Cree LED Revolution Blog
Cree and LED lighting are starting a revolution
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November 9th, 2011
September Contest Winner Wants Cree LED Lighting to Improve His Kitchen
Jeff Jones has his shower to thank for his new Cree LED lighting. That’s because the recessed light over the shower in his bathroom only took up to a 40 watt incandescent bulb. And that just wasn’t enough light for him.
So Jeff began researching other options and found the Cree CR6 LED downlight, which is suitable for damp locations. So he installed it and found that the light output and color quality were outstanding.
“The CR6 was awesome. I have not found anything like it, so many LEDs on the market have a bluish tint to them, or are too pink,” Jeff wrote to me in an email.
So when it came time to replace the recessed lighting in his kitchen, Jeff decided to enter Cree’s monthly LED lighting giveaway. He hoped that his poorly lit kitchen would win the sympathy of our judges, and boy did it. Here’s the photo he submitted:
“With the new CR6s in my kitchen I hope it will improve the light quality and brightness of the room. Currently the 6” recessed cans I have take a PAR30 lamp, but the lamp is so recessed in the can that I only get a spot on the floor with no light in the room,” Jeff wrote.
We’re confident that Jeff’s new CR6 LED downlights will be a big improvement since they deliver warm, beautiful light. His new lights consume only 10.5 watts and use even less energy when dimmed (they’re dimmable to 5 percent).
And Jeff’s new CR6 LED downlights are designed to last 50,000 hours, which means he could leave them on eight hours a day, seven days a week and they could last more than 17 years!
We can’t wait to see an “after” photo once Jeff gets these installed. In the meantime, we want to see your photos. Submit a photo of the poor lighting in your life to our November photo contest. Someone will win 5 Cree CR6 LED downlights just like Jeff!
November 7th, 2011
ENERGY STAR program helps spread word about energy-efficient lighting
Today’s guest blog post is by Timothy Henning, Cree’s ENERGY STAR program manager.
If you go shopping for lighting or appliances, it’s hard to miss the blue ENERGY STAR® logo that’s displayed on many of the most efficient products. By now, many people have come to know it as the symbol of energy efficiency. But ENERGY STAR is more than just a sticker recognizing energy efficiency, and Cree is pleased to be an active participant in the lighting program.
What is ENERGY STAR?
The ENERGY STAR program is a joint effort between the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) focused on providing consumers with energy-efficient products that save money and protect the environment at the same time.
By using ENERGY STAR approved products, ENERGY STAR reports that Americans have saved nearly $18 billion on utility bills and avoided greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 33 million cars in 2010 alone!
Partners Help Promote Efficiency
It takes a lot of effort to educate the world about the importance of choosing products that reduce energy consumption, so ENERGY STAR works with partners to help spread the word about energy-efficient products. This week, several Cree employees will be traveling to Charlotte, NC, in support of the 2011 ENERGY STAR Products Partner Meeting.
ENERGY STAR regularly hosts meetings for partners to gather to discuss new program initiatives, product specifications or other outreach activities. These meetings offer ENERGY STAR partners the opportunity to network with others to develop relationships and collaborations to promote ENERGY STAR.
Cree Passed the Tests
While the ENERGY STAR program applies to a wide variety of products across a number of industries, Cree is an active participant of the lighting program. In order for Cree’s lamps and luminaires to earn the ENERGY STAR certification, our products must meet very strict photometric, electrical performance and regulatory requirements.
Additionally, there are on-going program requirements and random product audits by the EPA to ensure the continued quality and integrity of the program. To date, Cree has qualified 35 unique model numbers with more approvals anticipated before the end of the year! At Cree, we believe it’s important to meet ENERGY STAR’s requirements because it’s a key step toward getting good quality LED lighting in the market.
Simple Steps to Get Involved
Seeking out ENERGY STAR-qualified products isn’t the only way to help conserve energy. There are simple steps we can all take at home, work and in our communities to save energy, money and protect the environment. Currently, there’s a national campaign encouraging all Americans to take protect the climate.
Participating in the “Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR” campaign is simple. Just take a moment to take a pledge to conserve energy by following some of the many steps outlined on the site.
And the next time you go shopping for energy-efficient LED lighting, be sure to look for the ENERGY STAR label.
November 2nd, 2011
How to Calculate Light Loss Factors When Comparing LED Lighting to Conventional Systems
Today’s guest blog post comes from Gary Trott, a product development innovator for Cree LED Lighting focused on developing solid state lighting products for general illumination. Gary holds numerous patents covering some of the most significant new product releases in the past ten years and has played an instrumental role in helping Cree develop some of its award-winning LED lighting products.
One of the most rewarding parts of my job is traveling the world and meeting other people who are passionate about lighting. And, just as you might expect, they ask A LOT of great questions.
The most commonly asked question and the one that receives the most varied response is: “What light loss factor (LLF) should I use for lighting calculations?”
This is a hyper-critical question because you really need to get this right. If you don’t you will either:
- Significantly over-light a space and waste energy. OR
- You can under-light a space, and the folks who occupy that space may not have enough light for their basic tasks a few years from now.
To definitively answer this question, we enlisted the help of renowned lighting designer Jim Benya. Jim wrote a white paper entitled, “Lighting Calculations in the LED Era,” that set out to answer this Light Loss Factor question and many others.
In it, you can learn:
- Differences in photometry for traditional and solid state lighting solutions
- Lighting calculation methods
- Descriptions of LLF components for both technologies
- LLF recommendations for SSL and fluorescent lighting
- In-application comparisons of SSL to fluorescent lighting in schools and office
You can download the paper here and read it when you have some extra time to dive into the interesting data.
I enjoy meeting fellow lighting professionals and answering their questions because it allows me to understand the interests and concerns in our community. By sharing critical knowledge, I get to help people become more comfortable with adopting energy-efficient LED lighting.
So what is the answer to the LLF question for typical offices? For T8 troffers, use 0.76 and for SSL troffers use 0.73.
Anyone else find it ironic that the answer is almost the same as the 0.75 LLF many designers and manufacturers have used as a standard for years?
October 31st, 2011
Energy Awareness Month 2011 Blog Series Wrap-Up
Energy Awareness Month isn’t a Hallmark celebration (yet) but for us energy-efficiency gurus, it’s a great excuse to shout from the rooftops the importance of conserving energy. This year we decided to celebrate with a month-long blog series focusing on the ways Cree’s products and employees are working to help improve energy-efficiency.
But sometimes life gets in the way of Energy Awareness Month, which means you may have *gasp* missed some of our posts. Well, don’t despair. We’ve rounded up all of our posts from this month and summarized them in a nice, neat little package just for you.
WEEK ONE
In our first week we highlighted some of the utility companies that are offering rebates for Cree’s energy-efficient LED lighting products, as well as the EcoSmart LED Downlight we make for Home Depot. We broke down the types of rebates utilities offer, and we showed off some of the best including programs in Illinois, Long Island and New Jersey.
Oct. 4 – Utility Companies Offer Rebates for Cree LED Lighting
Oct. 5 – ComEd Offers Illinois Customers Major Rebates on Cree LED Lighting
Oct. 6 – LIPA Brings LED Lighting Rebates to Lucky Long Island Residents
Oct. 7 – Fist Pump! Rebate Gives New Jersey Residents Opportunity to Buy EcoSmart LED Downlight for $24.97
WEEK TWO
Typically this blog focuses on LEDs and LED lighting, but we couldn’t pass up the chance to teach you a little about another side of Cree’s business: Our energy-saving power products! We were honored to have Cree Co-founder John Palmour explain how silicon carbide-based diodes can make power supplies and electric motors more efficient. And we offered a great intro to our Silicon Carbide MOSFETs. We also slipped a power post into week three because we’re wild like that (see below).
Oct. 12 – The Power to Do More: Cree Silicon Carbide-Based Diodes Improve Efficiency of Power Systems
Oct. 13 – Cree’s Silicon Carbide MOSFETs Help Improve Efficiency of Electronics
WEEK THREE
In week three, we primarily focused on Cree LED lighting, showing you a couple examples of ways our LED lights are saving energy in places you might not think of such as Kentucky’s State Capitol rotunda and gas stations throughout the country. We reiterated the importance of knowing the difference between lumens and watts when shopping for LED lighting. And we had to a leftover post from our Power week about solar panels that we couldn’t let you miss, so we slipped it in.
Oct. 17 – Get Il-lumen-ated with Lighting Facts: Knowing the Difference Between Lumens and Watts
Oct. 18 – Making Solar Panels More Efficient with Silicon Carbide Schottky Diodes
Oct. 19 – Kentucky State Capitol Rotunda Shines with Cree LED Lighting
Oct. 20 – Energy-Savings Surprises at Gas Stations
Oct. 21 – Spotlight on One of Cree’s R&D Engineers
WEEK FOUR
In week four, we focused on Cree LED components, showing you a variety of special places you can find them (from a solar-powered car to the University of Michigan’s Big House). We also told you about our investigative applications engineers and how Cree EasyWhite technology can make it easier for you to design with LEDs. And, our senior director of components marketing did an outstanding job explaining why Cree is completely rethinking lighting.
Photo by Andreas Peña Doll
Oct. 28 – Why We Push for Revolution, Not Evolution
Oct. 27 – Solar Race Takes Cree LEDs “Down Under”
Oct. 26 – Get Your Game Face on with Cree LEDs
Oct. 25 – Cree Applications Engineers Investigate LEDs
Oct. 24 – Bye Bye Binning, Hello EasyWhite: How Cree’s EasyWhite Technology Simplifies Designing with LEDs
We hope you learned something about our commitment to making products that help conserve energy. Now don’t leave without checking out our LED-lit pumpkin carving contest.
October 31st, 2011
Vote For Your Favorite Pumpkin Lit with Cree XLamp LEDs
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!
October 28th, 2011
Guest Blog Post: Why We Push for Revolution, not Evolution
All month long, Cree has celebrated Energy Awareness Month. Through a series of blog posts, Cree has brought to you information about ways our products and our customers and partners are helping save energy. Today’s final guest blog post is by Cree’s senior director of marketing, LED components, Mike Watson.
Revolution. It’s a popular word these days. Much of the current revolution discussion is politically or socially motivated (the Middle East, Occupy Wall Street, etc.). Here at Cree, we talk about the energy revolution and more specifically, the LED lighting revolution every day.
Many countries outside North America know that to meet future economic demands, they must fundamentally change the way they consume power and they must do it now.
Instead of talking about change, they are making it, via policy directives and government mandates to encourage innovation and implementation of energy-efficient products. Just look at China – it recently completed its largest highway lighting upgrade with more than 10,000 street lights and more than a million Cree LEDs!
When we look back at the last 100 years of lighting, precious little has changed in terms of technology, performance or form factor. Lighting technologies haven’t evolved as demand has increased.
This type of evolution isn’t going to work for LED lighting, nor will it happen fast enough for us to address ever-increasing energy consumption.
The much lauded (and much maligned) CFL has been heralded for more than thirty years, but market penetration has stalled at just about 10 percent. Yes, stalled, despite massive promotions at big box hardware stores, continued rebates from power companies and technical and quality improvements over several decades.
That’s scary, especially to those of us in the lighting biz. Could that same slow adoption curve curse LED lighting?
We can’t wait thirty years for the widespread adoption of a technology that is ready now—ready to change the way we light streets and parking lots, grocery stores and offices, homes and even our cars.
So I’m talking about a revolution. The kind of revolution where we throw out preconceived notions, we cast aside things that don’t work anymore and we step into the brave, new, well-lit world.
That’s why we’re completely rethinking lighting.
It’s not about watts, it’s about lumens. It’s not about bulbs and fixtures. And it’s not about cost per bulb.
It’s about cost over lifetime and getting better light, for longer, with bigger bang for your buck.
It’s time to demand better, more efficient lighting. Don’t you agree?
October 27th, 2011
Solar Race Takes Cree LEDs “Down Under”
Last week, students at Stanford University put their engineering skills to the test at the 2011 World Solar Challenge, a solar-powered car race which covered a remarkable 1,877 miles (!) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin to Adelaide.
The Stanford Solar Car Project (SSCP) brings students together to design, build, test and race solar-powered vehicles – pretty cool, huh?
Well the SSCP, a student-run, donation-funded organization, has been building and racing solar-powered vehicles since 1986. This year, their mission was to be the first American team to win the World Solar Car challenge since General Motors’ Sunraycer in 1987!
This year’s car, named Xenith, was unveiled on Aug.11 and is a 23-percent efficient solar array featuring a three-wheel steering system, glass encapsulated solar panels and a high-efficiency electric motor. The Xenith can travel at 55-60 mph under sun power alone, and can reach higher speeds when using the reserve battery pack. Also on board are Cree’s components – XLamp MC-E LEDs are used for the Xenith’s headlights while XLamp XP-E Amber LEDs are used for sidemarker lights.
Photo by Andreas Peña Doll
Photo by: Andreas Peña Doll
The Xenith isn’t likely to appear at a dealership any time soon, however the Stanford Solar Car Project provides a real-world chance to test innovative cutting-edge ideas — which could eventually boost the efficiency of everyday autos.
Unfortunately for the Xenith team, while trekking across the Australian Outback, they ran into some gray skies and clouds, preventing them from finishing the solar race. But they weren’t the only ones – this year, only seven of the 37 competing teams were able to cross the finish line. Great job, team and best of luck next year!
To keep up with the SSCP team as they prepare for next year’s race, check out their blog: http://solarcar.stanford.edu/blog. You can also follow the team on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/susolarcar.
October 26th, 2011
Get Your Game Face on with Cree LEDs
It’s that time of year in North America – the leaves are beginning to fall, it is almost sweater weather and Saturday’s are all about college football. Given the theme of this month’s blog, it’s also the time of year when we think about energy efficiency. So, how does energy-efficiency, particularly LED lighting, relate to college football? Allow us to elaborate.
Say you’re at home on your comfy couch watching your favorite team play a friendly game of pigskin on your high-definition TV. Or say you’re at the stadium, checking out live in-game action, stats and most importantly, the score. Well guess what – that vivid game day action may be powered by energy-efficient LEDs. From your LED-backlit HDTV to the high-res screen in the stadium, LEDs are a fan’s best friend.
In fact, in stadiums around the U.S. and the world, high-brightness LEDs, particularly Cree’s Screen Master® high-brightness LEDs, can be driven at a lower power to save energy and extend the lifetime of indoor and outdoor video screen and billboards. With industry-leading water-resistant packaging, Cree’s versatile 3-in-1 LEDs feature superior color quality and contrast, as well as the high-intensity output and wide viewing angles needed for optimal fan viewing.
If you’re a University of Michigan Wolverine fan, you might have noticed the newly upgraded scoreboards in “The Big House.” The largest stadium in the United States, The Big House consistently boasts game day crowds of more than 100,000 fans.
Well those new scoreboards are courtesy of Lighthouse Technologies and feature more than three million Cree Screen Master CLV6A LEDs in these state-of-the-art LED video displays and scoreboards. Positioned in each of the end zones, these massive high-resolution LED video boards are 40 percent larger than the previous system, providing in-game broadcast capability, instant replay, animation and dynamic promotional content in vivid color and ultra-sharp detail – all while saving energy.
And the University of Michigan isn’t the only one getting in on this high-bright action. The American Airlines Center, the Dallas home to both the NBA’s Mavericks and NHL’s Stars, installed 25 Lighthouse LED video screens as part of a large-scale renovation project in 2010. It even included the first 1080×1920 high-definition video screen in any NBA or NHL facility.
So whether you’re enjoying game day updates at home or at the stadium, don’t forget that the high-resolution action is being brought to you thanks to high-quality, high-performing Cree LEDs.
October 25th, 2011
Cree Applications Engineers Investigate LEDs
Working for Cree can sometimes be about the nerdy-gritty intricacies of manufacturing an LED, but it’s not always that way – just take it from our Applications Engineers. If a component doesn’t perform like it should, their main responsibility involves finding out why. (Did you know their work helped initiate the need for our new TEMPO testing services?)
With all nerdiness aside, our apps engineers’ jobs are more like working as an investigator – or shall we say CSI: Cree Solid-state Investigators. They use crime-solving technical abilities to help our customers better understand LED components. By conducting physical, electrical and optical tests, they set out to find the real culprit. Recall that lab scene from last week’s CSI episode when the technician dusts for fingerprints, swabs various objects in hopes of finding foreign substances, or examining clothes with a magnifying glass to look for fibers? That’s along the lines of what our apps engineers do, well, maybe minus the intense music in the background. Sounds pretty cool, huh?
In addition to their role with us, our CSIs are passionate LED Revolutionaries, advocating LEDs as the energy-efficient lighting option. Aww, thanks gang! We’ll be sure to get you all bullet-proof lab coats for Christmas.
October 24th, 2011
Bye Bye Binning, Hello EasyWhite: How Cree’s EasyWhite technology simplifies designing with LEDs
Cree is celebrating Energy Awareness Month with a series of blog posts about ways Cree and our products are helping save energy.
Halloween is quickly approaching…the one time of year where it’s completely appropriate to dress up as your favorite SpongeBob characters and scare yourself silly with horror movies and haunted houses. One thing that’s not okay this Halloween? Being scared of LEDs.
For too long, lighting manufacturers and designers have been spooked by LEDs. Sure, hearing the terms black body locus, flux and ANSI (what?!) are enough to make even the toughest of us shake in our stylish yet affordable boots. One of the most bloodcurdling words to LED-phobes? Binning.
More than two years ago, thanks to EasyWhite technology, Cree removed the evil-ness of binning, which can simplify LED system design and improve LED-to-LED color consistency.
Before EasyWhite, lighting and fixture manufacturers had to play “mad scientist” and manually mix multiple LED bins to achieve the desired color consistency using recipes. Not only can this be complicated and time-consuming, sometimes it’s just plain impractical. Like when you’re designing those tiny MR-16 bulbs (track lighting) where you just can’t cram multiple LEDs into that small form factor to get that ‘just right’ color.
With EasyWhite, all you, Mr.-or-Ms.-Lighting-Designer, need to know is what color temperature (2700K, 3500K, etc.) and light output you want…and voila! Not at all scary, right?
The following Cree LEDs are currently available with EasyWhite color mixing technology: XLamp XM-L, MC-E, MT-G (perfect for that MR-16 bulb!) and MP-L LEDs (directional lighting), the easy-to-use CXA2011 LED array and the LMR4 LED module, which is hands-down, the easiest way to design with LEDs. For even more information on Cree’s EasyWhite technology, check out http://www.cree.com/xlamp/easywhite.asp.
At Cree, we’re constantly trying to remove the obstacles to using LEDs to create more energy-efficient fixtures. We believe the fewer challenges associated with LED-based fixtures, the more widespread the adoption of LED technology…which is a win-win for everyone.
So this Halloween, as you go door-to-door for sweet treats, you can be rest assured that Cree has taken the fear out of LEDs.
