Cree and LED lighting are starting a revolution
Cree’s Applications Engineers are always cooking up some kind of contest. To celebrate Halloween, they decided to have a pumpkin carving contest using Cree LEDs. Fellow Cree employees got to vote on the winner. You can see the pumpkins up close and learn what LEDs are inside on our Facebook page.
We’ll reveal who Cree employees selected as the winner later this afternoon. In the meantime, head over to our facebook page to get your vote in!
A little over a year ago, we made two chocolate Easter bunnies YouTube stars. It was part of our mission to educate the world about how energy efficient LED lighting really is (and how wasteful incandescent lights truly are).
So when I noticed my local grocery store was stocking chocolate bunnies a few weeks ago, I couldn’t resist a remake. I bought a couple of “Dude” bunnies because, let’s face it, there is nothing cooler than a bunny sporting some bling and then I took over an empty office for the setup.
Check out the bling our dude is rocking!
It wasn’t long before my Cree colleagues noticed the chocolate bunnies were back and were asking if they could help eat them when they were done. What were we doing different this time, they wanted to know?
Well, we swapped out the Cree LRP-38 that we used in the original for a Cree CR6 LED Downlight. And we brought in some Peeps and other accessories for visual interest. But the basic message remains unchanged: LED lighting is about 85 percent more efficient than incandescent light bulbs.
And as the incandescent light bulb fades to black in the next few years as part of the incandescent phase out, we think it’s especially important to remind people that about 90 percent of the energy consumed by traditional light bulbs is wasted as heat. That’s the very reason why you’re about to see the face of one of these Dude bunnies melt off.
So take a moment to watch what happens to these Dudes. Then, when you’re done, perhaps forward this video on to someone you believe needs to be enlightened about LED lighting!
It wasn’t easy picking a winner for the October Cree LED lighting giveaway. There were so many bad lighting photos that our selection committee decided to award lights to several runner ups.
The grand prize winner is Mark Rogers of Encinitas, California, who tried to eliminate the energy-wasting incandescent lighting in his home office by replacing it with LED lighting on his own. But Mark chose PAR30 LED spotlights, which aren’t really the right type of fixture for a downlight application.
When I wrote Mark to tell him he won, he said he was excited because “there are evenings when I would love to work just under the downlights.” Well, thanks to the five new warm CR6 LED downlights he won, Mark should be able to get some work done while saving energy.
His new lights will illuminate his office with beautiful light (2700K for you lighting geeks) while only consuming 10.5 Watts each. And his new LED lights are designed to last 50,000 hours, which means he shouldn’t have to change a light bulb for many years.
Mark Rogers won the October LED lighting giveaway with this photo.
But Mark isn’t the only October winner. Our judges had a tough time saying no to a few other entrants. So we gave away two CR6 LED downlights to Dan Leighton of Cary, NC, an energy-conscious homeowner who sent us this picture of his “spooky” bathroom lighting:
Dan's spooky entry.
The judges also loved the submission from Garrett Loewenberg, so they decided to help the boy rid his parents’ home of CFLs by giving him two CR6 LED downlights. And, finally, the judges wanted to help Oregon resident David Myrick banish the bad track lighting in his stairwell. So they awarded him three Cree LRP-38 LED lights, which should be a huge improvement over the current set up he submitted a picture of:
David submitted this picture of his dark hallway.
We’ll be announcing the November winner soon. And there’s still time to win our December giveaway. Submit a photo of the bad lighting in your life. Whether it’s at home or work, let us help you fix it! Simply upload your photo here!
What would you do if you dropped a fluorescent light bulb and it shattered? Your instinct might be to immediately grab the broom and dust pan (or the vacuum), clean it up and toss it in the trash.
But CFLs and other fluorescent lights contain a small amount of mercury, which means you have to take precautions to avoid mercury exposure to yourself and the environment.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a list of very specific steps you’re supposed to take to avoid mercury exposure if a CFL breaks. There’s no clean up list for LED lighting because it doesn’t contain toxic mercury.
The CFL cleanup list includes separate steps for a broken bulb on hard surfaces, carpeting and even bedding. And while each list has slightly different steps, the theme is pretty much always the same: Air out the room, put all debris in a glass jar with a metal lid and check with local government to see if there are any additional disposal requirements.
In one scene, grandma shows off how happy she is with CFLs. This is before she finds out about the EPA recommended cleanup steps.
While working on this darling video “Grandma Tries CFLs” I called the local household hazardous waste office. I asked the woman who answered what I should do with the debris from a broken CFL, adding that I followed all of the EPA’s cleanup steps. No joke, the woman told me she didn’t know what a CFL was. She transferred me to a manager who advised that if I had followed the EPA’s cleanup steps and sealed all materials, I didn’t need to take any extra steps of disposal.
It just goes to show that plenty of people don’t know that CFLs and other fluorescent bulbs shouldn’t just go in the trash. (Also once a CFL burns out, don’t just trash it, find a local collection site).
So we decided to have some fun and make an in-house video showing off the numerous steps you should take to clean up a broken CFL. And, for the record, we didn’t actually break a CFL in the video. A broken incandescent played the role.
So join “grandma” as she learns what to do if her shaky hands make her lose her grip on a CFL. Good thing her grandson was around to teach her the EPA’s proper clean up steps. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll probably never want to break a fluorescent light bulb.
Special thanks to The Apartments at the Arboretum in Cary, NC, which allowed me to get my Steven Spielberg on and create this video masterpiece:
And while CFLs are energy efficient, many LED lights are even more efficient and deliver better quality light. So take a cue from our grandson and help spread the word about the LED lighting revolution to your family, friends, coworkers and anyone who will listen. Heck you can even try to win 5 Cree CR6 LED downlights of your own in our monthly photo contest.
Michigan resident Carol Thompson wanted to try LED lighting – or so she thought. But then someone told her that “the color spectrum was altered and they didn’t light too well.” Curious Carol didn’t let speculation stand in her way. She set off to Google the prospects of LED lighting.
“I found the information quite contrary to what I had been told,” Carol told me in an email.
Her quest to find out the truth about LED lighting led her to our contest. She submitted a photo of the lonely recessed light in her home office. Carol is the September winner of our LED lighting giveaway. She wins five Cree CR6™ LED downlights.
Here's the photo Carol submitted in our September contest.
Here’s what Carol is going to find out when she installs her new lights. They deliver beautiful light, providing the quality you would expect from an incandescent. And her new lights won’t slurp up a lot of energy. Each CR6 LED downlight only consumes 10.5 Watts, and can replace a 65 Watt incandescent light. (Yes, the time has come to say goodbye to those Halogen lights warming up the cans in your ceiling.)
Carol’s new lights provide warm light (2700K for those of you in-the-know) and they’re dimmable to 5 percent. Bonus: She’ll use even less energy when the lights are dimmed.
And, Carol’s new Cree LED lights are designed to last 50,000 hours, which means they could last more than 17 years if she leaves them on for eight hours a day, seven days a week. It’s a good thing too, because Carol says the office lights are on a lot because her husband works at home.
When she installs her new CR6 LED downlights, she should invite over the person who told her that LEDs don’t make good lighting. We’d love to be there when she flips the switch so we can see their surprised look and hear her offer a big “neener-neener-neener” under her breath.
Congratulations, Carol! If you want to prove any LED lighting skeptics in your life wrong with Cree LED lights, enter our November contest for your chance to win five Cree CR6 LED downlights. And if you just can’t wait, look up a distributor near you.
James Rose was so eager to ditch the 50-Watt CFL floodlights illuminating his den and kitchen that he submitted two photos to our monthly photo contest.
James knew a little bit about LED lighting because earlier this year he installed a Cree LR6™ LED downlight in his entryway. While searching Cree’s website for a distributor, James said he stumbled upon our monthly photo contest. It’s a good thing he did, because James is the winner of our August LED Lighting giveaway. He will receive five Cree LED downlights for his home.
James submitted this photo of lighting in his den.
James also submitted this photo of his kitchen.
When I wrote James to tell him the good news, I asked him to describe how he hopes his new LED lights will help and here’s what he said:
“I am clearly hoping for better illumination. I have already replaced many of the incandescent bulbs with CFLs and find that their warm-up time and color temperatures are not quite what I want. Also, we have a significant number of fixtures in our home and I am hoping to see at least a marginal decrease in energy costs month to month. Of course, the 50,000 hour projected life of the Cree LED installation will also save me money.”
We’re glad we can help James eliminate some of the CFL lighting in his home. His new Cree LED lights are designed to last 50,000 hours, which means he could leave them on for 8 hours a day and the lights could last more than 17 years.
If you’re eager to bring LED lighting to your home or office, you can enter our monthly photo contest. Simply submit a photo of the icky lighting in your life to CreeLEDRevolution.com/CriesforHelp.
It’s not often that thousands of people get together just to celebrate a street. But that’s exactly what will be happening Saturday in Raleigh, NC, when the city hosts a street celebration festival for Hillsborough Street.
The “Live It Up” Street Opening Celebration is meant to unite neighbors, business owners, students and other Raleigh residents to salute the recently-renovated street. And while most eyes will probably be on the performers, beer garden and farmers market set up to celebrate, we lighting geeks will be looking up at the new LED street and pedestrian lights that have been installed.
LED street lights shine down on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, NC, adjacent to North Carolina State University.
The city of Raleigh replaced the energy-wasting metal halide lights that used to line the street with energy-efficient LED lighting manufactured by BetaLED, a Wisconsin-based company that uses Cree LEDs in its lights. Here’s what got replaced:
In addition to saving energy and maintenance costs, the new LED lights have also improved visibility for pedestrians and drivers, says Bob Henderson, technical lighting consultant for Progress Energy, the city’s energy provider.
City officials had to jump through some hoops to get the LED street lights installed, including convincing the North Carolina Department of Transportation (which owns the road) that it was the right move. Raleigh’s Assistant City Manager Dan Howe talks about the process in this video:
Howe says the city is going to continue to evaluate LED street lighting.
“We’ve done a couple of little pilot projects and they were successful, but this is a major public corridor and it’s working,” Howe said. “So what we’re going to try to do from this point out is to test the viability of LED lighting in a variety of street light settings around the city: Residential street lights, commercial streets in industrial areas, commercial streets in downtown and some other retail areas.”
Howe said the city still has a bit to learn about things like proper spacing of lights, the best height for the poles and more, but that these test installations will help the city determine some best practices before tackling even bigger street lighting projects.
The difference with the LED street lights on the right is obvious. The LED lights provide clean, white light compared to the orange high pressure sodium lights on the right.
To see more examples of LED lighting in Raleigh, take a look at this Raleigh LED City tour.
And for more information about Saturday’s Hillsborough Street celebration, which Cree is sponsoring, check out the schedule of events.
There’s a lot more to summer camp these days than doing crafts and building fires. At North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, students can sign up for Design Camp, Football Camp, Science Camp and even Energy Camp. You read that right – Energy Camp.
The NCSU College of Engineering offers a variety of summer camps, including a camp where students learn about the different forms of energy and how to conserve it.
And, of course, we love the idea of Energy Camp. After all, Cree’s products — from Schottky diodes, to our LED components and LED fixtures — are designed to do more with less energy. And, what’s more, Cree’s history is rooted in N.C. State’s materials science and engineering lab. That’s where our company’s founders first began working together on research that would later lead them to form Cree.
I had a chance to visit the NCSU Energy Camp a couple of weeks ago and sit in on the students’ lessons on LEDs. Here’s a video recap shot by yours truly:
The lobby of Stressdesign may look modern and chic, but look closer and you’ll see that the Syracuse, New York-based Design firm is actually employing some pretty ancient technology – incandescent lighting!
Stressdesign president Marc Stress wanted to improve the lighting in his office, so he snapped a photo and submitted it to our monthly photo contest. Today, we’re pleased to announce that he is the June winner and will receive five Cree LED lights to replace the halogens heating up his workspace.
Here’s his winning picture and what he wrote about the lighting:
“We have a mix of incandescent and CFL lamps in our office. The CFLs are inconsistent at best, and all the incandescent lamps (add) to heat and $$$ on utility.”
This was the winning photo for the month of June.
I e-mailed Marc to tell him the good news. He opted to receive the Cree LRP-38 ™ light which will replace the 75W Halogens that hang from tracks over the office.
Some facts about the Cree LRP-38 lights that Marc is receiving:
Marc said he can’t wait to bring LED lighting to his Design firm.
“I’ve been using LED lighting solutions in various applications in my home and office for the past 5-7 years. I’ve used them for guide lighting, ambient lighting and supplemental area lighting. Early attempts were novel in their power savings, but light output and quality was lacking,” Marc wrote to me.
“Lately, I’ve noticed a huge jump in lumen output, CRI quality and lamping options. I am expecting the new Cree lamps to exceed expectations and provide a better alternative to CFL lamps,” he added.
If you want to give Cree LED lighting a try in your home or office, enter our July photo contest. To qualify for our giveaway, all you have to do is submit a photo of bad lighting to our site. We could be featuring you next month on our blog.
Seeing is believing when it comes to lighting. So if the folks at Indiana-based Grote Industries sent you an e-mail saying their LED work lamps were stunning, it probably wouldn’t have the same impact as if they set up the lights in your driveway and switched them on.
So Grote is taking its new LED WhiteLight Work Lamps to the streets, literally. Earlier this month, Grote hit the highway for an 80-plus city tour in a truck adorned with LED-loving Super Heroes dubbed Team Trilliant, named after the company’s Trilliant LED WhiteLight Technology. Take a look:
This truck features 34 exterior work lamps all lit with Cree X-Lamp® XR-E LEDs. The tricked out truck will travel west across the northern United States and parts of Canada this summer then head south during its return leg in the fall and winter, according to a Grote press release.
It’s definitely a different way for a manufacturer of vehicle safety systems to reach its audience. Grote officials say they redirected resources traditionally aimed at industry trade shows to pursue the tour. The tour also features a mobile theater, giving visitors a chance to learn more about the advantages of LED work lights where ever the truck stops.
So if work lamps are your thing, check out the Trilliant Technology Tour map to see if it’s stopping by a city near you.
