Boise Keeps Historic Look, Slashes Costs

The City of Boise, Idaho is slashing its energy and maintenance costs by retrofiting over 1,000 high pressure sodium cobra head and post top street lights with energy efficient LED street lights. The new LED lighting is expected to cut the cities energy costs for street lighting in half while it nearly eliminates maintenance costs for the next 17 years. On top of the tremendous energy and maintenance cost savings, the city was able to maintain the historic look of it's antique lighting fixtures with retrofit LED lighting modules from Cooper Lighting of Peachtree City, GA. Many of the streets in Boise are lined with antique cast iron light poles toped with glass fixtures. The city and local residents wanted to keep these fixtures while still gaining the energy savings and long life of LED lights. Cooper was able to meet there wishes to keep the antique poles while upgrading to LED's with there high-performance decorative LED retrofit kit. These kits are helping Boise meet there goals of saving taxpayer dollars while still maintaining the historic charm of the city streets.

Quantum Dots Could Lead To Cheaper LEDs

Researchers at the University of Florida are using quantum dots to develop a new type of LED technology that could be both efficient and inexpensive. These quantum dots are tiny nano-sized crystals that, when excited by electricity, can produce at least ten times more light then fluorescent bulbs. The increased light output means that more light can be achieved from a smaller amount of space. The University of Florida researchers believe that the cost to produce these nanoparticles will drop to the point that they can be used in mass production. This could lead the way to low cost quantum dot based LED's lights that are efficient and inexpensive.

Underwater LED boat lights are an efficient way to light up your boating life. You can finally use your boat at night without worrying about draining your battery.

Nevada Saves $300,00 / Year With LED's

The State of Nevada is helping communities save a combined $300,000 annually in energy costs by switching streetlights and traffic siginals to LED lights.Funding for the project is being provided by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and an Energy Efficiency and Community Block Grant. “The funding allowed a large initial capital investment in LED street lights, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible in the current economy.” said Fallon City Engineer Jim Souba.

Switching to LED streetlights and traffic lights will allow cities and towns around the state to reduce operating costs. The LED lights will not only slash energy bills, they have an expected lifespan of 15-20 years. The old high pressure sodium bulbs used now last only 3-5 years. Communities will save thousands more each year through reduced maintenance and replacement costs. The LED streetlights also produce a more natural white light compared to the yellow light of HPS streetlights providing better visibility for drivers. They also focus there light more on the street where it is needed reducing light pollution into the sky and neighboring windows.    

Small Borough Saves Big With LED Lights

The taxpayers of Monaca, PA will soon be saving up to 90% on exterior lighting costs at the borough's Municipal building on Pennsylvania Ave. and at four of the borough's parks. Monaca will use $42,000 from the Power of Light grant program of Duquesne Light to replace 480 watt incandescent exterior lights with highly energy efficient 160 watt LED lights. The LED lights will be equiped with programable dimmers that will reduce there power output to 40 watts each night around midnight. They will also be equiped with sensors that will brighten the lights to full power for 15 minutes if motion is detected. Boat Launch Park, George Washington Plaza, Pumphouse Park and Veterans Memorial Park are scheduled to have the new LED exterior lights installed by the end of October. The LED lights will not only reduce the borough's lighting costs, but will also reduce maintenance costs. Exterior LED lighting has a life expectancy of over 8 years.

Collingdale Cuts Light Bill In Half

The borough of Collingdale, PA is expecting to cut its lighting bill in half by retrofitting existing fixtures in municipal buildings with energy-efficient LED lighting. Collingdale will retrofit interior lighting fixtures in the the borough's police station, library and school with LED light fixtures from Stouch Lighting, the Aston Pa lighting distributor. Stouch will retrofit T-12 fixtures that use 4 lights with T-8 fixtures using only 2 lights. The lighting retrofit will improve light quality in the buildings while greatly reducing energy caosts and maintenance costs. The project was funded by an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block grant through the American Recovery Reinvestment Act.

Casino Switches Exterior Lights To LED's

All the glitz without the waste. That's what you can expect when you drive up to the Ameristar Casino Resort Spa in St. Charles, MO. Ameristar recently replaced over 60 Post Top Lights and better then 6,000 S14 lamps with energy efficient LED lights. The company replaced 175 watt Post Top lamps with 35 watt LED lamps and 11 watt incandescent S14 lamps were replaced with 2 watt LED lights. Although upfront costs were higher, the casino expects to see a quick return on it's investment due to energy savings and reduced maintenance costs. The new lights are expected to last 50,000 hours and come with a 3 year warranty.

Lease To Own LED Lighting

In early August, Lunera Capital Plus SM, the financing branch of Lunera Lighting, Inc. LCP announced the Lunera® Capital Lease, a five-year capital lease with fixed monthly payments, no money down and no application fee. With the Lunera Capital Lease, the lights belongs to the lessee and are listed on the
lessee’s balance sheet as an asset. The lessee reaps the benefits of depreciation and interest, owning the lights after making the final payment. This gives you the full benefit of all accelerated tax depreciation and other tax benefits associated with the purchase of equipment for your business. With this lease you eliminate upfront cost of lighting improvements, lower operating expenses and realize savings in the first year. After upgrading, your building will immediately realize lower operating cost while attracting and retaining valuable tenants. This is a great way for building owners to reap the tremendous energy savings associated with LED lighting without the substantial initial costs.

Solar-Powered LED Runway Lights

The Canadian Government's Innovative Clean Energy Fund is bringing solar LED airfield lights to the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation of Victoria, British Columbia. The new LED lights will illuminate the runway edge and threshold along a 4500ft runway used to move supplies, groceries, and community members to nearby towns. The new runway lights will also allow for night time medical evacuations. The nearest hospital is 5 hours away  over ruged logging roads. Before now, critically injured patients would have to wait until morning before medevac crews could arrive. The solar LED airfield lights now provide the Community and neighbouring communities of Williston Reservoir a safe runway after dusk. "It was a fast and simple solution for something that will greatly benefit the safety of the community and pilots." says Tsay Keh Dene Chief Dennis Izony. Tsay Keh Dene Nation member, Stacey Pierre, advises others communities considering deploying solar-powered airfield lights for their remote runways: "If you're in a remote community, we would highly encourage it - for the safety of the community." 

LED Traffic Lights Saving Lives, Money

This story out of Massillon, OH tells about how new LED traffic lights being installed in Western Stark County will save energy while reducing accidents. The new signals feature black back plates outlined with reflective yellow tape and brighter, more energy efficient LED lights. The new design is said to increase visibility of the signals especially at night and during bad weather. The 17 watt LED bulbs in the signals are brighter then the older 135 watt incandescent bulbs they replace and are expected to last many times longer. Older incanescent traffic signal bulbs last around a year. The new LED bulbs will last 7 to 10 years. One local resident left a comment about LED streetlights, "I nearly ran a red light when I was unable to decide what light was lit. We have the LED signals in our area. Perhaps I am spoiled." Read the entire story at www.indionline.com.
See what a difference underwater LED lights can make at your waterfront home or business.

LED Streetlights Save Money And Lives

What an improvement LED streetlights make when compared to high pressure sodium streetlights. Huge energy savings and greatly reduced carbon emissions are often sited as the main reasons businesses and governments choose to install LED streetlights. To me, two other equally important reasons are an elimination of maintenance costs and vastly superior light quality.

This story from the www.thisisbath.co.uk website tells about how the Bath & North East Somerset Council in the U.K. is testing 71 LED streetlights on a local highway. The lights are expected to save taxpayers £4,500 per year in lighting costs and reduce carbon emissions by 25 ton a year. What I am most impressed with though is the 60,000 hour expected lifespan and daylight quality of the lights. If the lights are operated for an average of 10 hours per night, the LED streetlights will last over 16 years with no maintenance! "The lights have a lifespan of around 60,000 hours meaning that maintenance costs and the time that lighting replacement crews spend on the highway are both reduced." said Bath & North East Somerset Service Manager for Highways and Parking Kelvin Packer.

To get an idea of how much better the light quality is with LED streetlights, take a look at the before and after pictures below. The first picture is the roadway illuminated by the old streetlights. It is hard to distinguish colors making everything look yellow and dark with a lack of contrast.

The second picture is the same stretch of highway after the LED streetlights were installed. The colors are restored giving the highway a brighter and safer appearance.

The benefits of LED streetlights are obvious. Greatly reduced energy costs, reduced carbon emissions, reduced maintenance costs and daylight quality light. As budgets continue to shrink and energy costs continue to rise they will become very popular with governments around the globe. LED streetlights will replace older, less efficient forms of streetlights reducing lighting and maintenance costs to taxpayers, eliminating tons of harmful carbon emissions and improving visibility ad safety for drivers.

Waterfront property owners can reduce outdoor lighting costs and improve safety around there docks by installing underwater LED lights. Underwater LED lights not only improve visibility when docking your boat at night, they improve visibility on your dock, beautify your waterfront and draw fish to your dock.

Switch To LED's "Obvious"

Safe Haven Self Storage of Elmsford, NY is converting existing lighting at it's 70,000-square-foot Mount Kisco facility to energy-efficient LED lighting. After receiving the results from an energy audit for the facility, "the decision to proceed with the conversion was obvious,” said Kristian Pariseau, director of operations for Safe Haven. Xeleum Lighting LLC of Mt. Kisco, NY will be performing the conversion using there line of direct replacement products for incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lights. "numerous other commercial and industrial heavy electricity users, is undertaking this conversion because the energy cost to operate LED lighting is far less than that of conventional lighting,” says Mehrdad Ghalebi, President of Xeleum Lighting. “Our LED lighting investment is repaid in energy savings in less than two years" says Pariseau. "thereafter, the cost for lighting on our monthly electric bill is reduced by over 80 percent.” Reduced maintenance costs will further increase the savings Safe Haven Self Storage will see. Even lights that are left on 24 hours a day 365 days a year should last 5.5 years. In that time Safe Haven will not need to replace any bulbs or ballast, nor will they have to pay maintenance employees to maintain the lights. You can reap similar savings for your waterfront marina, restaurant or hotel by installing underwater LED dock lights. Underwater LED dock lights not only increase security for your guests, they add ambiance to your property that will bring your guests back again and again.

LED's Light National Archives Doorway

The National Archives and Records Administration is replacing two 400w Metal Halide light fixtures that light the Constitution Avenue entrance with 129w LED flood light fixtures from Stouch Lighting of Aston, PA. The entrance leads to the room that once housed some of Americas greatest treasures including the Charters of Freedom, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The location of the light fixtures, in a high archway above the entrance, has always caused major headaches for maintenance crews. The new LED fixtures, with an 80,000 hour lifespan and 7 year warranty, will reduce maintenance costs by eliminating the need to stock replacement bulbs and ballast, eliminate the need to rent specialized equipment to reach the fixtures and reducing the time maintenance crews will have to spend replacing the bulbs and ballast. Switching such hard to reach lights to long lasting, energy efficient LED flood lights will save US taxpayers thousands of dollars over there lifetime. Waterfront restaurant, and hotel owners can also save thousands of dollars on electricity and maintenance costs. Underwater LED dock lights will beautify your docks or seawall while improving safety for your guests. They use a fraction of the power of other light fixtures and require almost no maintenance for the life of the light.

LED Company Moves Jobs Back To US

In a time when many US corporations are trying to reduce costs by moving manufacturing jobs to China, Chattanooga Tennessee LED manufacturer, Global Green Lighting is reversing the trend. The company is closing it's factory in China and moving the jobs back to the US. "We want to set an example. The concept of the big corporations have of using low-wage manufacturing jobs to produce their product, we're going away from that. We're willing to take a hit on our profit margins and bring the jobs home." says Don Lepard, president of Chattanooga based Global Green Lighting. Lepard hopes to eventually hire up to 500 employees in jobs ranging from manufacturing to engineering and project development. Global Green Lighting manufacturers a variety of LED and induction lights for indoor and outdoor use. There lights are not only energy efficient, they us a unique wireless energy management control system that allows the lights to be monitored and controlled from a single remote command center. Now that Global Green's LED lights are going to be made in America they will not only help to improve the environment, they will help to improve there community and the economy. Another American company that makes there underwater LED dock lights in the USA is Shadow-Caster Marine LED's. They are 100% designed and manufactured in central Florida.

Saving Taxpayers Money With LED's

The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma is saving money for taxpayers by switching all of the city's street lights to LED's. The project first started in 2004 and has seen a 70% to 90% savings in electricity costs each year along with reduced maintenance costs. "We're consuming a lot less kilowatt hours and getting a big savings for our taxpaying citizens," says Tulsa Traffic Engineer Mark Brown. The city has replaced more then a thousand traffic lights just this year.

Storage Facility Slashes Lighting Cost

Tempe Storage Company has slashed lighting electricity costs at it's new South McClintock Drive self-storage facility by 87%. The company replaced 215w HPS exterior lights with 26w LED fixtures from Relumination Lighting Solutions. The energy efficient LED's reduce power usage from 8,800 to 1,144 watts per hour while improving ground lighting by 20% on average. The 12-year estimated life span of the lights will also reduced future lighting-related maintenance expenses. Annual electricity savings and reduced maintenance expenses are expected to total nearly $4,000 per year giving the upgrade a full ROI of just 30 months. Tempe Storage Company used utility rebates to pay for 20% of the lighting upgrade and is eligibility for a 100% tax deduction through The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010. Underwater LED dock lights can provide similar savings in lighting electricity costs and maintenance expenses to waterfront restaurants, bars and hotels. They also improve customer satisfaction and loyalty while providing a safer docking environment for float up patrons.
Like this post? Read more about how to save with LED Lighting.

Traverse City Installs 700 LED Lights

Traverse City, Michigan. Traverse City Light & Power is installing 705 street lights, pedestrian lights and building lights. The new LED's are replacing high-pressure sodium and other lights in downtown Traverse City. West Grandview Parkway is getting 342 LED streetlights while the farmers market area and downtown are receiving 313 LED gooseneck walkway lights. Fifty building lights were also installed on several schools in the area. In all, the project cost over $450,000. A Michigan Energy Efficiency Block Grant covered $250,000 of the cost of the lights, TCL&P paid almost $64,000 to cover the rest of the cost of the lights along with spending over $136,000 in instillation costs. The LED's are expected to save 463,618 kilowatt hours of electricity each year which will reduce CO2 output by around 706,000 pounds per year.
You can lower your own energy consumption and help reduce carbon emissions by switching from old, inefficient mercury vapor or HID underwater dock lights to much more efficient underwater LED dock lights.

Tech Lighting Wins Three Lightfair Awards

Chicago based Tech Lighting walked away from the LIGHTFAIR International Innovation Awardsas one of the big winners for 2011 . The LIGHTFAIR International Innovation Awards honors lighting industry innovations for lighting-related products and designs. Each product was judged by a panel of renowned lighting professionals. Tech Lighting's ELEMENT LED Adjustable Downlight won Best In Category for Downlights, Wallwashers and Accent Lights and there IBISS LED Head not only won BEST IN Category for Track, Low-Voltage, Cable and Rail Systems category, it also won this years Design Excellence Award which honors one product for outstanding achievement in design and application. "LED has come a long way in the past several years," says Josh Weiss, General Manager of Tech Lighting. "we have fully embraced what is possible with the latest technology. Instead of simply integrating LED into the form of a traditional head, we celebrated what was possible with LED to create a design that never would have been achievable without the advent of LED." LIGHTFAIR International is the largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference in the United States. Shadow-Caster Underwater Marine Lighting makes there own line of innovative underwater LED lights for boats. There SC line of underwater lights is the brightest, most rugged and most well designed line of underwater marine lights on the market today.

Everbody Wins With Switch To LED's

This story from the Columbia Business Times in Columbia, MO shows how everbody wins when electric companies help local businesses switch to energy efficient LED lighting.
Boone Electric Cooperative of Columbia, MO is offering rebates to there commercial and industrial customers who switch to energy-efficient lighting. The rebate covers 40 percent of the costs of switching to more energy-efficient LED bulbs and fixtures. By making the switch to LED lighting businesses substantially reduce there lighting costs, save even more on air conditioning costs because of the lack of heat put out by LED's compared to halogen lights and save on maintenance costs and the cost of replement bulbs. Local contractors benefit from the program because they are often hired by the companies to replace the lights and fixtures. Even the electric companies benefit. Having there customers switch to more energy efficient lighting reduces the need for them to build more power plants. Waterfront restaurants, bars and hotels can lower there lighting costs and bring more customers to there establishment by installing underwater LED dock lights along there docks and seawall. Give your customers what they really want, great water views, even after the sun goes down!

http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com/11767/2011/05/27/boone%E2%80%99s-energy-rebate-program-a-bright-idea-for-local-businesses/

Michigan LED Manufacturer Expanding

Relume Technologies, the Oxford, MI based manufacturer of outdoor LED lighting products is expanding its workforce by hiring 15 new workers. The company has already doubled it's 2010 sales and expects to quadruple it's sales by years end. "My plan is to employ 400 people in Michigan within the next three years," says Relume CEO Crawford Lipsey. "We're doing projects from California to Washington, D.C.,". Relumes products include LED street lights, parking lot and garage lights, area and post top lights, traffic lights and LED lights for commercial signage and outdoor advertising. Relume products can save energy and lower costs for businesses or municipalities. There highly efficient LED products utilize patented Silver Circuitry™ technology to burn brighter and last longer than competing LED solutions. Heat is the enemy of LEDs and proper thermal management is the key to making LEDs burn brighter and last longer. Outstanding thermal management is also what makes Shadow-Caster underwater LED lights for boats outshine there compotition. Better thermal management makes Shadow-Caster LEDs brighter then any other underwater LED on the market.

City Market Saves More With LED's

City Market, Onion River Co-op, Burlington, Vermont's only downtown grocery store has installed energy efficient LED lighting in its 16,000 sq. ft. community-owned food cooperative. City Market chose Digital Lumen's Intelligent Lighting System to replace the 400 watt metal halide lights throughout the facility and LED track lighting and motion-controlled LED freezer lighting from  ElectraLED. The lighting upgrade is expected to save 100,000 kWh of energy per year. The LED lights will also decrease maintenance costs, improved product presentation and reduce premature aging of meat and produce from UV light and excessive heat for the lights. "The lights have been very well received and the whole store has a whole new dynamic of brightness and colors,” says Brent Demers, Facilities Manager of City Market/Onion River Co-op. Energy efficient LED lighting will save you money on energy costs and maintenance costs. The best places to install LED lighting is in areas that require the lights to be lit for long periods of time such as public buildings, parking lots and <a href="http://underwater-lightsusa.com/underwater-led-dock-lights/" >underwater LED dock lights</a>.

Liberty From High Lighting Costs

The inscription on the Liberty Bell could not be more fitting, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,”. These words, originally meant to declare our country's freedom from a foreign land can now be used to declare our freedom from the high cost of lighting our homes, our streets and our buildings. The National Park Service has taken the first steps in this direction by switching the more then 2700 PAR 38 tungsten lights that had been lighting the Liberty Bell to Par 38 LED lights manufactured by MSi Solid State Lighting of Deerfield Beach, FL.
Since 2003 the Liberty Bell has been housed at the Liberty Bell Center. The glass enclosure allows the bell to be viewed at any time, day or night. This setup makes it easier for visitors to see the worlds most famous bell, but it also means higher electricity costs and more maintenance costs. Before, the tungsten bulbs used to light the bell needed to be replaced every two months. Now, the new PAR 38 LED lamps, shining 24 hours a day, are expected to last 7 years.
LED lighting is becoming the first choice of businesses, governments and homeowners who want to save on lighting costs and reduce maintenance costs. PAR 38 LED lights like the ones used at the Liberty Bell Center can be used in exterior floodlights around homes or businesses. Combine them with underwater LED dock lights as a cost effective way to light marinas and waterfront restaurants.

NRTC To Help Electric Coops Reduce Costs

“Area lighting is a huge expense for rural electric cooperatives, both in terms of energy usage and the resources required to maintain the numerous lamps on any given distribution system,” said NRTC Vice President of Utility Solutions Ed Drew. That is why the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) is teaming with PowerSecure of Wake Forest, NC to provide PowerSecure's energy efficient and low maintenance SecureLite LED area lighting solutions to NRTC members. “SecureLite was designed with electric cooperatives in mind, and it will allow our members to reduce costs, streamline operations and help the environment—all while delivering great quality lighting.”  said Drew. SecureLite can reduce a cooperatives energy usage by 67% compared to HPS area lights and a lifespan three times that of HPS lighting. SecureLite is also Dark Sky compliant and uses dusk-to-dawn control technology to improve efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. "We’re confident that NRTC’s members will benefit from the product’s returns on investment, in terms of energy usage, maintenance costs and quality of light." said PowerSecure CEO Sidney Hinton.
The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) represents the advanced telecommunications and information technology interests of more than 1,500 rural utilities and affiliates in 48 states. Reduce your energy usage and maintenance costs by installing underwater LED dock lights at your waterfront restaurant.
PowerSecure International, Inc. is a leading provider of Energy and Smart Grid Solutions to electric utilities, and their commercial, institutional, and industrial customers.

LED Savings Stack Up For Aluminum Smelter

This story I found on the Sustainable Planet website tells about what I think is one of the best uses of LED lighting I have seen yet. After 42 years in service, the incandescent beacon lights on the chimney stack at Century Aluminum's Hawesville, Kentucky primary smelter were in need of an upgrade. The eight 1,400 watt lights, four on top and four halfway up, and eight 116 watt lights, a quarter way up and three quarters way up, were not only costing the company around $6,000 a year in electricity, maintenance costs were adding another $4,000 a year. Century found a solution to the high costs of operating and maintaining these lights in a pair of LED obstruction lights from Dialight of Suffolk, England. The Dialight L-864 LED beacons use only 20 watts of electricity and will replace the top and middle lights. The remaining lights will be replaced by Dialights L-810 Red RTO steady-burning LED's that use only 6.5 watts. The lights are FAA compliant and have a greater then 10 year life expectancy so not only will Century Aluminum save over 90% on electrical costs, they will save around $40,000 on maintenance over the lights lifetime. I think this is a great example of the potential cost savings of LED lights. Not only do you save lots of money on electricity, your maintenance costs are almost non existant for the life of the lights. Home owners, waterfront resturants and marinas can save on electricty and maintenance costs by installing underwater LED dock lights.

http://www.sustainableplant.com/2011/04/century-aluminum-cuts-maintenance-and-energy-costs-with-led-obstruction-lights/

Chinese Choose US LED's

China is said to be the leader in the development and manufacturing of LED lighting products. In spite of this assertion, one of Chinas largest automotive corporations is turning to an American company to bring LED lights to Eastern China. Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation USA, Inc., one of the top 3 automotive corporations in China engaged in the manufacturing, sales, research and development in passenger cars, commercial vehicles and components has turned to Lighting Science Group of Satellite Beach, Florida  for ultra-efficient, low cost LED infrastructure lights. SAIC-USA will serve as Lighting Science Group's exclusive agent for LED infrastructure products in China. The two companies are exploring the possibility of contracting eligible factories in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces to manufacture and assemble Lighting Science Group's LED infrastructure LED lights destined for Chinese consumption. "We chose Lighting Science Group as a partner because they offer the most advanced and affordable LED lighting products in the world," said Mr. Chen, President of Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation USA, Inc. "Their lighting solutions deliver the best light distribution, excellent color, optimum performance, and are ultra-efficient in meeting our country's energy, environmental and design needs."
I am glad to see LSG and SAIC-USA form this partnership. As long as the products made in the Chinese factories stay in China and Southeast Asia it will bring a much needed income stream to Lighting Science Group while it reduces shipping costs and holds down prices. It is partnerships like this one that will help establish US LED manufacturers as world leaders in LED lighting products. Shadow-Caster Marine LED's is another manufacturer of quality, US made LED lights. There line of underwater LED lights for boats has established them as the top marine LED manufacturer in the world.

Lighting Upgrade Pays For Itself

This story by Liz Shepard of thetimesherald.com tells how Port Huron, Michigan is upgrading all of the cities lights to LED's at no cost to taxpayers. The project is costing Port Huron $6.3 million, but will save $300,000 a year in energy costs along with reduced maintenance costs and replacement costs. "I think every city and county should be doing this," said Bob Clegg, city engineer. "I think this is important because energy is invisible, nobody sees it,". I'm glad to see that cities and towns are discovering the true saving potential of LED lighting. LED lighting does have a big upfront pricetag, but the cost savings pays for the lights in just a few short years. Underwater LED dock lights are the same way. They are more expensive upfront, but the savings in electricity and maintenance costs makes up the difference in price in a few years.

Port Huron Lighting Upgrade

New Streetlights Go 'Off The Grid'

I found this story by Lee Procida on the pressofatlanticcity.com website. Three towns in New Jersy are installing wind and solar powered LED streetlights. Egg Harbor, Sea Isls and Salem will all install hybrid LED streetlights that use a combination of solar pannels and wind turbines to charge the internal batteries that power the lights. Egg Harbor will save $95,00 a yer ain electricity costs by replacing its 568 streetlights, Sea ile will save $120,000 a year by replacing its 638 streetlights. The hybrid streetlights are from Brooklyn-based Lumi SolAir, and will cost $10,000 each. They are projected to last 15 years and should pay for themselves in about 7.5 years.

New Jersy Cities Test Hybrid Streetlights.

Nova Scotia Going To All LED Streetlights

All Nova Scotia Street Lights To Be LED

The province of Nova Scotia in Canada plans to convert every street light to LED's by the year 2016. Around 120,000 street lights will be switched over at a cost of around $100 million. When the project is completed, Nova Scotia will be the first state or province in North America to use only LED streetlights. The province expects to see a 50% savings in street lighting costs when the project is finished. The city of Halifax in Nova Scotia is also planning on installing underwater LED dock lights along its waterfront.
Read more on this story in The Canadian Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g0aB4tc_ZSCLoBiBN0Xrm_UL1Ytg?docId=6601090

Malls Control Costs By Going Green

This well written article by Jennifer Popovec gives suggestions on how retail center owners can greatly reduce operating costs by improving energy management. Miss Popovec gives some key facts about present day energy costs, gives forecasts about future costs and gives suggestions on the best ways owners and managers of retail centers can cut future costs. At the top of this list is reducing lighting costs by switching to LED lighting and using sophisticated lighting control systems. She gives real world examples on ways some retailers are drastically reducing lighting costs and how they did it. I would suggest this article to anyone who owners or manages any kind of commercial building. The facts presented in this article will work for any type of retail, storage or office building. Restaurants and hotels can further reduce lighting costs by switching to energy efficient underwater LED dock lights.

http://retailtrafficmag.com/management/propmgmt/center_owners_energy_management_04142011/

Illuminating The New Lighting Laws

The Energy Independence and Security Act signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007 takes effect January 1, 2012. I have noticed a lot of confusion and misconceptions about the new law on the internet. Many people seem to think the law will ban incandescent bulbs and force them to buy new bulbs that are expensive and inferrior in quality. This story by Mary Beth Breckenridge of The Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, OH does an excelent job of dispeling the myths and giving you the real facts about the new law. I highly recommend you reed it.  

http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/119109624.html

Free Energy Saving Bulbs To NY Businesses

Free Energy Saving Bulbs To NY Businesses

Con Edison has entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Baltimore based Pro EcoSolutions, LLC to give away 100,000 energy saving bulbs to New York City businesses. "This agreement provides us with the incentives to be on the street in New York City, offering FREE energy saving bulbs to businesses." said John Romano, President of Pro EcoSolutions. Pro EcoSolutions will replace existing incandescent bulbs, subsidize the cost of lighting, and administer the installation. The bulb give away will help reducing carbon emissions and energy loads for Con Edison. I think Con Edison should be congratulated for this great program. You might not think an energy company would want to help businesses use less electricity, but it is a lot less expensive then building a new power plant. You can reduce your energy consumption by switching from older underwater lights to energy efficient underwater LED dock lights.

You can read this entire press release at http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/SavWatts-Subsidiary-Pro-EcoSolutions-Signs-Contract-With-Con-Edison-1421176.htm

Color Temperature Changing LED Strips

A San Francisco Bay Area-based LED lighting company, Elemental LED, is now producing a White Balance Strip Light that allows users to choose the exact shade of white balance and brightness of their lights. The LED strip light combines with a White Balance Wall Controller to create the perfect LED lighting scheme. The system lets users choose LED lighting colors between a cool white 8000k and a warm white 2700k. The White Balance Wall Controller lets users easily fade between the different color temperatures. "Like many of our custom, in-house products, the White Balance LED Strip has been designed by Elemental LED for a high color rendering index (CRI) and high efficiency. We designed the controller to mate perfectly with the strip light for smooth fading in different applications," says Joseph Martin, Elemental LED Lead Engineer. Elemental LED is offering the White Balance LED Strip Light, Wall Controller and custom connectors in several discounted kits. To learn more about the White Balance LED Strip Light and Wall Controller visit elemental.com
Here is a way that Grocery Stores are using lights like this one to make there produce look more appealing. LED's Make Food Look Delicious

Software Makes LED's Even More Efficient

Redwood Systems of Fremont , California has introduced an improved version of it's networked LED lighting control software that provides advanced sensing and alerting features. The new features allow facility managers to easily monitor a buildings performance and enhance it's environment. The system is capable of...
Monitor light levels from outside sources and keep internal light levels constant.
Brighten and dim lights as people approach and pass by in areas of the building that are normally unoccupied.
Sense and determine if motion is a person entering an unocupied room or just walking by.
Send alerts on excessive temperatures or unexpected motion in any part of the building.
“This upgrade demonstrates that Redwood Systems continues to innovate in ways that bring tangible benefits for our customers,” said Dave Leonard, CEO of Redwood Systems.

Adaptive exterior lighting dims the lights in parking lots, parking garages and sidewalks at night when there is no one around. You save big on exterior lighting bills.

Vermont Towns Switch To LED's

In an effort to lower energy consumption and reduce light pollution, Green Mountain Power is partnering with Efficiency Vermont to help every town in GMP service territory change over to energy efficient LED street lights. Green Mountain Power expects to replace thousands of mercury vapor and high pressure sodium street lights with new, energy-efficient LED street lights in towns throughout its service territory. LED lights produce a comparable amount of light when compared with existing mercury vapor bulbs with an average 66 percent savings in energy use and have a potential lifespan of up to 25 years, compared to 5-7 years for traditional street light lamps.

'Helping towns across Vermont switch to LED lights is a very important way to reduce Vermont's use of electricity,' said Jay Pilliod, of Efficiency Vermont. 'Towns are eager to participate and benefit from savings on their electric bill.'. 'This program supports our commitment to power that is low cost, low carbon and reliable,' said Mary Powell, president and chief executive officer of Green Mountain Power. 'Reducing energy consumption is an important part of this overall strategy that we have pursued for the past three years.' Towns switching to LED streetlights will reduce light pollution and glare while saving money and electricity. LED's can be precisely aimed to illuminate only the desired areas of streets, walkways and parking lots. Almost no light is reflected into the night sky or neighboring windows.
Save energy when illuminating your waterfront with underwater LED dock lights from Shadow-Caster. Thanks to CSRwire for the information contained in this story.

Cool LED Light Show!

Blue LED lights change to red and yellow, then dim and dance there way across a building in the Warehouse District in downtown Cleveland. The new LED lights on the Bingham Building perform a four minute light show each night at the top of the hour from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.. The lights can perform different programs for holidays and special occasions.
Thanks to Tom Livingston of NewsNet5.com for the original story.

McGill Researches Grow Lights

McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada is working with Les Serres St-Laurent to develop LED lighting technology for commercial greenhouses. There goal is to improve growing efficiency while reducing business operational costs in northern greenhouses. Northern greenhouses around the world do not get enough sunlight in the winter and need supplemental lighting to grow plants. The joint research is expected to develop technologies that will enable northern greenhouse growers to become more profitable and competitive. The Canadian Government and GE Canada have each invested $1.3 million for the research project.

Mark Lefsrud, an assistant professor in McGill’s department of Bioresource Engineering, will conduct research on the specific light wavelength plants require for optimum growth. LED lights emit specific colours or wavelengths of light, this reasearch hopes to find the right wavelengths to optimize plant growth. “We’re trying to determine which wavelengths are the best, or what colours are the best to allow our plants to grow. Our goal is to determine what wavelengths and what ratios of colour ranges work best.” says Lefsrud. Lefsrud expects a 25% to 40% energy savings for greenhouses with 50% a possible as LEDs continue to improve. The long-term goal is to allow northern greenhouses to one day grow just about anything under LED lights.

Amerlux Introduces 10 Year Warranty

In a bold move that demonstrates the company’s confidence in its products and its long-term commitment to its products and customers, Amerlux Lighting Solutions has announced a brand new 10-year warranty that applies to the company’s LED lighting fixtures. Amerlux is offering this extensive warranties because of it's ongoing commitment to manufacturing using only the highest quality, best performing LEDs and drivers. The company is also dedicated to superior thermal design and quality control.Underwater Dock Lights

“At Amerlux we have stood behind all of our product lines from the very beginning,” noted Frank Diassi, Amerlux chairman and founder. “Our new 10-year warranty adds exciting new levels of value and assurance for our lighting customers in every category.” says Chuck Campagna, president and CEO. "we have the experience and expertise to stand confidently behind our products, We consistently seek to achieve not only the highest levels of technical achievement, but also the finest in customer service. This new warranty offers a way to help our clients to experience both.”

LED's Chill US Cold Storage Energy Costs

LED's Chill US Cold Storage Energy Costs

Refrigerated storage and distribution services company, United States Cold Storage, Inc. will save 541,000 kWh Per Year with an LED lighting retrofit at their Tracy, CA, cold storage distribution center. USCS retain an energy audit by SmartWatt Energy, Inc. that recommended replacing all of the lighting in their cold storage room with new, energy efficient LED lighting from Albeo Technologies, Inc. The new Albeo LED lighting, installed by SmartWatt, will not only save USCS substantial amounts of electricity per year, the project came with a utility incentive from PG&E of $69,222 & an EPAct 2005 tax deduction of $117,619.

“As part of our company-wide sustainability program, we conducted an IRR analysis of various supply side energy savings options—wind, solar, etc.—and none of them made financial sense. The paybacks were just too long,” said Danny Dietrich, Project Engineer for USCS. “After SmartWatt proposed their value engineered LED lighting retrofit using top of the line Albeo fixtures, we knew we’d found the right project—the IRR was 35.2% and it’ll pay for itself in just 1.6 years.”

SmartWatt Energy, Inc. is a leading nationwide provider of turnkey energy efficiency solutions. We are dedicated to lowering business’ operational costs through demand-side energy reduction strategies. Albeo Technologies, Inc. manufactures high quality, long-lasting LED lighting products for commercial and industrial facilities.

Dallas Reduces Energy Costs By 60%

The City of Dallas is leading the green initiative in Texas  by converting five downtown parking garages to energy efficient LED lighting. They are setting the standard for energy efficient lighting technology that reduces energy consumption and operating costs. The City expects a 60% reduction in annual energy use and expects to substantially  reduce maintenance costs over the lifetime of the fixtures. Lumetech Group, a leading provider of commercial LED lighting solutions, and Lighting Science Group, a leading American maker of LED lighting, are installing Lighting Science Group’s long-lasting and ultra-efficient Flat LowBay LED fixtures in garages at Dallas City Hall, Dallas Public Library, the Jack Evans Police Building, the freight terminal beneath Thanksgiving Square and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

“The City of Dallas is committed to acting in the best interests of its taxpayers and to improve the efficiency in which it operates." said Ron Natinsky, Dallas Council Member. "I hope that our actions compel the leadership of other cities and private sectors to follow suit,”

Save big on your energy costs by installing underwater LED lights on your dock, seawall or pier.

Better Lighting For 90% Less Energy

Americold an Atlanta, GA based provider of temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics to the food industry that owns and operates over 182 temperature-controlled warehouses around the world, has teamed with Groom Energy and Digital Lumens to install Digital Lumens’ Intelligent LED Lighting Systems at Americold facilities located in Massachusetts, Utah and Wisconsin. The new upgrades produce higher quality lighting and reduce overall energy consumption up to 90 percent or 2.3 million kilowatt hours (kWhs) annually. Over the coming months, Groom Energy and Americold are scheduled to upgrade facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois and Texas. The projects will reduce an additional 3.3 million kWhs and 3.25 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

Groom Energy developed customized configurations for each location, managing all installation, system commissioning and training. The design delivers lighting “on demand,” producing evenly distributed high light levels when operators are nearby, then automatically dims to “nightlight” levels after operators have exited the area. The mesh networked lighting system continuously tracks and reports energy consumption and savings. “Americold’s feedback during the development process was invaluable to our successful product design. In addition to broad improvements in light quality and energy efficiency, Americold is also leveraging LightRules management software for a detailed view into the facilities’ operational performance and to measure progress toward company-wide sustainability objectives.” said Tom Pincince, president and CEO of Digital Lumens.

Our teams are very pleased with the increased light levels, functionality and the significant energy savings,” said Americold’s Vice President of Engineering, Fred Walker. “From the earliest days of the project, Groom Energy has been working with Americold to design the most effective and efficient lighting system for their facilities, we have been able to provide measurable savings and exceed corporate objectives for light quantity, quality, safety and the overall functionality.”said Bob Kirby, executive vice president and co-founder of Groom Energy Solutions.

Learn how to save even more on your lighting costs with Adaptive Exterior Lighting.

University Of Miami Evaluates LED's

The University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida is working to create a "greener" campus by evaluating LED lighting and other energy efficient products for both interior and exterior applications. The U of M has installed 20 LEDway, BetaLED™ fixtures to illuminate walkways on the main campus and is evaluating LED lighting for interior applications such as conference rooms, hallways and classrooms. Initial installations used for lighting conference rooms and hallways is saving as much as 70 percent on energy costs. The university will use these instalations to evaluate the performance of the LED lighting and other sustainable technologies for future use.

BetaLED, a division of U.S.-based Ruud Lighting Inc., provides the lighting market with high-quality, specification-grade LED luminaires for interior and exterior applications.

Redbird LED's Receive ETL Listing Mark

Atlanta, GA based Redbird LED, has received the ETL Listing Mark for their Cardinal™ brand family of LED linear lighting for commercial buildings. These lights have an internal power supply that allows retrofits of existing fluorescent light tubes. Because Cardinal™ linear lights use the same shape and form factor as fluorescent bulbs old fixtures can converted to LED by simply bypassing the ballast and installing Redbird LED linear lights.
The ETL Mark is a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) certified by OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to test products to the specifications of applicable product safety standards. "We are thrilled that Intertek has tested and certified our LED linear lighting products,” said Jonathan Eppstein, President of Redbird LED."This is an important step in our growth to become a leading provider of value priced high performance LED lighting.”

Visit Underwater-Lights USA to learn how underwater LED lights can save you on your waterfront lighting needs.

Cree XLamps Now In Warm/ Neutral White

Cree, Inc. of DURHAM, N.C., now has XLamp XM-L LEDs available in neutral- and warm-white color temperatures (2600-K to 5000-K CCT). In warm-white (3000-K), XLamp XM-L LEDs provide up to 117 lumens per watt at 350 mA and 108 lumens per watt at 700 mA. The neutral-white (4000-K) XM-L LEDs provide up to 138 lumens per watt at 350 mA, 128 lumens per watt at 700 mA and 84 lumens per watt when driven at 3.0 A.
Unlike competing LED's that use large-footprint packages and diffuse optical sources to deliver hundreds of lumens, XM-L LEDs use a compact footprint and small optical source size allowing manufacturers to control light output and place light exactly where it is required. “Cree is the only LED manufacturer currently delivering production volumes of warm- and neutral-white LEDs at these performance levels,” said Paul Thieken, Cree, director of marketing.
Shadow-Caster Underwater LED Dock Lights

Tech Lighting Wins NGL Award

Tech Lighting, of Chicago, IL captured a winning spot in the accent track lighting category of the third annual Next Generation Luminaires™ (NGL) Solid-State Lighting Design Competition. "With 328 products submitted and 138 products qualified based on documentation, it's an honor to be one of four winners in the accent lighting category," said Joshua Weiss, Vice President of Product Development for Tech Lighting.

NGL judges noted the color quality, adjustability and overall design of the LED head.At 18 watts and 810 net lumens, the head offers a high level of performance. The power supply and heat sink fins all sit within the head resulting in a clean, thoughtful and seamless design. 

The NGL competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers. It helps promote excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED luminaires for general illumination in commercial lighting applications and make it easier for lighting designers and specifiers to find LED lighting products that are worthy of specification.  Competition judges evaluate products based on a number of factors relating to suitability and quality, as well as energy-efficiency.

You can find amazing deals on Underwater LED Lights at Underwater-Lights USA.

LSG / LPI Team Up To Chase L Prize

Lighting Science Group and Light Prescriptions Innovators have teamed up to develop a highly efficient, high output and low cost 60-watt replacement LED bulb, that they will enter to win the the U.S. Department of Energy's prestigious L Prize competition.

The L Prize, or Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize, was established by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 as a way to promote the development of a highly efficient, high quality LED replacements for the traditional 60-watt light bulb. To be considered for the L Prize a light bulb must work in current sockets, get six times the energy efficiency of an incandescent build (measured in lumen's of light per watt of electricity used), while meeting other high standards for color rendering, life, quality, cost and availability.

"We are confident that our LED bulb developed in partnership with LPI meets or exceeds all of the criteria for the L Prize, making it a strong contender to win the competition, but we also believe that developing this product will further accelerate the transformation of the lighting industry to highly efficient LED technology." said Fred Maxik, founder and chief technology officer of Lighting Science Group. "This LED bulb will help accelerate America's shift away from inefficient, dated lighting products to innovative, high-performance products," said Roberto Alvarez, chief executive officer and president of LPI.

This Story Brought To You Courtesy Of Underwater-Lights USA, Underwater LED Dock Lights