Just like flowers blooming in the sun, new solar-powered, sustainable LED street lamps designed by Philips soak up the sun’s rays during the day, and then use the accumulated energy to shine much-needed light at night. This ingenious design mimics that of real flowers; the lights’ photovoltaic petals (each light is comprised of five solar panels in the shape of petals) fall open during the day to collect as much sun as possible. At night, they close, and LED lights embedded in the petals shine outward onto the city streets. But that’s not all! The lights also come with motion sensors, which are able to detect human activity on the street below. When no one is around, the lights shut off, thereby conserving energy. Philips calls this feature “proximity sensing.” Another great feature of these sustainable lights is that whatever energy they don’t consume over the course of an evening, they give back to the power grid to be used elsewhere, ensuring nothing gets wasted. Keep in mind that LED lights are a pivotal component to the energy-saving qualities of this design. Because LEDs are so energy efficient, they are easily powered by the solar energy gathered by the lights over the course of a day. Incandescent bulbs would not be able to work unless at least ten times as much energy was gathered. Philips is unclear about which cities, if any, are using these lights yet, but I’m exciting for the day when I’m walking down the street, and look up to see that LED lights in the shape of giant flowers are lighting my way.
Monthly Archive for February, 2010
Two Naval bases in California are receiving a complete lighting overhaul, leading to what some are calling “the largest lighting retrofit in Naval history.” The Naval bases ofPort Hueneme and Point Mogu in Ventura County are set to replace more than 1,000 street lights, area lights and parking lot lights with LED lights, according to The Environmental Leader. The goals of the retrofit are to reduce energy and maintenance costs and the overall carbon footprint of the bases. The LED lights being installed are expected to reduce exterior lighting costs by 60 percent, and increase the life of the lamps by three times. Naval Base Ventura County Energy Manager, Tom Santoianni, is quoted as saying, “The entire project at the two bases will reduce our energy consumption by 317,445 KwH (Kilowatt Hours) which translates into a reduction of 228 metric tons of CO2 emissions* and will cut our annual utility bill by $45,500, based on the average Ventura County, CA utility rate of $0.14.KwH. This helps us to set the environmental standard for US Naval Bases.”
Switching to LED lights is not the only thing the Naxvy is doing to maximize its sutainability, though the lighting is helping enorlously. A 2009 study showed that the Navy could save 87 percent of the electricity used on existing shipboard lighting systems by converting to LED and HID lighting systems. Furthermore, the Navy announced last year that it would install solar energy systems at its US bases, and signed a $100 million contract to do so.
It’s big changes like these that are most encouraging for both the LED lighting industry as well as for the environment. If a US government organization like the Navy recognizes not only the need to reduce carbon emissions, but also the fact that switching to LEDs is a vital step in doing so, perhaps it’s easier to see how we can all make similar changes in our individuals daily lives. If you think it’s time you retrofitted your house, for instance, why not start with our line of LED retrofitting products? There’s something for almost any application, and they’re the perfect tool for making the switch from energy consumer to energy saver!
Going to the supermarket can be a bit of a headache, especially for constantly busy Americans. It’s not cool, then, when the lighting in the freezer section of your supermarket makes that headache worse with its unappealing florescent glow. Luckily, more and more supermarkets are making the switch to LED lighting in their frozen aisles, thanks to a recent study put about by the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The study found that shoppers overwhelmingly prefer LED lighting inside supermarket freezer cases, stating that it helps to make the merchandise more appealing, is easier on their eyes, and provides brighter, more even illumination. More than 300 shoppers were interviewed about their preferences while viewing two test freezers, one using LED lights, and the other using florescent bulbs. (See picture above, with LED freezer on the right!) When the illumination levels in the freezers were the same, more than 86 percent of shoppers selected the LED freezer as their top preference. A second survey was conducted after dimming the light level in the LED freezer, while leaving the florescent freezer at full capacity. Even after dimming, 68 percent of shoppers favored the lighting in the LED freezer.
It turns out that while fluorescent lamps may be an efficient source of lighting, they are not well suited for cold environments. Low temperatures cause the mercury vapor pressure inside fluorescent fixtures to drop, which can lead to a 25 percent reduction in light emission. LEDs, on the other hand, function at 100 percent capacity in cold temperatures. Furthermore, the flexible and lightweight nature of LEDs allow them to be installed in all sorts of tight spaces that florescent lights have never been able to reach, which results in a more effective lighting scheme overall for the frozen food section. Just imagine all of the tight spaces you could fit flexible LED strip lighting! And, LEDs last longer than florescent lights as well, which means reduced maintenance costs for supermarkets.
It’s just another way LEDs are making life a little easier…the next time you’re doing your weekly shopping, keep your eye out for LED lights! And if you don’t spot any, tell the store manager you’d like to see them installed; my guess is: he’ll thank you!
I hate to rub it in, but I had a fantastic Valentine’s Day weekend. I know it’s easy to hate Valentine’s day, seeing how it’s a Hallmark holiday and all that, but it’s also easy to love it–what’s not to like about chocolate and kissing, two major V-day cornerstones? This year was great because my honey came to visit me, and we got to participate in LA’s biggest V-day event, Lucent L’amour. Besides the great music lineup, there was also some truly awe-inspiring art at this event, some of which incorporated full color LED lights!
Take a look, for instance at the illuminated sculpture by Sean Sobczak, also called “Sandman Creations.” Several of these brilliant and beautiful pieces were arranged just inside the entrance to the indoor venue at Lucent L’amour, and they were breathtaking! The light embedded within each sculpture created lines and shadows that seemed to undulate as if the sculptures really were the underwater creatures they were made to represent. As you can imagine, without LED technology, sculptures like these would not be possible. What other type of light fixture can you bend and twist and manipulate to get any shape imaginable? What other light fixtures provide such a mesmerizing and limitless color scheme? What other form of lighting stays cool enough to handle for hours, no matter what the creative process throws at you?
While we here at Elemental don’t sell any of the “el wire” that Sean uses in his sculptures, we do have tons of flexible RGB LED strip lighting in a full array of colors. So if you’re itching to make your own illuminated sculpture, you know just where to go to make it happen! In fact, what a great idea for next year’s Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetie! Nothing says “I love you” like something you made yourself!
If you talk to anyone who watched the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Games on February 12th, you will most likely be talking to an awe-struck person. Literally everyone I talked to who watched the ceremony was in practical convulsions over how amazing the production and performances were, and was equally disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to watch them. See, it tured out that on the night of the 12th, I was busy preparing for another event, which I’ll blog about next time. Suffice to say, I was bummed that I missed getting to see the opening ceremonies. I decided to look up some pictures of them online to see what I missed. What a show! Even looking at still pictures was enough to tell me that this ceremony was truly spectacular. And, I was pleased, and shall I say, not too surprised to see that LED lights were an important part of what made it so special. Take k.d. Lang’s performance of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah,” for instance. I watched it on YouTube, and got chills–her voice was pure perfection. But did you notice all of the candles the audience members were waving in the background? Those weren’t candles at all, actually, they were energy efficient, fire-safe LED flashlights!
And if you saw the segment called “Peaks of Endeavor,” you would have noticed red-and-white-clad skaters, skiers and snowboarders sporting LED lights on their costumes suspended from the ceiling while images of Olympic events were projected on a replica of the Rocky Mountains.
Also, there was a 20-meter spirit bear puppet that was completely covered in LED lights, which represented the cultural heritage of the early Canadian peoples; what a dazzling effect! The Olympic Games play an important role in bringing the world together, especially during these tumultuous times. It’s a good feeling to know that LED lights are a part of that unification!
Saint Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia just got a makeover, thanks to Elemental LEDs. When the hospital asked their landscape design company, Oasis Landscaping, to create a permanaent up lighting installation for the front of the building, Oasis owner Edison Adkins immediately called Elemental LED. “I chose Elemental because I was impressed with their knowledge and willingness to help me and work with me a little bit. I’m a landscaper not a lighting expert, I didn’t know what type fixture would do the job but I knew the look the hospital wanted. Elemental was very good at helping me pick what we needed to get the job done. They sent me demos and let me try out the products until we got it exactly right,” says Adkins.
The product Adkins and Saint Mary’s ended up choosing is our LED Par 64 waterproof spotlight - 30 of them in total! The lights, which turn on and off thanks to dusk-to-dawn sensors, shine beautiful columns of blue light all the way up the face of the building, drawing attention to the hospital from near and far. The lights are being used primarily for aesthetics, but Adkins says that once the installation is permanent, the hospital will be able to change the color of the lights, therefore using them to market different occasions. “They can change the color to pink for breast cancer awareness month, or to University’s colors on game day, ” says Adkins.
The lighting installation will be permanent as of May 2010. “The lights are up now, but we just have to go back and anchor everything in,” says Adkins.
For our part here at Elemental, we’re very pleased with the results and had a blast working with both St. Mary’s and Oasis Landscaping. Thanks to everyone involved! Check out Adkins’ landscaping company, Oasis, here on their website!
It’s almost Valentine’s day, and may I suggest that if you don’t have a loved one to squeeze (or even if you do!) on the holiday, then squeeze an LED instead! I just think these squeezable LED lights, designed by Diana Lin, are adorable! They look like some sort of friendly underwater sea creature, especially when they’re all bunched together. The squishables are actually silicone bubbles with an LED light inside. They apparently have the texture and supple quality of a stress relief ball. You can play with them for fun, or you can arrange them in whatever sort of sculptural pattern you like, to create your very own, unique and stylish light fixture. And the best part, apparently when you squeeze the lights, a “whoo!” sound comes out! How cute!
It turns out that this ingenious designer didn’t stop there with her idea, either. Because the silicon creates such a fun tactile experience, Lin then decided to create “Huggables,” which are soft pillows filled with LED lights embedded in silicone bubbles. Here’s what she says about her designs: “When lit with warm, white LED lamps, the technology creates a warm and comforting glow that represents sunlight. The tactile quality of the silicone also mimics the feeling of a living creature, and d°light Huggable almost hugs back as you hold it. Its qualities also absorb body heat, causing it to be warm to the touch. The shape and material of the pillow cover encourages people to touch, hold and bond with d°light Huggable.”
Whether it’s bubbles or pillows, it’s the LEDs in these products that make them possible at all. Without LEDs’ cool temperatures, energy efficiency, and small, lightweight size, innovative products like these would not exist. So if you’ve got no one to love this Valentines day, or no one to hug, at least you’ve got LEDs! They won’t let you down!
LEDs are great for all kinds of applications, and as the technology improves, almost every type of LED light fixture is becoming available, from bulbs to spotlights. Some of the most widely used types of LED lights come in the form of bars and strips; in some ways, these are some of the original LED light fixtures! And since LED light bars and LED strips are both long, skinny versions of LEDS, it might seem hard to know when to use each type of fixture. Here are a few of the differences between these types of fixtures, and the applications that are best for each.
- LED light bars only come in pre-set lengths, while you can purchase LED light strips by the foot, allowing you to buy as much as you need for your project. However, you can link LED light bars together using the “daisy chain” method, up to 5 bars in a circuit.
- LED light bars are housed in sleek fixtures that are pleasing to the eye. LED light strips usually have exposed circuits and wiring, so they are less suitable for visible applications.
- LED strips are flexible, and so can be used in hard to reach and strangely-shaped areas.
- Both fixtures come with a waterproof option, and so can be used outdoors in damp conditions, or in some cases, even in a pool!
- LED Light strips provide a more seamless glow, while LED light bars provide directional lighting that sometimes can have dark spots between each light. Both types of lighting are attractive and functional, depending on the application.
- Both LED Light Bars and LED strips are good for directional and under cabinet applications, to light things like counters, stairs, the tops of shelves, bookcases, coves etc.
- Both LED light bars and LED strips are easy to install. The Light strips require and LED driver, which are low voltage, easy to use and don’t require any changes to your current wiring. LED light bars require certain accessories that are equally easy to use, like extension cables and splitters.
If you have further questions about uses for both of these extremely practical and beautiful lighting options, feel free to contact us directly!
Okay, so I don’t know that much about football, and don’t really care either. But I did somehow get roped into watching the Superbowl yesterday, and I have to admit that I kinda had a good time. I mean, how can you not feel a twinge of happiness that that Saint’s won? That city deserves a victory, don’t you think? And didn’t you see that cute quarterback crying and holding his baby son at the end? It was better than a Hollywood box-office hit! Talk about a tear-jerker!
But I have to say, out of the whole event, my favorite parte had to be the halftime show. I mean, they really pulled out all the stops. I know that The Who are getting old and everything, but they still held it together enough to sing a few of the hits. Nice work boys. One thing I think they had going for them was the lighting on that stage! To quote The Palm Beach Post: “A circular space ship of a stage 50 yards wide, flashing and bursting with multicolored LED lights, lit up a darkened Sun Life Stadium as The Who matched the electricity of Super Bowl XLIV.” And how true! That stage was lit up in such intricate detail at times, I wished I was in the stadium experiencing it firsthand. The lights on stage coordinated with a laser show that was going on throughout the venue, which gave the entire show a larger-than-life feeling–every fan and player was surrounded by lights for the majority of the halftime show! And of course, not to point out the obvious, but we couldn’t have had any of it without the cutting-edge technology behind LED lights. One thing’s for sure: without LEDs we would not have been treated to such spectacular and visually stunning show, and who knows, I may have written off the Superbowl for good.!
What we can we say; we here at Elemental have pretty amazing friends. Some in particular are the people behind Laguna Beach, CA-based industrial design and lighting manufacturing firm, The Cerno Group. The company’s three founders (one of whom attended the University of Colorado with Elemental LED founder, Max Darling), have developed a well-rounded design company that emphasizes cutting edge technology and the creation of aesthetically pleasing, functionally efficient and structurally perfect furniture and lighting products.
And speaking of Cerno’s products, we are particularly fond of its concrete desk lamp because it features, as you might have guessed, LED lights! The modern lines of this lamp are sleek enough to mesh with almost any home or office design scheme, and with 400 lumens of output, 12 watts of energy use and over 50,000 hours of life, it’s not only a beautiful lighting option, but a smart one as well.
And even as lighting nerds, we can appreciate non-lighting products as well. I’m totally crazy about Cerno’s line of Baltic Birch furniture, for example. The design of this Lentus chair is timeless, yet inventive at the same time. While it looks comfortable enough to sit in, its beautiful sculptural quality could make it the centerpiece of any room! And I love the futuristic appeal of the X-Grow coffee table…what a gorgeous design!
Besides Cerno’s products, the company also specializes in creative solution development in the areas of industrial design, environmental design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and product development and branding. It seems no matter what your needs or specifications, Cerno can find a way to give you what you’re looking for…maybe it’s time you got to know Cerno!