Cree and LED lighting are starting a revolution
Today we’re unveiling a concept LED light bulb from our lighting research and development team the redefines what’s possible with high performance LED Lighting. Read the full announcement here and check out our video for a first look at the lamp.
Cree's 21st Century LED Lamp
The video also features an interview with Gerry Negley, Cree LED lighting chief technology officer and co-inventor of Cree TrueWhite™ Technology.
We get it. Not everyone is eager to break up with their incandescent light bulbs. There’s something comfortable about a screwing in the same type of bulb your great-great-great grandmother used. Change isn’t easy, even if it’s ultimately for the better.
But what we don’t get is how the media can continue to ignore LED lighting as an alternative to Thomas Edison’s energy-wasting lighting. The latest example is this article in the Charlotte Observer, which details examples of consumers hoarding incandescent light bulbs.
In the article, readers see anecdotes about North Carolina residents who are reportedly stockpiling boxes of incandescent light bulbs in advance of the government-mandated incandescent light bulb phase out. Then the article proceeds to detail concerns about compact fluorescent light bulbs, making it sound as if CFLs are the only option. There’s not one mention of the alternative that we know and love – LED lighting.
To add insult to injury, the article even references President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Cree, but the reporter fails to note that Cree is an LED lighting manufacturer writing: “Incandescents, little changed since the days of Edison, use about 75 percent more energy than CFLs and produce more heat. In fact, President Barak Obama visited Durham to tour a manufacturing facility of energy-efficient lights and tout job creation.”
This isn’t the first time an entire news story on the incandescent lighting phase out has failed to mention LED lighting. We told you about our disappointment with a recent NBC Nightly News story that left out LEDs. No doubt, this won’t be the last time LEDs are slighted in the news media.
LED lighting isn’t some fly-by-night fad. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy projects that in the next 20 years LED lighting will account for the majority of lighting applications, with commercial applications leading the way. The DOE also forecasts that businesses will replace about 80 percent of their incandescent and halogen lighting with LED fixtures by 2025, according to EE Times.
Every time reporters omit LED lighting from stories about the incandescent phase out, they are doing a disservice to their audiences. These omissions leave consumers feeling like their only choices are twisty toxic fluorescents.
We hope you’ll join us in our efforts to educate people about LED lighting. If you see an article that doesn’t tell all sides of the lighting story, tweet us, facebook us, or just leave a comment of your own at the bottom of it. As LED Revolutionaries, we must all do our part to spread factual information about energy-efficient LED lighting.
What would happen if you walked around and asked all of your coworkers to tell you how many lumens the lights in their homes put out?
Chances are they wouldn’t have the faintest idea (unless you work for a lighting company, but that’s another story). Your coworkers, your friends — heck, even your mom — could probably tell you how many Watts the lights in their homes consume. But when it comes to lumens, you might get a few blank stares.
That’s why the Department of Energy is launching a new consumer education campaign this fall to educate the public about lumens, which measure light output. It won’t be long before Watts will take a backseat on lighting packaging. When the new Lighting Facts labels begin appearing on light bulb packaging next year, the front of the package will display the number of lumens a light contains. This will help tell consumers how bright the light they’re buying will be. The more lumens, the greater the light output.
This becomes particularly important as we get closer to the first phase of the U.S. incandescent ban, which starts in 2012, when 100W incandescent lights are phased out. Then, in the following two years, the U.S. will say goodbye to 75W, 60W and 40W bulbs thanks to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. As more energy-efficient lighting options like LEDs enter the market, consumers are going to have to learn to look at lumens to gauge the light output they’re looking for.
We’re looking forward to learning more about the DOE’s consumer education initiative. In the meantime, we’re pleased to see the DOE is expanding its presence online. You can now:
And, of course, you can find us on most of these networks too. Just click the icons in the upper right corner of our blog.
I marched (OK, technically, I walked) in a circle on a street corner in downtown Raleigh yesterday with a group of passionate LED supporters and chanted:
“Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, LEDs are here to stay!
One, Two, Three, Four, Kick Fluorescents out the door!”
That’s not all. We had signs. A lot of signs. Hand-painted signs. Signs that declared our love for energy-efficient LED lights.
You’re probably wondering if we lost our minds. But I can assure you, we had a plan. You see, at approximately 5:45 p.m., just as our toes started to go numb in the chilly temperatures, a group of 100+ people rounded the corner.
But this wasn’t just a random mob, they were folks who knew a lot about LEDs. The group was on an LED Lighting Walking Tour of downtown Raleigh as part of the Department of Energy Solid State Lighting Research and Design Conference (or DOE SSL R&D for short).
Seeing their shocked faces was all it took for us to spring to action. We hoisted our signs in the air and started our chant.
Within seconds, digital cameras, cell phone and video cameras were fixed on us as we continued to walk in our circle. I tried not to make eye contact with anyone because it’s hard to stay composed when you’re hollering a chant. But I couldn’t miss the smiles, the curious looks, the camera flashes—and even a smattering of applause.
So what the heck were we doing? We were showing industry professionals that we’re serious about the LED Lighting Revolution. We truly believe LED lighting is better than incandescent, fluorescent and other lighting technologies. We truly believe the energy savings that can be achieved by switching to LED lights is worthwhile.
And we wanted those conference goers — the very people who have the potential to help change the way we light the world – to know that we’re out there paving the way for LED lighting by raising awareness.
LEDs Rock! If you were at the conference and saw the rally, please let me know in the comments section. I would love to see your photos and video.
