Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu are leading by example. On Monday, they flipped the switch on the LED light fixtures recently installed on the National Mall. Filled with over 30 important historical landmarks, museums and memorials this national park sees around 24 million visitors per year and uses more energy than all of the other 396 national parks. Or, I should say, it used to use more energy than all of the other national parks. Now, thanks to an LED lighting retrofit sponsored by Osram Sylvania and Pepco, the National Mall will use 65 percent less energy and greatly reduce maintenance costs, since the LED light bulbs will not have to be replaced for 25 years.

Though the Energy Independence Act, which required that retailers begin to phase out energy inefficient incandescent bulbs in January 2012, lost a little steam recently, it’s still technically the law. So it’s good to see the leaders of our country leading by example and making changes that are aligned with these regulations. Changes like these will end up saving us all money, and help to save the planet, too.

Thanks to Earth 911 for the image.

If you watched the Super Bowl yesterday, you probably saw Madonna take center stage at half time, along with some other big names, like Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., LMFAO and Cee-Lo Green. And you most likely also noticed that a large portion of that star-studded stage was comprised of color-changing LED light panels. For Madonna’s big entrance, for instance, the stage robotically morphed, flipping several of the panels around to reveal giant illuminated images of Vogue magazine. Sure, Madonna was promoting her song, which she proceeded to lip synch for a few bars, but I’m guessing Vogue also spent a little money to make that display happen. At several points throughout the show, the stage transformed and shifted, displaying new arrangements of LED light fixtures in stunning, saturated colors. Some of the effects reminded me of electronic act Pretty Lights’ stage show. There were even a few elements reminiscent of Amon Tobin’s groundbreaking visual spectacle, which I blogged about earlier this year. As far as I could tell, though, 3D visual mapping was not employed. All in all, the most impressive part of the half time show was the fact that the entire stage was set up and torn down in around 7 minutes. And of course, the interactivity, precision, versatility and beauty of the LED lights was a huge plus. Madonna in an Egyptian headdress, however, I could live without.

Thanks to Bleach Report and Style for the images.

A cozier LED bulb may be available in the near future, thanks to German researchers. Scientists from Dresden University of Technology in Germany are striving to create energy efficient organic LED (OLED) lights that could rival incandescent bulbs in white-light color quality. One of the major complaints consumers report when dealing with LED light bulbs is that they still do not emit that same pleasant, warm color of light that makes incandescent bulbs so popular, despite their energy-guzzling qualities. According to TruthDive, “OLEDs consist of many layers of organic materials with different electrical properties. Excited electrons move through the materials and when the electrons are reunited with positive “holes,” they emit electromagnetic radiation in the form of visible light.” Combining these emitter layers in four separate colors (blue, green, yellow and red) and adjusting the height of the layers makes it possible for the researchers to create light color and quality that was previously unachievable in LED lighting.  The results of this endeavor were published in AIP’s Journal of Applied Physics, which found that the final LED light fixtures cast a color of light that was very near the standard measure of white light reached by some incandescent bulbs. “The OLED also has high colour stability, meaning the light can be dimmed without noticeably altering its quality,” according to TruthDive.

Quotes via TruthDive, image via Housing Construction of India

It’s a well-known truth that we humans love glowing, sparkling things. For proof of that fact, one needs only to note the growing number and popularity of international lights festivals. A few weeks ago I blogged about the Harbin Ice Festival in China, which displays amazing frozen artworks and sculptures illuminated by flexible LED lights. Their beauty was enough to make me want to drop everything and head on over to the other side of the globe to see it for myself.

And now I’m having that same feeling about the 2012 Light Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Not only am I certain that I would enjoy a cornucopia of Belgium’s delicious chocolate and beer, I’m quite convinced I would also be blown away by the LED light installations at this festival—30 of them, to be exact. One in particular seems exceptionally intriguing: a 91-foot tall cathedral made with 55,000 color changing LED lights and constructed by Luminarie De Cagna, an Italian lighting company. The installation pays homage to Luminarie De Cagna’s almost 100 year tradition of illuminating buildings and squares on festive occasions. It began in the 1930s with candles and oil lamps, and continues to this day with waterproof LED lights.

And thanks to efficient LED light technology, the cathedral only uses 20 kilowatts of energy per hour, but can display a whole range of patterns and colors, by employing an RGB controller.

Have any of you ever visited a light festival like this one? We’d love to hear your stories!

Via DVice

Forbes. I’ve always thought of it as a magazine for the rich, by the rich. But in these tough economic times, even the high-flying publication has to come down to earth, reporting on the difficult task American cities are facing when it comes to balancing the budget. Luckily, many of those cities are finding refuge from skyrocketing costs in LED lighting. Forbes writes that when fighting the battle of the budget, “cities have several options, none appealing: raise taxes or fees, cut staff or services, or slash expenses. On this last measure, however, cities across California are realizing that one expense is entirely within their control – their electricity bill.”

Specifically, Forbes lists 10 smart cities in California that have begun saving significant amounts of electricity and money by switching inefficient high-pressure sodium (HPS) or high-intensity discharge streetlights with LED light bulbs. That’s because streetlights equipped with waterproof LED lights consume 50 to 80 percent less electricity than conventional lighting mechanisms, and can eliminate maintenance costs for up to 20 years, according to The Sustainable City Network.

One problem many cities face when considering this model, however, is the upfront expense of installing the LED lights. But it turns out that every city on the Forbes list was able to undertake its LED retrofit project with funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). “The program has provided more than $35 million in direct payments to small California cities and counties to fund energy upgrades. The CEC estimates that every $1 of ARRA dollars invested in public sector building retrofits has returned $3 in additional economic output,” according to Forbes.

To find out if you’re living in one of these 10 smart cities, click here to read the whole Forbes article. And if you find out you’re not, consider writing to your mayor about the possibility of an LED lighting retrofit in your own town. You could end up saving your city—and the jobs that still exist within it.

Image via Wired

A good friend of mine, interior designer Erinn Valencich, recently went to the Maison de Objet (Home and Fashion) show in Paris. (I’m totally not jealous, I promise.) Keep in mind that in her line of work, Erinn is regularly exposed to cutting edge home décor products and trends; she’s a bit of a tastemaker herself, as it turns out. So I found it very interesting that in her recap of the event, one of the first things she mentioned from the show that impressed her was an LED lighting installation by Italian design studio Carnovsky. Called RGB, the installation involves intricately designed images that are layered on top of each other, each one in a different color (red, green and blue).  When viewed in full spectrum lighting, the images appear all at once, overlapping each other and creating an overwhelming spectacle of color and shapes. Then, when color-changing LED lights are used to shine light of just one color onto the installation, each individual drawing is revealed. The wallpaper mutates in the illumination of RGB LED wall washers, allowing the viewer to contemplate the meaning of each image individually.

Sure, the overall effect might be a little too hectic for home installation, but it certainly makes a compelling artistic statement. And it’s all possible thanks to LED light technology.

Thanks to Erinn V for the images.

In a sun-drenched place like Albuquerque, it’s easy to see why homes and businesses would be smart to employ solar powered technology. Sandia Resort and Casino is one company that’s made the switch, and it couldn’t have done so without LED lighting. In 2010 the company initiated a retrofit of its parking garage lighting system, replacing inefficient gas discharge lamps with LED light bars that use 4 times less energy. Sandia’s parking garages are some of the largest in Albuquerque, and so the upgrade represented a major improvement in energy savings for the company, and the city as a whole. To top it off, this year Sandia completed the retrofit by adding custom, solar hybrid panels to 52 of these waterproof LED fixtures. The custom panels fit onto the existing fixtures and allow batteries to charge on sunny New Mexico days, while also allowing for the fixture to switch back over to the regular power grid, should the solar energy battery become depleted. “We’re definitely looking forward to seeing a dramatic energy bill decrease. As far as the light quality, we knew what to expect after seeing the vast improvement in the parking garage, but seeing the same crisp, quality light over a much greater area in the outdoor parking lots left us freshly impressed,” says Paul Collins, Facilities Superintendent, from Sandia.

Thanks to SF Gate for the quote and All American Games for the image.

I knew it was only a matter of time. In a few different blogs over the past year, I’ve covered incredible advances in smart LED bulb technology (the Google smart bulb, and LED light bulbs encoded with WIFI signals, for instance). And now, Net LED Technology Corp, a Japanese LED lighting company, has released the first software and mobile app system that can remotely control LED lighting systems from a smartphone or home computer. This cloud-based lighting system controls 40-watt LED light bars, which come with built in WIFI capabilities and last for up to 40,000 hours. The user can control each LED light bar individually, after installing the NetLED app on a smartphone, computer or tablet. So far, only simple actions for this remote control LED are available, like turning on and off or dimming. However, the user can control lights in different rooms, including multiple sets of lights, and can also track energy usage in real time or over a longer period. The manufacturer claims that using these lights can reduce energy consumption by 50 percent. It’s an exciting development to say the least. Though individual artists and designers have been able to remotely control color changing LED lighting systems via intelligent software for a while, this is the first time that a complete system has been available to the public for home or commercial use. The NetLED system will go on sale in Japan on February 20.

Thanks to TechCrunch for the images

 

The Super Bowl is looming (February 5^th, 2012), and no matter which team you’re rooting for (or even if you’re not rooting at all), you may want to keep an eye out for an Audi advertisement that will air during the game’s first quarter. The 60-second spot will unveil the 2013 Audi S7, but more importantly, it will highlight the car’s highly stylized LED headlights, which glow from within a newly designed trapezoid grille.

Many auto manufacturers are making the switch from incandescent to LED spot lights, not only on the exterior of their vehicles, but on the interior as well. It just so happens that LED tape creates functional and stylish illumination inside the cabin, while outside, high-powered LED lights allow for better, more directional visibility and increased safety. And, no matter where you put them, LED lights are always the most energy efficient choice on the market.

I’m sure this Audi commercial isn’t the only Super Bowl ad that will feature LED lights…how many can you spot?

Thanks to Autoblog for the image

Beef: it’s what’s for dinner…or so the adage goes. And while it’s true that many Americans consume beef on a daily or weekly basis, it’s also true that most shoppers turn their noses up to beef that looks brown in its packaging. Kyle Steele, a recent master’s graduate in animal sciences and industry at Kansas State University, estimated that this finicky fact costs grocery stores billions each year, and so he set about finding away to rectify it. LED light bars turned out to provide the solution. Steele found that, “by using LED lighting in meat retail display cases, retailers can save money by lowering the operational costs of refrigerated cases and extending the color shelf life of fresh meat products,” he says.

In his study, Steele employed the help of Elizabeth Boyle and Melvin Hunt, professors of animal sciences and industry, as well as with Melissa Weber, a recent doctoral graduate in animal sciences and industry. The researchers compared the reaction of five different meat products—pork loin chops, beef loin steaks, ground beef, ground turkey and beef inside round steaks—to fluorescent lights and LED strip lights. They found that in terms of discoloration, rancidity and operational costs, LED ribbon scored positively in nearly all areas: it helped reduce operating costs and prolonged the shelf life for most of the meat products. “Most meat products displayed under LED lighting had colder internal product temperatures, which helps extend product shelf life,” Steele said. “Beef loin steaks and inside round steaks that were stored under LED lights can have up to one day longer shelf life.”

 

Thanks to Physorg for the quotes and In Flex We Trust for the image.