Selected content from the November 2011 issue of Residential Lighting
magazine

www.ResidentialLighting.com

(if you're going to reply to this post, don't be a bone-head
full-quoter. Trim any quoted material appropriately)

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With solid-state lighting developments advancing at the speed of light,
experts talk about what’s next for the technology, addressing everything
from price and compatibility to new testing and regulations.

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Experts anticipate the price of LEDs will come down in the near future,
thanks to better technology and increased competition, which they hope
will pave the way for more widespread consumer adoption. Terry McGowan,
Director of Engineering and Technology for the American Lighting Assn.
(ALA), says the competition for these products is substantial.

“Traditional light bulbs have had only four or five global
manufacturers, but for LEDs, that number is in the dozens,” McGowan
says. “Competition is fierce with everyone vying for market share and
that has a tendency to cut prices.”

Julian Carey, Director of Marketing at Intematix, an LED component
supplier, agrees that competition is a major factor, even beyond
lighting. “There’s so much more competition with how much equipment and
facilities are being built, particularly in South Korea and China, and
it’s being driven by the display industry and flat panel TVs,” Carey
says. “That’s driven a lot of capacity that’s now influencing lighting,
and in as soon as two years, we should have pretty compelling value
propositions for consumers on LED products.”

All of this focus on LEDs has also led to some major improvements in LED
technology, which has also affected cost. “The trends in cost-per-lumen
direction are extremely favorable for consumers, because there are a
couple major things going on,” Carey says. “We have an incredible
technology road map that keeps advancing ... and with improved
efficiency, you’re automatically reducing cost per lumen.” All in all,
cost is still an issue at the moment, but the future looks promising.

“Prices are on trend to go down as the market builds,” McGowan says. “I
don’t see cost as a long-term barrier for LEDs, but it is always on the
table. Right now, the consumer is saying it’s too expensive, and I do
think we’ll face that for several years to come.”

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Lighting Science Group recently announced it has partnered with India’s
Dixon Technologies to offer a 60W equivalent A19 LED bulb for under $15.
The bulb will be released in India by the end of the year, and will be
available worldwide in early 2012. www.lsgc.com
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A new technology called remote phosphor promises to improve the light
quality and distribution of LEDs, as well as allow for easier design
customization. Just as the name implies, remote phosphor means the
phosphors used to create white light are not directly on the chip, as in
most LEDs. Instead, the phosphor is layered onto a substrate separate
from the LED chip.

“When you have an LED chip, you get a lot of loss when it reacts with
the phosphor right on the chip because you have re-emission in all
directions, with 50 percent of your light going backwards into the
chip,” says Julian Carey, Director of Marketing at Intematix, which
carries a line of remote phosphor components called ChromaLit. “With
remote phosphors, you have the chip by itself, so now you have more
control over the optical control area. Most use a mixing chamber to
direct all the light back out of the fixture.”

Aside from higher light output, remote phosphors are also more
customizable, with the ability to create uniform, curvilinear and
three-dimensional lighting designs. “It’s like the fluorescent you’ve
always wanted, with more design freedom and flexibility as well as
higher quality of light,” Carey says.

Remote phosphors also have improved efficacy over other LED systems,
thanks to their lower operating temperatures, as well as better light
distribution. “You can create whatever intensity pattern you want,”
Carey says. “You don’t have to have lumpy distribution patterns or glare
spots or anything like that.”

Remote phosphors also work with other solid-state lighting technologies,
including organic LEDs (OLEDs). Intematix released its ChromaLit line in
January, and several manufacturers are currently incorporating them into
lighting fixtures set to debut in 2012. Intematix also introduced a line
of ChromaLit components that enable 3-D shapes at this year’s Lightfair
Intl., which companies can use to make light bulbs.

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BEYOND LED: WHAT IS ESL?

Electron Stimulated Luminescence (ESL) is a new energy efficient
lighting technology that uses accelerated electrons to stimulate a
phosphor to create light, which illuminates the surface of the bulb.

“ESL still uses phosphors, like LEDs, but instead of shining light onto
a phosphor, we shine electrons onto the phosphor in order to produce
light,” says Dr. Scott Blackstone, CEO of Vu1 Corp., which has a number
of patents on ESL technology.

The benefit of this technique, Blackstone says, is a broader spectrum of
color and better light distribution. “The surface of the bulb is coated
with the phosphor, so the entire surface radiates light,” Blackstone
says. “This causes the light to be very broad and diffused, not focused
like with an LED, so it’s great for lighting a room.” ChromaLit Candle,
a remote phosphor component from Intematix. www.intematix.com

Performance of ESL bulbs is comparable to that of CFLs. They are up to
70 percent more efficient than incandescent and last up to five times
longer. However, they also address common CFL shortcomings by turning on
instantly at full brightness, dimming with ordinary Triac-based dimmers
and having a shape similar to that of the traditional incandescent. They
also have a 3000K color temperature with a CRI in the high 80s.

“We’re hoping to attract the usual crowd of early adopters and people
interested in new technology,” Blackstone says. “We truly believe we can
replace CFLs because we offer similar performance and price with no
mercury and better light quality.” Currently, Vu1 has an R30 bulb coming
out at the end of the year, and an A bulb coming out in the first half
of 2012. The company is also working on getting UL approval for R20, R40
and PAR bulbs

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NEW ENERGY STAR SPECIFICATIONS COMING IN 2012

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working on new Energy
Star® product specifications for lamps and luminaires. The new
luminaires specification will take effect in early 2012, while the lamps
specification, which is still under development, will take effect later
next year.

Alex Baker, EPA’s Lighting Program Manager for Energy Star, says the new
specifications will replace existing requirements in those categories.
“We’ve currently got four specifications that are being whittled down to
two,” Baker says. “Instead of our Solid State Lighting Luminaires and
Residential Light Fixtures specifications, we’ll now have just one
technology-neutral specification called Energy Star Luminaires. And the
same thing is happening on the lamp side — we currently have a CFL
specification and an Integral LED specification, but we’re working on
combining them into a technology-neutral Energy Star Lamps
specification.”

Drafts of the new luminaire specification were released in May and
October of last year. Version 1.0 of the Energy Star Luminaires
specification was finalized in February, but was subsequently revised to
Version 1.1 in July to reflect a few minor changes. The new
specification was originally scheduled to go into effect Oct. 1, 2011,
but was pushed back to April 1, 2012, after the American Lighting Assn.
(ALA) voiced its concerns that manufacturers wouldn’t have enough time
to get products tested for recertification.

EPA-recognized testing facilities were asked to stop certifying new
products under the old luminaire specifications (Residential Light
Fixtures V4.2 and Solid State Lighting Luminaires V1.3) on Sept. 15. All
products manufactured on or after April 1, 2012, must be certified under
the new Luminaires V1.1 specification in order to use the Energy Star
label.

Some have also expressed concerns that the testing process for getting
products re-certified may be cost-prohibitive for manufacturers, but
Baker says, in the end, it all comes down to the consumer’s experience.
“The EPA is certainly sensitive to the cost of Energy Star testing, but
the agency is also concerned that when consumers buy an Energy Star
product, they get an energy-efficient product without compromise,” Baker
says. “Lighting is an area where it’s relatively easy to make
anenergy-efficient product, but it can be hard to do it in a way that
satisfies consumer needs. If it flickers or makes noise or the color is
bad or it loses light output quickly, these are things that would cause
consumers to reject the product.”

On the lamp side, the first draft of the new lamp specification was
released on Oct. 21, with comments due by Dec. 9. After that, a second
draft incorporating changes from those comments will be released,
followed by another comment period. If no further changes are needed, a
final draft will be released, and after a final comment period, the
specification will be finalized. Baker says he expects the specification
to be finalized in early 2012. Once the new lamp specification is
released, it will replace existing specifications for Compact
Fluorescent Lamps V4.2 and Integral LED Lamps V1.4.

More information on the new Energy Star Luminaires specification is
available at www.energystar.gov/luminaires and more information on the
new Energy Star Lamps specification is available at
www.energystar.gov/lamps.

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CONTROLS EVOLVE FOR LED COMPATIBILITY

Despite improved efficiency and life, LEDs have often encountered
complaints about their inability to “play nice” with traditional
lighting controls. However, control manufacturers are working to remedy
these issues.

The major area of complaint is typically that LEDs don’t work with
traditional dimmers. Since having to use different kinds of dimmers for
different kinds of technology can be confusing for consumers,
manufacturers are trying to simplify this.

“Some manufacturers have come up with changes to their controls, like
smart controls that can sense the light source or mix of sources on the
circuit, so their goal is clearly to make this an automatic thing for
the consumers,” says Terry McGowan, Director of Engineering and
Technology for the American Lighting Assn. (ALA).

In addition to not working with traditional dimmers, LEDs also don’t dim
the same way traditional incandescents do. “One thing the tungsten bulb
has been quite good at is having a very smooth dimming curve,” says
Julian Carey, Director of Marketing at Intematix. “You just turn down
the voltage and there you go. Plus, as it dims, it turns a reddish
color. A lot of advances have been made in electronic controls in order
to simulate some of those shifts with a
smooth dimming curve.”

McGowan agrees that it is possible to imitate incandescent dimming, but
says it’s not cheap. “What the manufacturers are doing now is seeing if
this is something consumers want enough to pay for,” he says. “There are
some test products out there, so the issue now is how much extra
consumers want to pay for that capability.”