The U.S. Department of Energy's CALiPER program has released Report 23: Photometric Testing of White-Tunable LED Luminaires, which is the first in a planned series of investigations on color-tunable LED luminaires. The main goal of the new study was to understand the amount of testing required to characterize a white-tunable LED lighting product. In this case, determining a sufficient protocol required more extensive testing than would be feasible for widespread use. Eight white-tunable luminaires were tested at dozens of points covering the range of color tuning (CCT) and dimming (luminous intensity).

Quirky (“Quirky”) and its affiliates (together, the “Company”) announced today that it filed a voluntarily petition under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Xicato®, a leading manufacturer of intelligent light sources, published today on its website TM-30-15 Color Rendering results for its entire product range of XTM and XIM modules.

“Audi will present an all-electric, luxury-class sport SUV in early 2018. The Audi e‑tron quattro concept provides a concrete foretaste of this,” says Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Audi Board of Management for Technical Development. “It combines driving pleasure with great range, an expressive design and excellent comfort.”

Power management company Eaton today announced it’s helping to improve optical performance and energy efficiency at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Central Terminal Area (CTA). As part of the first and second phases of the $118-million LAX Curbside Appeal and Roadway Improvement Project, Eaton played a pivotal role in revamping the exterior curbside lighting using its light-emitting diode (LED) technology with each new street lighting pole consuming 48 percent less energy than the previous 33-year-old, high-pressure sodium lights they replaced.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Lextar announced recently it formed a partnership with Leadray Energy and Cree in LED streetlight R&D.

Kingsun Optoelectronic is to acquire Lumileds with capital collected partially from surplus capital of different LED lighting business and the company’s raised funds. Kingsun Optoelectronic plans to indirectly acquire 6.15% share of Lumileds, which was span off by Royal Philips, for US$ 100 million.

Leyard announced recently it will acquire Guangzhou Leafun Culture Science and Technology and Glux Visual Effect Tech. Leyard is to acquire 100% of Guangzhou Leafun Culture Science and Technology’s shares with cash and 99% of Glux Visual Effect Tech shares will be transacted from 10 company investors. Leyard will start fundraising for the acquisition.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that ANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) C82 revised ANSI C82.6 American National Standard for Lamp Ballasts—Ballasts for High-Intensity Discharge Lamps—Methods of Measurement. This standard is now updated to provide industry-wide consistency for products that have the technological advantages of electronic ballasts and can be paired with existing low frequency lamps.

Several Chinese TV manufacturers and electronic suppliers have joined South Korea’s LG Display and LG Electronics to form an OLED display technology alliance on Sept. 16, 2015, reported Want China Times recently.

Noribachi, a leading U.S.-based custom LED manufacturer and Samsung Electronics, a global leader in advanced component solutions, announced establishment of a major partnership. This broad partnership will draw upon the technology and engineering strengths of each company to spark innovation in an initial step toward redefining the U.S. LED lighting industry.

Kent residents and businesses are being asked for their views on options for street lighting across the county. Kent County Council has secured funding to convert the county’s 118,000 street lights to Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology – which will mean annual savings of up to £5.2million for Kent’s council taxpayers.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Infrastructure Trust (CIT) today released a Request for Information (RFI) for the Chicago Smart Lighting Project, which seeks to update the City of Chicago’s electric lighting infrastructure. The goal of the Smart Lighting Project is to transition the City’s and Parks’ lighting to LED technology and to replace outdated infrastructure to achieve efficiencies, cost savings, and improved performance. A large-scale conversion to more environmentally friendly LED technology will reduce electricity use and utility costs. This overhaul of City lighting fixtures and Chicago Park District pathway lighting will be financed through cost savings and potentially, new revenue sources that do not include additional taxpayer funds.

Hong Kong exporters may be interested in the new Joint Market Surveillance Action on Consumer Products being undertaken by PROSAFE, the Product Safety Enforcement Forum of Europe, which has been launched in July 2015. 

After conveying disappointing results for the first-quarter of 2015, when lighting-equipment demand was 3.6% below fourth-quarter 2014 demand, the latest NEMA Lighting-Systems Index (LSI) results show that a modest rebound occurred during 2015’s second-quarter: Demand was up 0.4% over first-quarter performance and 2.2% above second-quarter 2014 performance. “While quarter-over-quarter performance may not be something to ‘write home about,’” said National Lighting Bureau Executive Director John Bachner, “year-over-year results are definitely encouraging and quarter-over-quarter results show that lighting-equipment demand is moving in the right direction. We’re optimistic that the next report will show continued growth over the third quarter.”

The method helps discovering the most efficient lamps, which may save billions in lighting costs in the future.

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be installing LED warning lights in four locations in late 2015, reported The Strait Times.

Merck, a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in the healthcare, life science and performance materials sectors, announced today that it has entered into a license agreement with Tridonic Jennersdorf  (Tridonic) covering silicate phosphors for use in white light LEDs.

Dialog Semiconductor (XTRA: DLG) and Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) announced today that Dialog has agreed to acquire Atmel in a cash and stock transaction for total consideration of approximately $4.6 billion. The acquisition creates a global leader in both Power Management (2) and Embedded Processing solutions. The transaction results in a fast growing and innovative powerhouse, supporting Mobile Power, IoT and Automotive customers. The combined company will address an attractive, fast growing market opportunity of approximately $20 billion by 2019.

The National Hockey League (NHL) and its official energy services partner, Constellation, will extend their joint commitment to improve environmental sustainability within the sport of hockey for Kraft Hockeyville USA, the Sept. 29 preseason game between the Pittsburgh Penguins® and Tampa Bay Lightning® at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, Pa.

Illumitex Inc., LED innovator and maker of the world’s most optically advanced lighting products for horticulture, today announced it has signed a new customer, Green Life Productions (GLP). Based in Nevada, GLP is a pioneer in the organic cannabis cultivation industry. Illumitex’s highly sophisticated lighting technology will enable Green Life Productions to accelerate and maximize sustainable cannabis growth; producing a large yield while using less energy without the use of harmful chemicals.

Taiwan’s leading LED chip maker announced it would be slashing around 60 jobs this week, but market rumors estimate the number of layoffs are much higher. Easing backlight market demands, and challenges following the absorption of FOREPI has placed Epistar in a particularly challenging market position.

The year of 2015 will be the turning point for color television technology, said Houjian Zhou, chairman of Hisense Technology on Sep. 15, 2015 at a press conference. According to Zhou, electrical technology has its own life cycle and LED industry growth has slowed down. The position and strategy of LED manufacturers today will determine their market position and development five years later. Mainstream Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology has evolved for more than 50 years, but did not see any real technology breakthroughs until 2000. Although, liquid crystal display technology became an absolute mainstream display solution, it has seen few innovations within the past two years, which led to price cuts and low profits. Meanwhile, manufacturers have developed OLED display technology for TVs for more than 10 years, yet OLED remains an unmarketable mainstream display technology.

Leading LED chip manufacturer Epistar’s has raised the number of job cuts from the previously announced 65 to about 180, reported UDN.

Taiwanese LED manufacturers revenue performance continued to wane in August, according to Pingan Securities. Revenue performances downed both annually and on a monthly basis, according to statistics released by Taiwanese companies.

Demand for lighting equipment, as measured by NEMA’s Lighting Systems Shipments Index, increased by 2.2% year-over-year (y/y) and by 0.4% quarter-to-quarter during second quarter of 2015. The increase was driven by emergency lighting and fixtures which gained ground on a year-over-year basis while the ballast and lamp–large and miniature–components offset these gains with year-over-year declines.

Two local companies team up to revamp a mobile forensic laboratory. LumaStream designs and manufactures low-voltage LED lighting systems. The National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) creates deployable forensic laboratories from standard ISO shipping containers. Together, they have redesigned NFSTC's mobile laboratory to include the latest in lighting technology.

Indonesia is situated in Southeast Asia and is located on the Equator. It is close to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and borders Malaysia. Geolocation wise the world’s largest archipelago is also an ocean across from Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Australia. With a population of 240 million people scattered across 18,307 islands, Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world following China, India, and U.S. Annual economic growth rates peaked to 6.3% over the past few years indicating it is a country that holds great market potential.

A few weeks ago, Hollywood actress Jessica Alba created a buzz on the Internet with her anti-age LED skin care treatment. Turns out LEDs market potential in the beauty sector extends to weight loss, and for those aiming to stay thin and slim.

Jules Verne said in Around the World in 80 Days: “Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.” Today, that is truer than ever before. Did you ever think it would be possible to communicate so easily with anyone around the world? Surely not. With what we already know about technology and with what we can imagine, there are limitless possibilities for smart cities and for the marketplace of tomorrow. And while the ideas may seem like a sci-fi fantasy now, the current rate of progress means we’re already on the brink of a totally unexpected future.