reported that called “Smart Lighting" initiative being funded by the government seeks to piggyback wireless communications capabilities onto future LED lighting installations to provide more broadband access points.

Recently, a six-year-old developer of reflective display technologies has snagged an indoor installation with the New England Patriots.

Recently, Diodes Inc. has expanded its Zetex LED driver series with the introduction of three new miniature LED drivers that improve accuracy and thermal performance. Provided in TSOT23-5 and thermally enhanced DFN6, the highly integrated ZXLD-1352, -1356 and -1366 deliver adjustable output currents of 350mA, 550mA and 1A, respectively, need the support of just three discrete external components, and suit a broad range of automotive, architectural and industrial lighting applications.

Recently, UAE development company Tameer Holding will develop the world’s largest LED screen to be embedded on an intended commercial tower in the Majan district of Dubailand.

DDP has developed a 120-Vac line voltage lamp that reduces power consumption and maintenance costs in a variety of indicator applications. The 120MBLS-X-CX wide-angle LED operates up to a maximum of 130 Vac, while drawing less than 8 mA, which translates into 85% lower power consumption than a standard 120V mini bayonet (MB).