The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) called on the California Energy Commission (CEC) today to ensure that California consumers have access to the most efficient and cost-effective LED bulbs currently on the market.

Royal Philips announced that today’s Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) appointed Abhijit Bhattacharya as a member of the Board of Management with effect from December 18, 2015.

Traditionally, LEDs are wielded as glow stick replacements at concerts, or found on banners and boards made by fans. Some artists will occasionally wear LED dresses to light up the show, but a new startup is catching on the trend of gloving at EDM rave parties.

There has been a lot of activity going on in the UV LED market in the last two weeks, Japanese media Nikkei reports have pointed out UV LED manufacturer Nikkiso is collaborating with Formosa Plastics Group to build the world’s largest UV LED factory in Taiwan. Dow Chemical and DuPont’s equal merge last week, implies advantages in LED material and UV LED development, but could also raise the bar considerably for other material manufacturers to break through their comprehensive patent networks. Apple is once again under the spotlight, following a Bloomberg report that revealed the company has set up a secret lab in Taiwan to work on iPad or iPhone display technology.

Chinese LED maker MLS as a potential acquisition of Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar has become the latest gossip in Taiwan’s LED industry. Following the market rumors, the LED chip maker’s shares have soared, giving the LED stock market a major boost. Market rumors claim Chinese manufacturers potential investments in Taiwanese companies have allowed local LED enterprises to reevaluate their market value. However, LEDinside interviews with local market research companies noted the chances of MLS acquiring Epistar was fairly low, and the Chinese company’s current focus was mostly directed towards bidding Osram’s lighting business.

Japanese UV LED manufacturer Nikkiso is collaborating with Formosa Plastics Group to build the world’s largest UV LED factory in Taiwan, reported Japanese media Nikkei.

This recall involves the WholeHome Noel 70 L.E.D. light string in warm white, for indoor and outdoor use.  The product can be identified by the model number 25074, UPC number 45025074001, CSA file number 223812 and manufacture date code 07/2015. Consumers are able to locate the model number, CSA file number and manufacture date code on the white tag affixed to the wire.

Town council members from Berlin located in Connecticut, U.S. has approved a US $ 1.48 million contract to swap 2,538 streetlights with LEDs , reported Hartford Courant.

On Dec 17, the City of St. Catharines, which sits in Southern Ontario, Canada, is switching its high- pressure sodium streetlights to energy efficient LED ones, reported CKTB.

Telensa, which provides end-to-end smart city solutions using its low power Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) wireless technology, has announced that work has begun on a major new deployment which will cover 55,000 LED streetlights over approximately 1,000 sq. miles across Gloucestershire, UK. The deployment, part of Gloucestershire County Council’s plan to replace existing sodium lights, is being led by Skanska, with LED luminaires from Urbis Schréder.  The new streetlights are wirelessly connected and controlled using Telensa’s PLANet Central Management System. 

For the very first time at ISE, Calibre will move their tradeshow booth to hall 11 of the Amsterdam RAI.

A team of engineers from Cornell University, the University of Notre Dame and the semiconductor company IQE has created gallium nitride (GaN) power diodes capable of serving as the building blocks for future GaN power switches -- with applications spanning nearly all electronics products and electricity distribution infrastructures.

“We recently upgraded the software for Philips Hue to ensure the best seamless connected lighting experience for our customers. This change was made in good faith. However, we under estimated the impact this would have on a small number of customers who use lights from other brands which could not be controlled by the Philips Hue software. In view of the sentiment expressed by our customers, we have decided to reverse the software upgrade so that lights from other brands continue to work as they did before with the Philips Hue system.

According to a Bloomberg report, Apple’s secret facility in Taiwan is working on display technology, most likely OLED panels.

The UK is paying more attention to the impact from China’s easing economy upon the global economy. China’s economic slowdown has spurred Chinese enterprises to increased overseas engagement after a long learning period, Chinese enterprises will have significant impact on the global market within five years, a BBC report cited Donglei Wang, President of NVC Lighting and ETI saying.

LG Display will initiate its OLED lighting business operations, which was acquired from LG Chem, and focus on promotion as its next growth engine, reported Business Korea.

Gooee, the original ‘Full-Stack’, smart lighting ecosystem provider that connects OEMs to the Internet of Things, has developed, out of Silicon Valley, a multi-protocol enterprise IoT gateway that connects lighting and sensing devices to its cloud platform.

Recall Summary Name of product: JHBL LED Fixtures Hazard: The metal hub used to mount the light fixtures to the ceiling can break and allow the fixture to fall unexpectedly, posing a risk of injury from impact.

Top two U.S. chemical companies Dow Chemical and DuPont signed an agreement in an all-stock merger of equals to merge into an enterprise worth US $13 billion, reported Guangdong LED. This is one of the largest international business and industry merger. After the merge, the new company will trail behind German BASF to become the world’s second largest industrial company, while becoming the largest global chemical company.

LED A-line lamps posted another strong showing in 2015Q3, surging 237.2% during the quarter on a year-over-year basis. Halogen A-line lamps posted a year-over-year increase of 33.0%. In contrast, incandescent A-line lamps decreased by 31.5% while compact fluorescents lamps (CFL) dropped 28.0 percent. Compared to 2015Q2, LED shipments rose 17.2%, while halogen A-lines increased 4.6%. CFL shipments saw a quarter-to-quarter decrease of 16.3% and incandescent A-line lamp shipments decreased 16.5%.

Organic semiconductor materials are already being employed today in solar cells and organic LEDs (OLEDs) amongst others. Until now, however, little was known about how the doping molecules are integrated into the chemical structure of organic semiconductors. The Molecular Systems Joint Research Team of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin at BESSY II have now analysed this with surprising results. The molecules are not necessarily uniformly dispersed in the host lattice, as it is usual with inorganic semiconductors, but instead form what are known as co-crystallites. 

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that ANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) C136 published ANSI C136.38-2015 American National Standard for Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment—Induction Lighting. This standard defines the electrical and mechanical requirements of induction type light sources for use in roadway and area lighting luminaires. Induction lighting is a class of fluorescent lamp technology, with two classes of induction lamps commercially available: toroidal (ring) lamps and re-entrant cavity lamps.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) commends the U.S. Department of Energy on its Dec. 2, 2015 decision that mandatory energy conservation standards for high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps are not technically feasible or economically justified. Furthermore, the DOE determined that higher energy conservation standards for HID lamps would not yield significant energy savings for the nation.

Echelon Corp., a leading independent control networking company for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), announced today the installation of its Lumewave by Echelon lighting control system as part of a smart city streetlight LED retrofit at the City of Bellingham, Wash.

Orion Energy Systems, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance, energy-efficient retrofit lighting platforms, today announced that it was granted a new patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Pat. No. 9,206,948) directed to design improvements and technical advancements in the hanging methods and door assemblies of troffer light fixture retrofit systems.

How will the strategic partnership between leading lighting manufacture Royal Philips and IT giant Cisco influence the lighting industry?

Expecting more than $1 billion in additional annual EBITDA at full run-rate synergies. Transaction is expected to yield more than $1 billion in additional annual EBITDA at full run-rate synergies and is expected to be accretive to Operating EPS, cash flow from operations and free cash flow in the first full year after the close of the transaction. Combination deepens Dow’s portfolio in attractive end use applications such as building and construction, consumer care, and automotive.

How do people manage a company? Do they try expanding the company business to make it big and comprehensive? Or do companies focus all their resources on a few selected businesses? Manufacturers’ business strategies may vary. For TongYiFang Optoelectronic (TongYiFang) both strategies are equally important, it is important to have a narrow focus to clarify the company's market position before expanding into other business markets.

A recent CNET report has noted Philips Hue latest operation software update in the form has ousted third-party smart bulbs, due to interoperability issues.

Highly synergistic transaction expected to result in run-rate cost synergies of approximately $3 billion, which are projected[1] to create approximately $30 billion of market value Approximately $1 billion in growth synergies are also expected to be achieved Combined market capitalization will be approximately $130 billion at announcement Andrew N. Liveris will be named Executive Chairman and Edward D. Breen will be named CEO of combined company; Advisory Committees will be established for each business Dow and DuPont shareholders will each own approximately 50 percent of the combined company, on a fully diluted basis, excluding preferred shares