Spring is slowly emerging and people are dreaming of outdoor barbecues and parties on the deck. The following solar lights from Ikea look pretty darn nice, they're exactly what you need to brighten your outdoor spaces this summer.

LED market will experience robust growth, over the next five years, fueled by increasingly more-powerful and energy-efficient offerings that will help businesses and consumers lower their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), accelerate Return on Investment (ROI) and be more environmentally friendly, according to a recent report.  

It’s reported that Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, professor emerita of Materials Science and Engineering at Columbia University in New York, filed a complaint with the U.S.

In cooperation with the Meyer Werft Lighting Group, OSRAM has developed a highly efficient lighting system specially designed for the ship. Thanks to their excellent light quality and efficiency, they are the first choice for effect lighting on board the new luxury cruise ship, Celebrity Solstice, owned by US shipping company Celebrity Cruises. Ships of this class are built by Meyer Werft. In the casino, the disco, and even the dining area, along with many other places, OSRAM’s LED modules in its Linearlight range produce striking effects.

Taiwan LED chip maker Epistar is reportedly to launch AC-LED products in Q209, the company says it expects to be “the first company in the world to ship AC-LED chips.

The shipments of notebook PCs with LED backlights reached 3.7 million in the final quarter of 2008 – a 62% rise on the preceding quarter. 13.4% of notebooks shipped in the closing quarter of the year featured LED backlighting technology, compared with a market share of only 6.3% in the third quarter, according to a recent report.

Mircon, based in Boise, Idaho, is asking for $20 to $100 million of the more than $1 billion of stimulus money the Gem State will be receiving. The company is proposing to start manufacturing solar panels and high efficiency lighting components at it's now idle factories in Nampa and Boise, employing hundreds of people.

Macroblock introduces a new step-down DC/DC converter, MBI6651, to drive 1A output current with efficiency up to 93%. With merely 0.45ohm of switch ON resistance, MBI6651 reduces the power consumption on IC at rated voltage. Additionally, the internal start-up scheme eliminates the inrush current and limits it within 1.15 times of preset current. Besides, MBI6651 features constant current and provides uniform brightness with excellent output current accuracy up to ±5%(Max.).

Group III-nitride materials have been widely used for visible and ultraviolet LEDs and blue, violet laser diodes in the past decade. Most of these optoelectronic devices are typically fabricated on the conventional polar (0001) c-plane oriented substrate materials. Devices grown on the polar substrate orientation suffer undesirable spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization resulting in significant band bending in the quantum well. This reduces radiative recombination efficiency and lowers device performance.

AIXTRON AG reported that in the fourth quarter 2008 the National Taiwan University (NTU) of Taiwan ordered one Close Coupled Showerhead 3x2" wafer Research Platform MOCVD system for research and development on GaN and related materials and devices and it will be delivered in the third quarter 2009.  

Lei Yueh Enterprises announced its latest LED lighting product series, “Streamline”. This series of LED lighting products are specially design for home living environment. The design concept of this product series is to be simple but yet delicate.  The product series comprises LED Down Light, LED Wall Scone, LED Table Light and LED Floor Light, as it offer the consumer to have an diverse LED product to fulfill various of application of their home living environment.

The Cromobox LED shower door is an innovative evolution of Antonio Lupi’s amazing decorative shower doors design. It is designed to change colors across a spectrum in order to promote relaxation. The Cromobox LED shower features a full spectrum of cool shades that impact you from the inside out. Lift your spirits every morning with invigorating green; turn up the heat with vivid red; soothe your soul at night with the calming effects of a true blue hue. These vibrant colors splash the doors, illuminating the modern Mosaico pattern on the Duroglass enclosures.

Avolux Europe of Romania has designed and manufactured a new LED luminaire - Nordica 3 architectural flood light IP 67. The company says it is ideal for up lighting or down lighting applications, also suitable for lighting facades, buildings, bridges and architectural.

It’s reported that PosterGarden will unveil a unique and earth-friendly LED light for its portable displays at EXHIBITOR2009 in Las Vegas, March 23-25, 2009. PosterGarden notes that the new light, which will fit on its banner stands and popup displays, features its stylish design accents and the latest in LED technology, which is much friendlier to the environment than standard light bulbs and halogen lights.

It’s reported that Albeo Technologies’s C-Series High Bay is recognized as a product that significantly contributes to a sustainable economy. The Colorado CleanTech Initiative in coordination with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and CORE Colorado will present Albeo Technologies with a Sustainable Business Medal of Honor at the Sustainable Opportunities Summit March 17th in recognition of Albeo’s “C-Series” white-LED High Bay Light Fixture.

Recently, AsianSignals has released its most powerful and efficient copper-clad LED array emitter board - the Rebel Spot 36. The company says the Rebel Spot 36 is their continuing exploration into leveraging FR-4 copper laminate techniques in achieving a low cost, easy to use, and effective mounting solution for the Luxeon Rebel LED.

DOE Solid-State Lighting Manufacturing Workshop (Fairfax, VA ) will be on April 21-22, 2009

If you're photographing jewelry, small parts, or anything where you need shadow-free macro photography, a handy accessory is SR Electronics' new Digi-Slave Flex-Ring 6400.

It’s reported that Lumex has launched its QuantumBrite™ line of LED backlight technologies. Available in edge lit and chips on board formats in both white and vivid color options, the QuantumBrite line of backlight products provides more than twice the intensity of traditional backlights. In particular, the white QuatumBrite LEDs provide high-intensity brightness of up to 10,000 nits allowing for full daylight visibility.

Philips Lumileds announced the first street lights in Osaka, Japan has been lit by its LUXEON power LEDs, This reflects the emergence of solid-state lighting as an energy-efficient alternative to street lamps using standard light sources.

Neo-Neon™ International(HKEX 1868), a global leader in the advancement of LED technology, has introduced a new model in the LED High Power Streetlight Series with Lux Boosting Optical Technology (L-BOT™). With 240 pieces 1-Watt White LED and the newly patented freeform reflective lens design the LED Street Light 240 provides a total luminous flux of 14,550lm. The company says that is another revolutionary breakthrough in the development of core LED Technologies relative to solid-state lighting.

Lighting Fair 2009 hold a seminar titled "LED and organic EL pave the road to the future of illumination". The panel discussion was participated by Shuji Nakamura, a professor of the University of California at Santa Barbara, a developer of blue LED and a leader in the research of GaN-based light-emitting element and Junji Kido, who leads the research of the organic EL as a professor of Yamagata University Graduate School of Science and Engineering.

As the LED lighting market grows beyond single color and color-changing applications into general illumination applications such as residential, commercial and off-grid applications, and ultimately into outdoor area applications, it is forecast to exceed $5 billion in 2012, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate of 28% from 2008 to 2012, according to a recent report.  

Japanese LED giant Nichia and Semi-Photonics Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of SemiLEDs Corporation USA have settled the patent case (Case No. Hei 19 (wa) 10399) before the Osaka District Court on March 3, 2009. SemiLEDs spokesmen were unable to make any comment due to the legal constraints of the settlement.

Two French institutions Francais du Design and Equip’Hotel Paris honored Philips MASTER LED, a solid-state light bulb identical in form factor to a conventional light bulb for its innovative design and sustainability. Philips notes its MASTER LED is the first LUXEON Rebel based replacement bulb that delivers on the promise of high efficiency, uncompromised quality light, and long-life, in a package that makes it simple for people to use and feel good about using.

Toshiba Corp of Japan unveils the "AL-LED-FS-6," an LED spotlight intended for use in TV studios at Lighting Fair 2009 from March 3 to 6, 2009, at Tokyo Big Site. The "Cool Studio," a studio whose temperature is kept low by using LED lights, will be demonstrated at the exhibition. Toshiba’s AL-LED-FS-6, an LED spotlight intended for TV studios

Energy Focus, Inc., a global leader in energy-efficient lighting technologies, reports that the famous Burj Dubai will be illuminated with its Crescent brand LED lighting products. Crescent Lighting, a whole owned subsidiary of Energy Focus, Inc., headquartered in the UK, offers a full line of LED based lighting solutions to international markets.

Recently, Carmanah Technologies Corporation (TSX: CMH) announced its most powerful solar-powered LED area light - the EverGEN(TM) 1500 lighting system. The company says the EverGEN 1500 is designed for street and parking lot lighting applications.

Greenlight Initiative has announced one of the first commercially successful deployments of an LED-based lighting installation for large exterior marker-sign applications. The internal illumination of the 2 by 8-foot remotely-mounted building marker-sign was based on Albeo Technologies’ state-of-the-art white LED fluorescent troffer retrofit kit directly integrated to the sign’s solar power system. With the installation, the uniformity of the sign's illumination was increased, while power requirements were decreased by as much as 70%.

Recently, a leading tool supplier Kincrome has released two new and extremely versatile handheld worklights with the latest LED technology including a round utility worklight and a handheld worklight.