“LEDs represent perhaps the most significant breakthrough of the last 130 years in lighting technology.” – Eric Bloom

Pike Research forecasts LED lighting will capture 52% of the Commercial Building Market by 2021 as the price of light-emitting diodes continues to decline. Furthermore, they expect the lighting industry to see more change in the next five years than in the previous 50, comparing the rise of LED popularity to the commercialization of the fluorescent lamp in the 1930s.

Currently, the market share for LEDs is quite low due to higher initial costs and a longer payback period. However, Pike anticipates the cost of LED solid state lighting products will be reduced by 80-90% over the next decade, making LEDs a more viable option for typical commercial applications.

Market share for LEDs will come at the expense of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), ...

Inefficient windows are responsible for thousands of dollars in energy loss for both residential and commercial property owners. But new smart glass technology could allow windows to control sunlight and heat, drastically reducing energy costs across the country. Imagine this: you wake up in the dark hours of an early winter morning, but instead of flipping on the lights, you flip a switch that sends a tiny electric current through the electrochromatic glass of your windows. The windows instantly turn from dark to transparent, allowing the warmth and natural light of the sun to flood your home. Now imagine this: you’re the office manager of a company in scorching hot Phoenix, Arizona. Instead of cranking up the air conditioning when the sun warms the windows of your office to over 100 degrees, ...

LED lights, or light emitting diodes, are increasingly more common in newly manufactured devices. A beneficial addition to solid-state lighting, LEDs provide long-life lighting technology in applications such as safety street lighting, vehicles, medical devices and garden lighting. With a brighter output, longer life, lower consumption of power and little to no required maintenance, LEDs are a much-improved lighting option over incandescent bulbs. Why hybrid capacitors? LEDs have bright output with low input power, which is only improved with the use of hybrid capacitors. A combination of an ultracapacitor and a lithium-ion battery, hybrid capacitors are an ideal choice to power LEDs. Because of the low energy and power of LEDs, hybrid capacitors are a longer-term energy source than alternative energy storage solutions on the market. With an energy density up to 115 percent higher than standard electric double-layer ...

Last week, we looked at how the energy efficiency industry is working on its cool factor (Dare I say sex appeal?), to make clean energy more accessible to the masses. Perhaps a bikini charger doesn’t make much difference when the grid is under great strain as it was this summer; but it does get people thinking about alternatives that could lead to – or add up to – more important changes. Time to shed some light on lighting. An energy efficient approach to lighting has gained traction in the commercial world – with wireless controls, dimmers and a clear ROI for building owners. But so far, consumer touch points have largely revolved around bulb efficiency standards – which are dull, governmental and even intrusive. There are very cool things on the horizon, like Professor Haas’ LED-light-based data transmission, which ...

By Harvey Wilkinson, VP of marketing and product development at Ioxus, Inc.

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) provide long-life lighting technology that powers flashlights, street signs and medical devices. LEDs have bright output with low input power, making them much more energy efficient than their incandescent predecessors. Hybrid capacitors, a combination of an ultracapacitor and a lithium-ion battery, are an ideal choice for LEDs because the low energy and power of LEDs allows hybrid capacitors to be a longer term energy source than alternative energy storage solutions on the market. Other benefits of LEDs to lighting include little to no required maintenance.

Hybrid capacitors offer an enhanced capability of energy storage in LEDs because they have an energy density up to 115 percent higher than standard electric double-layer capacitors (ELDCs). This allows for faster and more efficient power to applications ...

Photo: Michael Graham Richard LED Guts I've been writing a lot bout LED lights lately, and I'm not about to stop because this technology is definitely on its way up and should eventually provide most of the electric light ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Michael Graham Richard Nothing Will Stand in the Way of LEDs Taking Over The latest generation of LED light bulbs have proven (see my reviews of GE, Philips, and Qnuru LED bulbs) that they have what it takes when it comes to light quality, but before they can... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Images via GE The dreary and dreadfully ugly fluorescent tubes that line hallways and light offices could be on their way out the door with GE's more energy efficient and (equally important) prettier LED lighting. The company is showing off their new ideas for overhead lighting that may soon take over for fluorescent bulbs.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

I have to agree with the Tea Party; the US government should not choose the light bulbs I use in my home. And fortunately, it does not. Yet that’s the spin being pushed by those who want to roll back federal lighting performance standards. An odd mythology is developing around the standards. Opponents claim that the standards amount to government picking and choosing winners and forcing them upon us. More specifically, they say that the feds have banned the incandescent light bulb, which has been around since Thomas Edison’s time. This is not true; the incandescent light bulb is not being banned; the standards are agnostic about technology type as long as they perform as required. The 2007 law is meant to act as a market mechanism that encourages innovation. With a benchmark to work towards, scientists, engineers and ...

While the legislation to phase out incandescent bulbs has grabbed headlines and opinions over the past few weeks, there are other lighting changes flying under the radar that will affect thousands of businesses across the country. As part of the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007, most inefficient T12 fluorescent lighting will be phased out, starting July 2012. This could have a significant impact on businesses across the country. In fact, the National Lighting Bureau (NLB) estimates there are as many as 500 million T12s still in place. What does all of this mean? Well, if your office or facility hasn’t had a lighting update in the past 15 or more years, chances are you’ve got T12 fluorescent bulbs (T12 bulbs 12/8ths of an inch in diameter). Unfortunately, maintaining an inefficient T12 fluorescent lighting system after the 2012 ...