Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a manufacturer of LED solid-state lighting components, released the results of the first phase of the conversion of its Durham headquarters to LED lighting, which has resulted in the use of 48% less energy than the lights they replaced and plans to convert all lighting at the headquarters and manufacturing facility to LED lighting. The parking lots, entryways, lobby and conference rooms at Cree’s headquarters building are now 100-percent lit by energy-efficient, environmentally friendly XLamp(R) LEDs.That means replacing everything from high-pressure sodium parking-lot lights to the fluorescent tubes in offices and hallways to the spotlights on the flagpole out front.
“Conventional wisdom is that LED lighting is years away from widespread adoption. The truth, however, is that the performance of Cree’s LED technology enables real LED lighting solutions today,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. “The conversion of Cree’s site demonstrates that the LED Lighting Revolution is well underway and will illustrate the benefits in energy savings, maintenance costs and environmental impacts.”
The new LED lights use 48% less energy than the incandescent, fluorescent and high-pressure sodium lights they replaced. Cree began the process in October 2007 and will continue until it replaces the tens of thousands of bulbs and tubes that light the campus, inside and out.
Cree claims that the combination of the energy savings, reduced maintenance and disposal costs and the environmental savings demonstrate that LED lighting is now a real alternative to traditional lighting solutions.
The following table from the LED Workplace website, illustrates the savings that have been obtained in their outdoor lighting.
According to Cree this conversion validates the energy savings, quality of light and reality that LED lighting is now a viable option for business and residential consumers.
On September 13 Cree announced it had achieved R&D results of 129 lumens per watt for a cool-white LED and 99 lumens per watt for a warm-white LED. These are the best results reported for packaged, high-power LEDs.
Another installation cited on the LED Workplace website is that of Sentry Equipment Corporation Oconomowoc, WI. When they decided to build a new facility, a major concern was energy-efficiency and chose LED lighting for most of their lighting.
The building’s original lighting design indicated that the company’s fixtures would require about 75 kW. The company reduced their actual lighting load, however, to only about 30 kW through effective use of daylight and high-efficiency artificial lighting, mainly LED technology.
Sentry estimates the cost for the new lighting technology has an approximate 1.3-year payback. They also project their annual lighting energy costs to be more than $13,000 less than estimated in the original lighting design.
Not all of Sentry’s lighting comes from LEDs. They use some fluorescent lighting. However, LED lighting provides the greatest energy savings. Where the company installed LED lighting, they reduced energy consumption from 14.6 kW in the original plan to an actual consumption of only 3.6 kW. The company’s LED lighting also reduced overall energy consumption since they have a power factor near 90%.
About Cree
Cree is a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors and devices that enhance the value of solid-state lighting, power and communications products by significantly increasing their energy performance and efficiency.
Cree drives its increased performance technology into multiple applications, including exciting alternatives in brighter and more-tunable light for general illumination, backlighting for more-vivid displays, optimized power management for high-current, switch-mode power supplies and variable-speed motors, and more-effective wireless infrastructure for data and voice communications.
In the extended story, it states that Cree has cut energy usage just over half for parking lot lighting by substituting LED lighting for high pressure sodium lamps.
It also states that "On September 13 Cree announced it had achieved R&D results of 129 lumens per watt for a cool-white LED and 99 lumens per watt for a warm-white LED."
Thing is, high pressure sodium lamps available today already do 130 lumens per watt. And low pressure sodium lamps can do 180 lumens per watt.
It makes me wonder if 1. the parking lot illumination levels are now lower; 2. the high pressure sodium lamps which were removed were poorly designed; 3. the LED lamps were tweaked for efficiency to a degree that would never be possible on a commercial level; 4. where I can buy the LED lamps that they used.
Let me state again that I have nothing against LED lighting, and that I wish them all the best. But I hate seeing hype get beyond reality.
Posted by: donb | November 08, 2007 at 11:12 AM
I don't know what kind of fixtures they replaced in their parking lot, but the real market for LED lighting is in replacement of incandescent bulbs. In the long run replacing CFLs as they burn out.
I was at a show a month ago, and there was a vendor selling a 60-watt replacement bulb with an Edison fixture. It had an enclosure shaped just like a normal light bulb. Except that it only used 8 watts. I asked the guy how much it would cost, and I was told 100$ - clearly this was just the 1st generation of these things, but this was the first time I had ever seen one at any price.
I do expect prices to come down rapidly as they get the kinks worked out. I bought a headlight for my bicycle a month ago that used dual LEDs. I got last year's model, which at the time was pretty bright. But this year's model throws 3 times the light for the same amount of electricity. Someone on one of the bicycling forums actually opened up his older headlight and with a bit of soldering replaced the bulbs with the newer Cree bulbs - in fact I have a pair of them that just came in and when I get a spare moment I may well do the same thing. The new bulbs cost me 10$/pc - I estimate that those are throwing about 60 lumens/watt, so further improvements are likely in another year or two.
Posted by: eric | November 08, 2007 at 01:26 PM
To understand how Cree is beating high pressure sodium lamps with LEDs google "scotopic lumens". The lumens normally listed on light bulbs are units of brightness weighted by the human eye's frequency response in full sunlight. Scotopic lumens use the eye's response at lower interior lighting levels. Two interior light sources with the same output in lumens can appear to differ in brightness by a factor of 2 or more for this reason. It is using this measure that Cree's XLamp LEDs can outperform certain flourescent and sodium sources.
Posted by: Gent | November 08, 2007 at 05:25 PM
The photo shows LED lighting that provides full illumination of the area through use of glary fixtures. The space in the "before" photo is more inviting than the overlit "after" space with bulbs directly exposed to the eye. I look forward to these problems being overcome as LED lighting is further developed.
Posted by: Gary | November 09, 2007 at 09:20 AM
As Gent says, while sodium is about 85 % efficient, electricity to photons, it's in a bad part of the spectrum for night vision. A green LED at about 510 nm is ideal for night vision and would only have to be about 20 % efficient to match sodium in terms of lumens.
Posted by: Robert McLeod | November 09, 2007 at 02:48 PM
Gary, I agree with you. The first photo looks far more inviting and 'cozy'. The second looks 'cold' and 'harsh'. In my opinion, they could actually lower the power of their LEDs and improve the energy savings further.
There's two problems. One is the overall brightness (too much of it) and the other is the colour temperature of the light. The incandescents show a warmer 'orange' tint whereas the LEDs show an almost Halogen 'white'. Both, however, are easy to fix.
On the other hand, one point to consider is how accurately the white balance of the camera was that they used to take the photo. Most cameras have an auto white-balance mode for incandescent lights, which makes them appear white. The incandescents don't look very 'white' at all, which makes me wonder whether they used that mode. Whether it would in fact look so different in real life remains to be seen.
Posted by: Richard | November 10, 2007 at 08:23 PM
I like hype, especially when it is real. I have been dying to purchase LED downlights for some time to replace the (21) 75w incandescent bulbs in my basement. My 14 daughter occupies the entire space. Regardless of how much I preach to her about the virtues of energy conservation, she runs all of lights whenever she is home and awake. I replaced the lights with the same LED lights in the above photo which are manufactured by LLF Lighting using Cree's chip technology. The light is nearly identical to the incandescents they replaced except I am now using 10-12 watts per fixture and even less when dimmed. Bear in mind that the LLF fixtures can be purchased in warm, cool and sofft. Can any of you really tell me that you know what the purpose of the rooms in the photo's are for and what ambience Cree wanted to create.
I hear the excuses, the complaints and the downright story making coming from people who haven't taken the time to purchase a single LED bulb. Either you wan to give your hard earned money to the utilities or spend it on something that is green, going to save money and increase the value of your property. I paid $93.00 per fixture. I am sure the price will come down in the future, but if people, who can afford it, don't start buying the fixtures now the technology will languish. It is time for local, state and federal governments to retrofit their buildings, installations, street lights and parking garage lights with LED's. I am going to replace all of my lights before I in stall PV panels and a VAWT on my roof so that I reduce the quantity PV's. I should be able to eliminate
(6) 200 watt pv panels by installing all LED lighting. 6 X $900/panel plus installation costs of $100/panel = $6,000.
Posted by: alvin | November 17, 2007 at 11:10 AM
By the numbers, ENERGY-WISE, it simply can't compete with something ludicrously more efficient like sodium, or something somewhat more efficient like sulfur, metal halide, or flourescent.
The niches for LEDs are in colored lighting - directional colored lighting in particular, and in smallscale apps where they currently dominate. They are at least an order of magnitude better than any other option for these niches, even considering their astronomical price per lumen.
For white light, however, they're less efficient, less focused, and much much less competitive, since bulk white light is so cheap already.
Previous to this, a traffic light was an incandescent (10 lum/w) or halogen (15 lum/w) which threw away 30% of its light output to imperfect reflectors, and 90% of the rest heating up the colored filter. You can literally replace a 200 watt traffic lamp with a 5 watt LED (or 5 watts of small LEDs), for no decrease in utility. The price is competitive, and the maintenance cost is much less.
The ONLY way they could save energy in the parking lot is by using colored LEDs at our sensitivity peaks like lime green. It is, on reflection, actually practical - we've gotten along okay with orange monochromatic sodium lamps.
But for indoor lighting? No. We have 3 excellent, high quality white light sources of varying scales(flouro, MH, sulfur) that are more efficient and 1% of the cost per lumen.
Posted by: Adam Goldman | November 17, 2007 at 04:47 PM
Southern Energy Solutions Now a Dealer of LLF Inc LED Lighting
The LR6 six-inch downlight LED fixture delivers 650 lumens at 12 watts
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, November 21, 2007 – Southern Energy Solutions of Marietta, Georgia, announced today that it has become a dealer of LED Lighting Fixtures Inc. (LLF) products. LLF’s LR6 fixture is the first LED recessed downlight to deliver 650 lumens from a fixture at 12 watts. The product also features excellent color rendering (CRI of 92), a unique installation mechanism that allows it to be used in a standard 6-inch recessed housing, and it is dimmable. The LR6 downlight is available with Edison base or GU24 base, in two color temperatures, 2700K and 3500K, for warm and cool white applications.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting accounts for approximately 30% of a building’s electricity consumption, its largest single demand. Lighting is responsible for approximately 130 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, about 7% of all carbon emissions.
The LR6 consumes only 12 watts, saving 39% in energy over fluorescent and 83% over incandescent lighting sources. The LR6 is the most eco-friendly interior lighting product available today. The LR6 is manufactured using recycled aluminum, contains no hazardous mercury, emanates no noticeable heat, produces no UV, lasts 50,000 hours, and guaranteed for three-years.
U. S. Green Building Council LEED-NC Version 2.2 Credit Relevance:
• Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite 2 – Minimum Energy Performance
• Energy and Atmosphere Credit 1 – Optimize Energy Performance
The LR6 product family has been selected as one of BuildingGreen’s 2007 Top-10 Green Building Products by the editors of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec®. This annual award recognizes the most innovative and exciting green building products added to the GreenSpec® Directory during the past year or covered in Environmental Building News.
Marietta, Georgia, based Southern Energy Solutions is a dealer of sustainable building products including Conergy Solar PV panels, Evergreen Solar PV, Heliodyne Solar Thermal Water Heating, SolarsHeat Solar Heating, Southwest Windpower Skystream 3.7 Wind Turbine, Brac Systems Greywater Recycling, Hydronika HVAC, LLF Inc LED Lighting and LED Folio LED Lighting. Southern Energy Solutions serves Atlanta and all of Georgia.
Southern Energy Solutions
http://www.soenso.com
[email protected].
Posted by: Charles Cone | November 22, 2007 at 08:47 AM
This is a fantastic advert for LED lighting, people need educating on just how good LED lighting is as they are still remembering LED lamps as those old diode things you used to find in a school science lab.
Posted by: Duncan Munday | May 16, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Excelent article, the LED lights brighten up the room and make it much more inviting
Posted by: Ace Lamps | June 27, 2008 at 11:48 AM
It is necessary to invert in means of low consumption!! And to try to stop using very important oil!
Posted by: jdm | July 03, 2008 at 07:32 AM
The problems, as I see them as a consumer, are the high initial costs of LED lighting and the lack of a place where I can go to see them. I was an early adopter of CFL's but I don't want to have to call Hazmat if one breaks in my home. Costco has a 4-puck kit on sale and I picked one up for playing/experimenting purposes ($18.95). The light appears to be too white, too cool. I will try to see if colored filters will work to warm things up a bit. The LLF downlights are intriguing but a little pricey. I don't want to spend the money right now to find out I was wrong. CC Vivid, probably a brand name, has lights available for a little more reasonable pricing on the site: http://www.ccrane.com
I am looking forward to more improvements in LED lighting for my home. Since I don't have a parking lot to light up, the LED/Suphur debate is non-applicable to me.
Posted by: Mark Bigley | July 30, 2008 at 12:01 PM
i prefer to use xenon led,they are brighter than normal led,i have bought dozen of these.
Posted by: xenon led | August 04, 2008 at 03:04 AM
For additional information on reducing energy at home, work and at travel visit http://reducingenergy.blogspot.com
Posted by: kb | August 23, 2008 at 10:16 PM
The alternative to buying a whole downlight - and ripping out your current lights is to just purchase screw in retro-fits. The only issue is that these aren't dimmable like the LLF LR-6's.
LED Light Bulb Store
Posted by: Jeff Chan | September 21, 2008 at 09:10 PM
For dimmable recessed ceiling lights see:
http://www.ledhomeplace.com/dimmable-led-recessed-downlight-9-watt.html
CREE is also making recessed ceiling lights, and I have not seen the prices but I suspect there are some others that are not as expensive. Often other manufacturers use CREE LEDs but produce the lights for less.
Posted by: Robert | November 02, 2008 at 02:41 AM
Another comment on CREE is that they make the best LEDs for now, but most likely when it comes to applications they are going to get swamped by competitors. Even on the LED market it is likely someone is going to figure out how to produce the same lumens but at less cost per LED. I suspect they would enjoy their share of the 'lighting revolution' but look to other companies for who is going to really capture the market.
Posted by: Robert | November 02, 2008 at 02:46 AM
I think its great that there is a energy efficent light bulb. Other than those ugly cfl bulbs. The leds even save more energy than the cfls
Posted by: ryan | March 27, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Civilight Shenzhen Semiconductor Lighting Co.,Ltd., are specialized in manufacturing LED lighting solutions in China,covering Spotlight, Bulb, tube light, ceiling and cabinet light and so on. Civilight currently operates a 7,000 m² factory with a team of 30 R&D crew and 600 employees. Our patented solutions are compliant with CE, RoHS and othere relevant certificates. Our products, especially Cyclone structure, have good reputation and enjoy a hot market all over the world, expecailly in Europe, North America and Japan. Many brand-light distributors, eg.GE, Sylvian, Bell are our regular customers. Besides, we also provide OEM/ODM service. Welcome to visit our website www.civilight.com for details. Main products as following:
1. High power LED Spotlight(cyclone design): MR11&MR16&GU10&JDR (1x3W, 3x1W)
2. High power LED Bulb: G45/G50/G60, A45/A50/A60, C50 (1X3W, 3X2W); C37 (SMD)
3. High power LED Ceiling light &Cabinet light (1x3W, 3x1W)
4. High power LED GX53 (3X1W)
5. SMD Tube light: 10cm/20/cm/50cm/100cm.
6. High power LED Par-series: Par20,Par30, Par38, Par56
7. High power LED Street Bulb
--------------------------------------------
Lisa Lei
Overseas Dept.
Civilight Shenzhen Semiconductor Lighting Co., Ltd.
4-5/F., Building D, HongFa Hi-Tech Park, Shiyan Town, Shenzhen, 518108, China
TEL: +86-755-86026616
FAX: +86-755-86026609
E-mail:[email protected]
http://www.civilight.com
Posted by: Civilight Shenzhen Semiconductor Lighting Co., Ltd. | April 01, 2009 at 02:01 AM
Civilight Shenzhen Semiconductor Lighting Co.,Ltd., are specialized in manufacturing LED lighting solutions in China,covering Spotlight, Bulb, tube light, ceiling and cabinet light and so on. Civilight currently operates a 7,000 m² factory with a team of 30 R&D crew and 600 employees. Our patented solutions are compliant with CE, RoHS and othere relevant certificates. Our products, especially Cyclone structure, have good reputation and enjoy a hot market all over the world, expecailly in Europe, North America and Japan. Many brand-light distributors, eg.GE, Sylvian, Bell are our regular customers. Besides, we also provide OEM/ODM service. Welcome to visit our website www.civilight.com for details. Main products as following:
1. High power LED Spotlight(cyclone design): MR11&MR16&GU10&JDR (1x3W, 3x1W)
2. High power LED Bulb: G45/G50/G60, A45/A50/A60, C50 (1X3W, 3X2W); C37 (SMD)
3. High power LED Ceiling light &Cabinet light (1x3W, 3x1W)
4. High power LED GX53 (3X1W)
5. SMD Tube light: 10cm/20/cm/50cm/100cm.
6. High power LED Par-series: Par20,Par30, Par38, Par56
7. High power LED Street Bulb
--------------------------------------------
Lisa Lei
Overseas Dept.
Civilight Shenzhen Semiconductor Lighting Co., Ltd.
4-5/F., Building D, HongFa Hi-Tech Park, Shiyan Town, Shenzhen, 518108, China
TEL: +86-755-86026616
FAX: +86-755-86026609
E-mail:[email protected]
http://www.civilight.com
Posted by: Civilight Shenzhen Semiconductor Lighting Co., Ltd. | April 01, 2009 at 02:03 AM
Once again, it's a pretty slow day for Met news. The most interesting story out there is Murray Chass's post on Omar's inability to multi-task this offseason. While I really despise anonymous sources, this does sound so stupid that it's probably true.
Nelson Figueroa threw a complete game three-hitter in the Dominican Republic.Ted Berg has some great Val Pascucci video.For those Mets fans with more high brow tastes, cheap nfl jerseybe sure to check out the Met poetry cheap adidas nba jerseysreading on Feb. 16.
Bobby Valentine will serve on a commission to improve Stamford's fire department. I hope for Stamford's sake that the solution will not involve Armando Benitez.Teddy Dziuba sat down with Metdiscount mlb jersey prospect Shawn Bowman who was recentlycheap nba jersey added to the Met 40 man roster.Around the NL EastThere is a really great Philadelphia joke inwholesale football jersey here somewhere, but I'm both too politically correct and not a cheap nhl replica jerseygood enough joke writer to make it.Washington has signed Adam Kennedy, right after the O-Dog signed new orleans saints jerseywith Minnesota. That means, once again, the Mets are stuck with Luis Castillo.http://www.nhlbuy.com/
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Posted by: nhlbuy | March 01, 2010 at 08:34 AM
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Posted by: Dinah | March 02, 2010 at 09:10 AM
I don't understand which is the best light for home LED or CFL, well recently I used CFL in my home. & what is the difference between both, which one is lifelong? here I know a lot about LED, nice blog!
Posted by: dryer vent cleaning | March 25, 2010 at 05:41 AM
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Posted by: Bronx Air Conditioners | June 30, 2010 at 05:13 PM
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Posted by: Manhattan Air Specialists | August 30, 2010 at 12:17 AM
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Posted by: bell | October 12, 2010 at 03:10 AM
Free energy would be great, but Steorn is another one of these companies that could do the impossible if somebody would just fund them.
Posted by: الفيسبوك | December 04, 2010 at 10:30 AM
My company uses Cree LED lights because they are bright and save energy.
www.hq-led-lighting.com
Posted by: Jon Miner | March 19, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Although LEDs are expensive, the cost is recouped over time and in battery savings. LED bulb is also durable, it lasts up to 10 times as long as compact fluorescents, and far longer than typical incandescents.
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Posted by: How To Use Grow Lights | April 18, 2011 at 11:30 AM
The revolution proceeds. CREE is still the leader in quality but other companies such as Bridgelux and SEMI offer perhaps a greater value in some applications. Now single 100 Watt LEDs can replace HPS lighting. The color rendition is better with LEDs and there is less light pollution as the lens angle can be controlled better.
Posted by: Robert Badaracco | May 04, 2011 at 08:25 AM
Considering power efficiency and life span, LED lights are far better as compared to incandescent bulbs.
Posted by: Led Icicle Lights | May 06, 2011 at 11:12 PM
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Posted by: led bulbs wholesale | August 18, 2011 at 11:01 PM
The photo shows LED lighting that provides full illumination of the area through use of glary fixtures. The space in the "before" photo is more inviting than the overlit "after" space with bulbs directly exposed to the eye. I look forward to these problems being overcome as LED lighting is further developed.
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