The U.S. Department of Energy has released a GATEWAY report on a trial demonstration in which the incumbent quartz metal halide (QMH) area lighting was replaced with LED at three pole locations along a 7.2-mile stretch of the Yuma (Arizona) Sector Border Patrol Area. This high-luminous-flux and high-temperature application is not unique, and similar applications can benefit from the findings of this installation – including correctional facilities, military bases, and, more generally, street and area lighting.

The Building Technologies Office (BTO) of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has announced a request for information (RFI) of interest to the solid-state lighting community. Issued through BTO's Commercial Buildings Integration (CBI) Program, the RFI (DE-FOA-0001226) is entitled “High Impact Commercial Building Technology” and can be viewed online.

We are currently in the midst of a lighting revolution comparable to the days of Edison. SSL technology is evolving at a blistering pace, and innovative new products and features continue to broaden the appeal and energy-saving impact of SSL. (Click here for the event agenda).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced a funding opportunity on October 27, 2014, for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Topics for this funding opportunity include solid-state lighting. Qualified small businesses with strong research capabilities in science or engineering in any of the research areas sought in the announcement are encouraged to apply.

The spectral emission of LEDs is a frequent subject of concern, so to set the record straight, the U.S. Department of Energy has published a technical brief entitled True Colors: LEDs and the Relationship Between CCT, CRI, Optical Safety, Material Degradation, and Photobiological Stimulation. Using an example dataset of 20 CALiPER-tested LED lighting products that cover the full range of market-available CCTs and CRIs, it separates myth from fact regarding the potential of LEDs to cause retinal damage, changes to artwork or other media, and stimulation of the human circadian system (which impacts health).

DOE's Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium (MSSLC) has released the results of a voluntary web-based inventory survey of public street and area lighting across the U.S., conducted during the latter half of 2013 and intended to improve understanding of the role of public outdoor lighting in national energy use.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a solid-state lighting (SSL) R&D funding opportunity on October 14, 2014. Under this funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0001171, “Solid-State Lighting Advanced Technology R&D – 2015”), a total of up to $10 million in funding is directed toward all three existing DOE SSL R&D program areas:

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a report on the longer-term performance of an LED lighting system that was installed on the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis in September 2008 and represents one of the country's oldest continuously operated exterior LED lighting installations. The report is a welcome addition to the literature on LED lighting, which is lacking in the area of longer-term field performance.

Six Acuity Brands LED and OLED lighting solutions were selected as winners of the 2014 Next Generation LuminairesTM (NGL) Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Design Indoor Competition, including a prestigious 'Best in Class' award for a new LED luminaire series from Mark Architectural LightingTM. Additionally, Acuity Brands won half of all of the awards in the ‘Emerging’ technologies category with unique LED and OLED luminaires from Winona® Lighting.

Winners in the Indoor category of the sixth annual Next Generation LuminairesTM Design Competition were announced today at The LED Show in Los Angeles. Sponsored by DOE, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers, NGL promotes excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED products for commercial lighting applications.

DOE has published a new report forecasting the energy savings of LED white-light sources compared with conventional white-light sources. The sixth iteration of the Energy Savings Forecast of Solid-State Lighting in General Illumination Applications compares the annual lighting energy consumption in the U.S. with and without further market penetration of LED lighting. 

DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Loan Programs announced a solicitation making up to $4 billion in loan guarantees available for innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the U.S. that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gases. This solicitation represents the next step in DOE's commitment to support the deployment of innovative clean-energy technologies at commercial scale in the U.S.

SORAA Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mike Krames sheds light on U.S. Department of Energy’s latest MR 16 CALiPER report and the impact of lumens on lighting.

The U.S. Department of Energy has published the 2014 edition of the Solid-State Lighting Manufacturing R&D Roadmap. The Roadmap complements the SSL R&D Multi-Year Program Plan that guides the Core and Product Development R&D programs. One of the goals of the Roadmap is to guide the Manufacturing R&D program and help direct funding solicitations for it.

On Tuesday, September 9, the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings Alliance will host a 60-minute live webinar entitled Better than CFL? Dimmable LED Downlights in Hospitality Facilities.

DOE has revised its October 2013 report, Dimming LEDs with Phase-Cut Dimmers: The Specifier's Process for Maximizing Success, to include updated information about the installation of LED lighting and controls at the Burden Museum in Troy, NY, a GATEWAY project that was still in construction when the original report was published.

DOE shares the results of completed GATEWAY demonstration projects, publishing detailed reports that include analysis of data collected, projected energy savings, economic analyses, and user feedback. Report briefs summarize key findings in a quick-scan format. Both the reports and briefs are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs.

The latest round of the Department of Energy (DOE) energy standards for General Service Fluorescent Lamp Standard (GSFL) took effect on July 14, 2014, impacting the production of the 700 series T8 fluorescent lamps. These inefficient 700 series T8 lamps cannot be manufactured due to not meeting the efficacy standards. Fortunately the development team at Philips came up with an improved design for the 700 series lamps (designated with “HL” or high lumens in the ordering code)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s CALiPER program has released an Application Summary Report that focuses on the photometric performance of 27 LED MR16 lamps. Entitled Application Summary Report 22: LED MR16 Lamps, it describes initial performance based on light output, efficacy, distribution, color quality, electrical characteristics, and form factor, with comparisons to a selection of benchmark halogen MR16s and ENERGY STAR® qualification thresholds.

As part of its Household Electrification Program, the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) has rolled out solar LED light installations in 375 Eastern Samar households, according to a report by ABS CBN news.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s CALiPER program has released a Snapshot Report on LED outdoor area lighting. Based on LED Lighting Facts® data through the second quarter of 2014, the report focuses on outdoor area/roadway luminaires, parking garage luminaires, canopy luminaires, and outdoor directional luminaires. As of July 1, 2014, area/roadway products alone comprised 23 percent of the LED Lighting Facts database, with the other three product categories comprising approximately 7 percent.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will be changing LED bulb energy efficiency tests, according to a report from Chinese media Xinhua.net.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium (MSSLC) has released the first updated version of its Model Specification for LED Roadway Luminaires. A “living document” that's updated as needed to reflect changes in technologies and associated standards, and to incorporate feedback from users, the model specification enables cities, utilities, and other local agencies to assemble effective bid documents for LED street lighting products.

Effective June 13, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has suspended the L Prize PAR38 Competition, and no entries will be accepted at this time.

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the competitive selection of nine projects for solid-state lighting (SSL), in response to the SSL R&D funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0000973. The one- to two-year projects will focus on the areas of Core Technology Research, which involves the application of fundamental scientific concepts to SSL technology; and Product Development, which involves using the knowledge gained from basic or applied research to develop or improve commercially viable SSL materials, devices, or systems. 

The U.S. Department of Energy's CALiPER program has released Report 21.3, which is part of a series of investigations on linear LED lamps. Report 21.3 details a set of life-cycle cost simulations that compared a two-lamp troffer using LED lamps (38W total power draw) or fluorescent lamps (51W total power draw) over a 10-year study period. The LED lamps were assumed to produce similar light output and light distribution when mounted inside the troffers, an assumption that was reasonable for less than a third of the products tested for this series of reports, but that may be more widely achievable in the near future, as SSL products advance.

The Public Lighting Authority of Detroit (PLA) announced its LED streetlight initiative in January this year. Detriot proposed a plan to retrofit over 50,000 street lights with LED bulbs over the next two years, saving the city a total of US $1.5 million annually, according to The Detriot News. Street lights will be provided by three firms – Cree, Leotek Electronics, and Walker-Miller Energy Services said Light Authority CEO Odis Jones. 

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science has awarded four Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants targeting advances in solid-state lighting (SSL) technology:

The U.S. Department of Energy's CALiPER program has released Report 21.2, which is part of a series of investigations on linear LED lamps. Report 21.2 focuses on the performance of three linear (T8) LED lamps and a benchmark fluorescent lamp in five different troffer types. Also included are the results of a subjective evaluation. The LED lamps were intended as alternatives to T8 fluorescents and were chosen for the study primarily based on their luminous intensity distributions (narrow, medium, and wide beam angles).

Recent reports by mainstream Chinese media CCTV that LEDs without diffusers causing blindness within 10 seconds has generated much talk in China, but a report by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) claim LEDs are not particularly harmful compared to other conventional light sources when it comes to nonvisual applications.