Control Freak

If you like to control things LED lighting could be your friend. Of course light fixtures can't speak (yet!), but if an LED fixture could speak it'd tell you that it doesn't mind being controlled, in fact, it actually prefers it.
We can preach the benefits of LED lighting all day every day. The two things most people hear are energy savings and maintenance savings. That's a great start. But then we talk about being able to use daylight harvesting, task tuning, occupancy sensors, load shedding and then the discussion begins.....controlling the LEDs.
If you are planning a project/job/building and are planning on using LED lighting, good job. If you're not planning to control it, shame on you. This is where return on investment, significant energy savings, moving into the 'future' by way of controls comes into play and combined with LED technology, you have a win-win.

When I talk about controlling LEDs there are so many different ways to control them, it'd be impossible to discuss in one blog post.
A couple of easily understood ways:
1. Daylight Harvesting. You set up a sensor to read daylight in a conference room, for instance, and tell it you want maintained 40 footcandles. The fixture will dim down as the daylight increases and will ramp back up as the daylight decreases. Nobody has to work in the dark or a dimly lit room, nobody has to manually dim the lights, nobody has to think about it. Back to ideal energy efficiency, doing the same or more by using less energy, not having to change behavior.

2. Personal controls and occupancy sensors. Many are familiar with occupancy sensors, you walk into a bathroom and the lights come on, you leave your office for 5 minutes and when you come back it's dark. Add to that the ability to dim your office lights from your PC, or have your occupancy sensor read that you're not moving and have the personal control on your PC tell it you're in your office and typing and the office is still occupied. It sounds a little futuristic, but it's here.

I realize that just because you buy a 4 bedroom house doesn't mean you MUST go and have 3 children to fill it. So, just because you have LED lighting doesn't mean you HAVE to control it, it's just strongly suggested (and childbirth is NOT involved).

Something to think about

The US Dept. of Energy estimates there are at least 500 million recessed lights installed in US homes and more than 20 million are sold each year?

The average downlight has a 65w lamp in it. The Cree LLS LR6 downlight is 12w.

Does your calculator have enough zeros for you to see what the potential is?

My challenge to you: Be open to change

As an LED guru I spend a lot of time reading about, blogging about, hearing about LEDs and LED products. Guess it's a great thing I like what I do, or else what fun would this all be!?!

Here's my challenge to you: Be open to change.
Here's what I mean...
If they come out with an all electric car, would you expect to take your car to a shop and have them replace your car's guts with electric car guts and you drive away with a brand new-to-you electric car? No, likely you would have to buy a new car.
If you want a flat panel tv (if you're like me and don't already have one), do you take yours into the store and they modify it to be flat panel? No, you want new technology, you'd have to buy a new TV.

This is going to be very true with LED technology. Often times we will have to change a fixture, and not just a light bulb. LED light bulbs have their place and we need to be sure we're using them where they make sense and we pass on them when they're not the right choice, but all the while we're thinking about the bigger picture.

You have a flood light and you are tired of changing bulbs. The quick thought may be to switch to an LED bulb The right answer will likely be to change the fixture. Sure, it sounds like more work, I totally get that, but I'm not asking you to go change the fixtures...just be open to the possibility that it may take a little extra investment, that a fixture made for LED lighting is always going to be the better fit.

You have a 2x4 troffer and a guy stops by your office trying to sell you a T8 replacement bulb lined with LEDs. Probably not the right choice, not that I've seen yet anyways. Instead of buying 3 bulbs at $100 each, maybe we change that fixture to an LED 2x2 downlight and avoid the interim/quick/swaparoo and get you into something actually built for LED lighting, all for about the same price.

It's not a demand...just a friendly challenge. If some us were able to try or tolerate the curly CFL bulbs, we can certainly give LEDs a little more respect (they deserve it) and think of it as more of a technology swap out than just a bulb change.

White LEDs // LED White Light

I never dream of a white Christmas (having 6 months of cold each year truly and honestly makes me dream only of a tropical and warm Christmas). I never dream about a big white wedding (I mean, a comfy pair of jeans and Elvis in Vegas sounds like a much better story for the grandkids). I don’t even dream about living in the White House (I mean, why would I, I do lighting, not politics). But what I do dream about is THE white LED. Yeah...I know...

The white LED is the Holy Grail in the lighting industry. He who holds the white LED holds the fortunes (I should be a fortune cookie writer…note to self-possible career change...wonder how it pays).

When I write about white LED products I purposely say “LED white light.” It’s because, although it’s acceptable in the industry to say white LED product (and mean white light), I don’t want to be accused by the LEDs of being politically incorrect. In the past 1-2 years we’ve seen an explosion of white light LED products hit the market (some that are great, some that weren’t ready, some that are tolerable, and some in the middle). But they’re not white LEDs.

LED white light is typically made up in variations of three ways:

1. By using a red, blue, green LED combined at full to give you white light. It works, it’s not the best white light out there, giving mediocre color rendering, but if you want a fixture with color changing abilities, the ability to put RGB to full and get a version of white light is only an added bonus. In theory, too, if you have RGB and control over the intensities of the colors, you can make yourself a better looking white to match your need.

2. By using a blue LED covered in a phosphor that gives it a white appearance. If you want to put yourself into a Wiki coma reading about blue LED phosphor, please feel free. Essentially depending on the chemical mix of the phosphor used it will create different colors of white light. I know some great products that use this method, and if it's a quality product, using quality LEDs then you should have a good white. If you don't...then you could end up with a variation of white that may not be a good one, that may be a completely different color than the other part in a 2-pack, or even 6 different whites in a 6-pack. (A mfg. named Color Kinetics combats this very issue with a proprietary binning method I will talk about in a future post).

3. And the third and final method I’m bursting with excitement to discuss is Cree LED Lighting's TrueWhite Technology. The phrase is trademarked. The method is patented (I think). And it’s easy to see why, because it’s amazing what they’re doing and on the surface it seems so simplistic, but Cree LED Lighting….they hit the ball out of the park on this one.
Cree LED Lighting's TrueWhite Technology:
They use a proprietary mix of yellow and red LEDs to create the white light. That’s the ‘seems so simplistic’ part. Then, every fixture (and now, every lamp) has an active color management system, which is a chip inside of the fixture that reads the light output and adjusts the red &/or yellow LEDs as necessary to maintain the same color temperature. All LEDs, over time, fade. And LEDs age (fade) at different rates. As the red LEDs fade and the yellow fade, at different rates remember, the other will adjust by getting more or less bright to maintain the same color temperature. This means if you have 100 LR6 downlights in an office building, in 5 years, they will all look like each other. And then you go to add 50 more…those will look the same, too.
Other methods of white lighting with LEDs are not as reliable. LEDs are not an exact science. You could buy 10 LED bulbs, all say 3500K, all from the same bulb mfg., all with LEDs from the same LED mfg. and you could plug them in side-by-side and they are then all different variations of colors. One may be a little greenish, one a little pink, one a little too warm, etc. Imagine all those bulbs are inside of a large fixture that’s telling the yellowish one and the greenish to burn less bright, and has the pink one burn at max to produce the PERFECT 3500K you were promised. That is what Cree LED Lighting is doing and it’s in EVERY FIXTURE. It’s not an adder and the products equipped with this fantastic technology aren’t priced higher than comparable products (in fact the LR6, at under $100, is one of the lower priced LED downlights on the market).
It is also important to note that the mfg. Cree makes LEDs that other companies use in their products, as they are one of the handful of LED manufacturers who produce well made LEDs. Cree LED Lighting is a division of Cree that uses the technology and colored LEDs as I describe above specifically in their products.
PLEASE NOTE: I do not work for Cree and they’re not paying me to write this (but if you’re with Cree and reading this and want to, please drop me a line).

This all leads to one last question: Who's up for a tropical Christmas?

Meet you in MAUI!!!!

LR6 - 6" LED retrofit module by Cree LLS

LED White Lighting for residential and commercial applications is now practical, both in performance & economics. Cree has received national recognition for the performance of their products, including having won numerous government awards. They have made “going green” easy, affordable, and ready to install. Cree LED Lighting Solutions: http://www.creells.com/

6” (LR6) Downlight Features
Available in warm (2700K, LR6) and neutral (3500K, LR6C) color temperatures
12 watts per fixture, 650 lumens
50,000 hour lamp life (approx. 20 years for residential use)
Contains NO mercury
92+ CRI, Damp Location Rated
Designed for new construction or retrofitting existing applications
Fits into many new and existing 6” housings, including IC rated housings
Dimming capabilities to 25% of full

The manufacturer's website is wonderful and easy to use. In the upper right corner they have a download center that gets you spec sheets on all products, ies files, housings/dimmers compatibility and more. Their website also features a "news" tab that shows so many accomplishments, awards, ratings, high profile installations (including installing their new 2x2 troffers in the Pentagon).http://www.creells.com/PressRelease.aspx?ID=33

Options and differences: The key to the LR6 is to not make it complicated. So here's the skinny on the options:

1. Each 6" downlight is available in a medium base (Edison Base) and a Gu-24 base. Typical retrofit applications will have existing medium base. New construction, California residents (title 24 compliance) will be the ones to typically use the GU-24 base. Cost of LED module would be the same regardless of base.

2. They have an adjustable 'eyeball' version available. You can't add an 'eyeball trim' to an existing LED module, you would buy LE6 version (choose base/color temp), which comes standard with the adjustable 'eyeball'.

3. There is a surface mount housing available to put a standard LR6 into. Offered in white and black.

4. Cree also offers a line of new construction housings. What makes their housing special is that it's rated for 12w only. This means if you're running HVAC loads on a new building, you only have to account for a max of 12W to be used in that fixture--period.

5. The standard LR6 is all one piece (no loose trim), and you do not need to buy a separate trim, but if you want to 'jazz' up the look a bit, they have additional trims you can buy to add to the fixture.

A quick internet search for "LR6" reveals you can get these LED modules many places for under $100. These are great for residential or commercial use. By way of commercial use, imagine retrofitting a 10 story building and not have anyone call about a light bulb needing changed for 8+ years (or 16+ years if ran 12hrs a day/5 days a week). Imagine being able to easily dim the lights in your office to 50% on most days because the window provides the rest of the light needed or dim more if you have a headache.

You don't see the LEDs, you can look at it without seeing spots for 5 minutes afterwards, there are no loose parts, it's quick and easy and relatively inexpensive as compared to 'competition'. Definitely check it out, put a couple on your front porch or in an office at your business, see if people notice.

NOTE: Look for future blog on Cree's TrueWhite™ Technology, how they get white light, and how their method is not only different, but better for numerous reasons!

LED Quality Advocates

Let's all cheer!!! HOORAY!!!

--Wait...why are we cheering?
Because LEDs have quality advocates!!!!
--Um, is that a reason to celebrate?
From someone in the business to someone reading my blog, my answer is a great big YES!!!!!!

Here's why.
We need truth (and consistency) in advertising. If they say I get 100 pepperonis on my large pizza, I don't want 45.

Right now, an LED product can give you its stats (it's this bright, it uses this many watts, it is this color temperature, and has this CRI), but it doesn't have to tell you how they came up with those numbers, they aren't required to send to a third party for testing, heck, they're not even required to tell you any of that information to begin with. And as a consumer, what are you to do? You can spend lots of money to buy lots of products to see which are the best. You can read mfg. websites and really try your best to make an informed decision. You can just wait 10 years and see if this new fancy-schmancy technology will last and what products have risen to the top (PS. where this may even sound logical, think of the energy savings you could have saved by then).

Lighting Facts, SSL Lighting Advocates has established a voluntary pledge that manufacturers can take and use the Lighting Facts trademarked label on their products that pledges that they used the correct methods to obtain the information shown on the label. The label shows lumens, efficacy, watts, correlated color temperature (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI) — as measured by the new industry standard for testing photometric performance, IES LM-79-2008.

They say it best, "For the solid-state lighting (SSL) market to grow, consumers must have confidence that the product they are buying is well designed and performs to their expectations."
http://www.lightingfacts.com/

If you're interested in LED lighting, or you are solicited by someone selling LED lighting, ask them if the mfg. has pledged to use the testing methods as outlined by Lighting Facts, look for the mfg. name on the website, we need to work together to be sure you're receiving quality product, you're comparing comparable information, your decision is an informed one based on good information. It's a great website, it discusses further the anatomy of the Lighting Facts label, I would encourage everyone interested in LEDs to check it out. I guarantee you'll read something that is new to you, something you wouldn't have know to look for, something you didn't know could vary among products.

Lastly, it's important to note that very big and major LED manufacturers have signed on to this, they want to be among those making, testing, and delivering quality products. I don't believe this Lighting Facts label to be insignificant, in fact, it's a huge LEAP in the right direction for LED advocacy.

LED Competition

If LEDs were a high school varsity basketball team, its biggest competition would be its junior varsity team.

Here's what I mean. I fully and freely admit that LED technology and products are not yet available to replace all types of existing lighting. But from what is available, it's clear that fluorescent, CFL, metal halide and incandescent are really no competition for LEDs. All things considered, with it's typically high CRI, low wattage, robustness, and ability to be digitally controlled, a good LED product (where one is available as a replacement) will beat out those competitors hands down.

But the JV team, the not-as-good LED products, the under-tested LED products, the sub-par LED products, the too-quick-to-market, that's where the competition is. This is where manufacturers selling good quality LED products and salespeople representing good quality LED products will find customer hesitation, distrust, skepticism.
Try to sell LED downlights to a homeowner who spent $150 last year on an LED light bulb that he was told would last his lifetime that didn't end up lasting 6 months. Try to sell an LED 2x2 troffer to the building owner who has bought LED landscape lights at the local hardware store only to see they're not bright enough and are too blue. Try to sell LED cove light to the university that bought LED replacement bulbs off a sales guy three months ago only to have the staff complain that they don't look right and they want the old lighting back.

Like with any new (or new-ish) technology, you have to do your research before making an informed decision. But then the question becomes, are you really informed correctly? Is the information the mfg. is giving you correct? Is it being gathered the same way other manufacturers are gathering their information? We may be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for just this dilemma. Stay tuned for more info!

LED Benefits, at a glance

Below is a quick run down of some of the great benefits of LED lighting. If you're a guru like me, you probably already know them, if you're not then you may find one or two that surprise you.

Energy Efficient--Potential of 90%+ efficiency (common household lamp has 9%). Promising future of producing more light than heat from energy consumed.

Long Life--Potentially in excess of 100K hours, which, if powered for an average of 12 hours a day, could last for more than 23 years; 4X longer than fluorescent, 20X longer than household incandescent. White light products will typically have 50,000 hours listed on the product; we'll talk more about this in a future blog. (Great for places where it's hard to change bulbs, in coves where you won't have to worry about dark spots, for building owners to cut down on maintenance costs)

Robustness--No glass or filament to break. Can withstand extreme environments. Vibration resistant. (A great option for over/near food, in elevators, where people could touch/reach) Low

Temperature Performance--LEDs start and operate easily in low temperature environments. (Soffits around a home, provide a virtual instant on and full brightness even at -20 deg.)

Digital Control--As the world becomes a digital society, SSL is already a digital system and offers easy interfacing with other digitally technologies like sound, data, motion, etc. Ability to control from a computer, PDA, building management system, time clock, etc. (Also allowing smart controls, which we will discuss later as well, which include daylight harvesting, task tuning, personal controls, smart time scheduling and variable load shedding).

Full Color Spectrum--Red Green Blue (RGB) used to produce any color. Because filters aren’t being used and absorbing a portion of the light, deeper color saturation can be achieved. Also, allowing white light to be achieved through different methods (more on this to come as we discuss some really awesome white light products).

Optical Control--The size of an LED is very small, emitting light in a very narrow beam, controls light with extremely high efficiency. Less light required to perform certain functions because of the control, thus also resulting in energy efficiency of the system.

Low Voltage operation--Generally operate on low voltage DC power. Very safe to install and operate. More line voltage products are coming to market, typically where it makes the most sense, meaning no transformers, no power supplies.

Instant On & Color Rendering

A little more work? Okay. A little more money? Okay.
But if you propose I use “green” window cleanser and it leaves streaks, no way.
If you purpose I use an all organic fertilizer on my garden and the yield is half the size and half as tasty, no way. I won’t give up trying, but I won’t use those particular products again.
I find this to be true with CFL lighting. We’re encouraged to buy and use. And to be honest, I tried it. But it’s not what I expected.
It’s not instant on, not instant full brightness and lacked good color rendering and those were major turn-offs. It’s not going to cause you to run into walls because it doesn't come on instantly or it's too dim. It’s not going to cause you to not see colors. It’s just overall going to be a nuisance and some may tolerate but some will throw in the towel.

LEDs are not quite ready to take over the screw-in CFL market (by way of a one for one replacement of a standard incandescent A lamp) yet. There is no LED-source light bulb that looks like an incandescent bulb, performs the same, and is affordable. In fact, the US Government has a multi-million dollar reward out now for the first person to manufacture a product up to the standards they’ve set for light output, color rendering, lamp life, and all at a sell price a typical homeowner can afford. We know what we like, THE light bulb. If we are expected to change, give us an alternative that looks like it and performs like it. It’ll be here sooner than later and from that point on CFL will phase out and nobody will look back. Why would we?

But there are LED products on the market today that compete head-to-head with incandescent products and CFL products. So just because you can’t replace the light bulb in your reading lamp with LED, doesn’t mean you can’t switch SOME lighting over to LED today. It only means for new construction projects, residential and commercial, you should be thinking of LEDs from the beginning. How to integrate? How to maximize return on investment? How to truly be energy efficient? I’ll start showing some products in days to come. It’s time to put products where my blog is.

LED Lighting and the Cost of Energy

When blogging and doing research it's sometimes hard to trace back to where you originally read an idea you're interested in, not to mention when researching the same topics over and over, you usually read many different variations of the same ideas. With that said, this was something I came across while researching that I can't trace back to its roots that's too good to not share:

Depending on where you live in the US the price you pay for electricity will typically range from $.06-$.17. The average rate in the us is around $.10 per kilowatt hour.
So, in using ROUGH numbers and assuming some averages, here's a rule of thumb that you won't soon forget if you're thinking energy efficiency:

One Watt for One Year is One Dollar.

The second you change out a 65W downlight with an LED downlight at 12W you start to save money. Yes, an LED downlight costs more initially than an incandescent downlight but where do I begin?
The basics, whether you amortize the cost of a $20 downlight or a $100 downlight out over a 15 or 30 year mortgage, you're talking about cents/dollars per fixture, but that's only half the story. The other half is energy savings. Take $5 from your right pocket, put into left pocket, you still have $5 (let's just hope that's not ALL you have!). So, you pay more for the LED fixture in your mortgage payment, but you get the money back in savings from your energy bill. OR, your mortgage is lower because the lighting is cheaper, but your electric bill is higher because you're using many more watts per fixture.

Using for 5-6 hours a day, with a relatively low $.075 kwh, you would SAVE MONEY (not just break even) the first month for every LED downlight as compared to an incandescent downlight. (Cost of fixture in your mortgage payment vs. monthly electric bill)

I have info worked up on this at a couple of different kwh costs if you would like to see where my numbers come from. It's a little busy, but for someone interested, it's just right!!

Can LEDs be dimmed?

Absolutely. This is one of the MANY reasons that LEDs are superior to CFL lighting. There may be products that specifically say non-dimming and there may be other products that require a specific type of dimmer, but there are bright spots in both. First, if a product is specifically labeled non-dimming, there is a good chance there is a dimming version also or a similar product that can be dimmed. Second, most dimmers needed for LED lighting are available at your local hardware/home improvement store. There is nothing complicated in the process.

What's more...we all know LEDs have a very long life and when dimmed--it makes them last even longer!!!

Do LEDs really save energy? Do they last forever?

They absolutely save energy and more importantly save money! For example, every one of those down lights in your house could be 12 watts instead of 65. Imagine saving 80% of the energy you are using now. They aren't perfect or ready for every application, but they are great for down lights, cove, undercabinet and landscaping. And they are ready NOW.

LEDs don't last forever, but they can last decades. They will last 50-75 times longer than a comparable incandescent and 6-8 times as long as compact fluorescent light bulbs(CFL). Imagine putting in a down light when your child is born and not changing it until they graduate college. Another great thing about LEDs is that the typical number of hours you hear for white lighting is in the 30,000-50,000 hours range. This is not like incandescent lighting hours where at the average life you can expect half of the light bulbs to be burnt out and half to still be working. This is saying that at the average rated hours, the LEDs will be at 70% of what they were when they were new. LEDs do NOT burn out at end of life, they gradually fade out.

Making History

Can you imagine in 20 years that our kids or grandchildren could be asking us what that thing is over the person's head to indicate a 'great idea'? It's likely when LEDs become more mainstream that manufacturers will attempt to keep the shape of the bulbs we know today,

but it's not a guarantee.

We're in the midst of a major fundamental shift.

If you're not sure LEDs are here to stay, or wonder what impact the change will make on our society, take a look at some other major fundamental shifts in our history:
Oil Lamp to Electric Light Bulb

Horse & Buggy to Automobile
Analog to Digital

Getting Started

In writing a blog about sustainable lighting (primarily LED lighting and controls), assumptions have to be kept in check. I will assume that people have heard the term “LED”, know that it’s a form of lighting, and can likely point out LED lighting in their everyday lives, all at the very least. From here, I will expand on specific and general topics (some will be lighting in general, some on LED technology, products, benefits, controls, energy efficiency, sustainability, you know—all the good “green” stuff). Feel free to question what I say, ask for more information, ask the reasons I believe something to be true. I’d welcome the discussion.

Also, if you want a technical explanation of what an LED is or the electrical properties (how it produces light, the alloys used to create the colors, etc) I will assume you will do a quick search online to find all that info and more.

LED stands for lighting emitting diodes. They’ve been around since the 60s but it has really been the past decade that they have gone from indication to illumination. By this, I mean, we’re all used to seeing the LED indication light in our laptops, cell phones, other electronics. We’re even used to seeing them in traffic lights and some car/truck tail lights (whether we knew it or not). But illumination such as task lighting and general lighting is new-ish (last few years), but the good news is that it is here and there are some great products out there that give you all the LED benefits and MORE.