Today OPPLE Lighting and Seaborough announced the signing of a technical cooperation agreement (TCA) which is the initial step towards the production of the world’s first universally interchangeable LED light tube; the oneTLed. The agreement was signed by Paul van Doorn, CEO of Seaborough and Martijn van Rheenen CEO of Momentum Capital, the Private Equity group behind Seaborough. For OPPLE Jeroen Janssen, Managing Director Europe and group CTO, Qi Xiao Ming, signed the contract. The signing took place during an official state visit dinner in Shanghai in the presence of His Majesty King Willem Alexander and the Dutch Minister of foreign Affairs, Koenders.

Under the terms of this agreement, OPPLE lighting will enter a programme leading towards the development and manufacture of LED tubes, incorporating the oneTLed technology with Seaborough. OPPLE sees this as an opportunity to further fuel their rapid global expansion strategy.

Amsterdam based Seaborough and OPPLE Lighting are set to shake-up the light tube industry with ground-breaking LED invention that will accelerate global replacement of fluorescent linear lighting by LED. (Photo courtesy of Seaborough)

The oneTLed technology, developed by Seaborough in conjunction with leading scientists, is a combination of hardware and software that can be incorporated into any LED tube. OneTLed is compatible with all types of ballasts and is very cost effective. A LED tube with oneTLed technology incorporated, finally allows for safe and inexpensive retrofitting any TL socket with ballast by energy saving LED tubes, a break-through which has been long in the waiting.

With an estimated 12 billion sockets worldwide, sustainable and energy-efficient LED tubes incorporating oneTLedtechnology will accelerate saving energy by consuming 50% less electricity. If all fluorescent light tubes were replaced by LED tubes, over 100 medium-sized power plants could be shut down. Furthermore, the oneTLed does not contain mercury or any other toxic chemicals and is therefore environmentally friendly. With an extended average lifetime of more than 8 years, the oneTLed will also significantly reduce total cost of ownership and in addition, waste streams.

Paul van Doorn, CEO of Seaborough commented:”I am very pleased about this agreement, as Seaborough and OPPLE bring together a compelling mixture of research and development, operating experience, scalable manufacturing and innovation. Together with OPPLE, this promising new technology will lead to the world wide availability of a universally interchangeable LED tubes.”

Mdm Ma Xiuhui, CEO of OPPLE Lighting, commented: “We are thrilled to enter this cooperation with Seaborough. Both companies share a passion and commitment to speed, innovation and sustainability. Adding this oneTled to the innovation portfolio, will enable further speed-up of OPPLE’s rapid global expansion.”

Martijn van Rheenen, CEO of Momentum Capital commented: “The signing of this agreement is a hugely important step towards reducing carbon emissions at a time of growing global demand for energy, as this product has the potential to significantly reduce the use of electricity as well as waste streams.

Further financial details were not disclosed.