Solid State Lighting - LED Technology
No other lighting technology offers as much potential to save energy and enhance the quality of our building environments, contributing to our nation's energy and climate change solutions.” -U.S. Department of Energy
Solid-state lighting uses light-emitting diodes or "LEDs" for illumination. This is the same kind of functional and inexpensive technology found in clock radios, televisions, toys, signs and displays. The term "solid-state" refers to the fact that the light in an LED is emitted from a solid object—a block of semiconductor—rather than from a vacuum or gas tube, as in the case of incandescent and fluorescent lighting. Green Atom Inc. can provide a retrofit program to upgrade a facility’s lighting through a program uniquely tailored to our client’s needs. LED Light bulbs are semiconductors, just like a computer chip. When electricity is passed through them, they emit energy in the form of light. They are injected with various mixes if chemicals that determine their light color. LEDs convert the majority of energy passed through them to light, as opposed to incandescent bulbs that produce light as a by-product of being heated thus they can be up to 90% more efficient than traditional household filament bulbs.
Blue LED, mixed with phosphors to make white light, is a semiconductor that produces light by combining positive and negative charges inside an Indium –Gallium-Nitride (InGaN) crystal. Interestingly, the semiconductor positive charges combine with negative charges (electrons) to produce light (photons), which is the opposite flow of solar electricity created through a solar cell. Benefits:
We offer clients a green energy choice without sacrificing quality. Our program is designed to allow customers to substanially reduce their energy consumption through the deployment of new technology. The program is designed to provide an actual reduction in total cost of lighting including the electrical utility costs attributable to lighting. Depending on the needs of the client and the suitability of various financing solutions, the client can be provided with the option of a zero or low advance cost program.
What is LED technology?
** Immediate and continual financial savings
• Increase the value of your business asset
• Increase the value of the real estate asset, by up to $20 per kilowatt used saved (if you are owner).
• Reduce your AC consumption by up to 25% and therefore reduce energy and maintenance.
• Reduction of fire insurance premiums
• Long-term reduction in maintenance labor related to lighting due to the longer service lives of replacement products.
• Long term reduction in cost of bulbs.
• Significant and immediate reduction in the cost of related air-conditioning expenses.
• Long term reduction in cost of disposal of fluorescent bulbs in accordance with EPA regulations.
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Lighting
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OFFICE LIGHTING
LED lighting through Lighting Panel products can replace existing 2x4 or 2x4 fluorescent tube fixtures. Light panels feature lightweight, sturdy design, often made of light aircraft grade aluminum to provide a superior strength to weight ratio. LED technology uses less energy and gives off less heat than traditional incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Many of Green Atom's commercial and office fixtures also include smart technology which offers infrared occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting to account for outdoor and ambient light, the availability to remotely control intensity and color temperature, and unique communication software.
Industrial & Warehouse Lighting
LED lighting using Highbay Replacements can replace Metal Halide fixtures ranging from 375W to 1050W. LED fixtures will typically replace these fixtures between 55W and 110W.
LED Highbays are lightweight (14 lbs), convenient, and feature long lasting, explosion proof technology. With a 75,000 hour lifespan, these retrofits are ideal for commercial, industrial and warehousing facilities.
Solid State Lighting - Quality
James Brodrick, Department of Energy, SSL Portfolio Manager, states “Strong market penetration of LEDs will ultimately result in extremely significant energy savings, as much as 10% of national electricity consumption. Both these efforts get to the heart of DOE’s efforts – assuring consumers are presented with quality products.”
The rapidly growing pace of Solid State Lighting technology “LED Lighting” coupled with a growing public awareness of the importance of energy efficiency to our national economy and our energy and environmental future has led to the accelerated introduction of many Solid State Lighting products. The current task at hand regarding LED lighting is to make intelligent decisions regarding market introduction of this new breed of technology.
2008 was the year of standards. Data and resources from research and development of Solid State Lighting technologies have flooded the market. According to the new report “LED Replacement Lamps – Market Analysis and Forecast, 2009” by Strategies Unlimited, market conditions are right for the LED replacement lamp market to accelerate in the next few years. The report analyses five LED based lamp types that are designed to replace lamps that currently populate billions of sockets: A lamps and globes, PAR and R lamps; MR-16s: candelabra and decorative lamps, and linear fluorescent tubes. Dramatic performance improvements in commercially available LEDs in recent years, as well as significant cost reduction, have made it feasible to design LED lamps to offer comparable lumen output and to complete with other established lighting technologies on the basis of cost of ownership. The market is in a state of flux as utilties, energy efficient organizations and customers look for optimum solutions which save energy, minimize the cost of ownership, and give accepatbel quality of light. Customers are in the process of being educated about comparing cost of ownership, rather than looking just at the initial price of lamps.
LED measurement differs from traditional methods for measuring lighting performance. Conventional lighting sources are usually tested using Relative Photometry: the luminaire is measured, and then the lams and ballasts are removed and measured separately. After that, luminaire efficiency can be calculated, with luminous intensity distribution scaled to candela per rated lumen. Photometric testing for LED products uses Absolute Photometry, which allows a more accurate measurement of the complete LED device performance versus bare lamp performance.
Photometric testing allows lighting performance to be evaluated using a number of key metrics, including total luminous flux (lumens), luminaire efficiency (lumens per watt) and luminous intensity (candela). This testing helps predict the performance of the luminaire in its application and also delivers metrics for evaluating the light’s color, providing CCT (color correlated temperature), CRI (color rendering index) and chromacity coordinates.
Standards and Quality Assurance measures include the CALiPER program from the Department of Energy, and LM-79 and LM-80 testing. CALiPER results inform industry test procedures and standards development, while discouraging low quality products and reducing SSL market risk. CALiPER testing has improved market and industry awareness, resulting in improvements in SSL product literature, articles and discussions, and created excellent preparation for Energy Star qualification program.
Learn more about Testing and Standards:
LM 79 testing
Links & Resources
Solid State Lighting - NREL LED Case Studies American Lighting Association
Solid State Lighting.org Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance Sandia National Labs
Department of Energy (DOE) - LED Lighting Paper: Energy Strategy for the Road Ahead
Proper Disposal of Fluorescent and CFL Bulbs is a must. Click here to learn about Green Atom's disposal methods.
Which lighting source is the best? LED Lighting = Less Heat & More Light
Standard Light Bulbs, also known as incandescent, create light by passing electricity through a metal filament, when the filament becomes hot enough it glows. Incandescent bulbs give off about 90% of the energy they consume in the form of heat.
CFL Light Bulbs, also known as Compact Fluorescent Lighting, creates light by passing electricity through a tube containing gases. This reaction produces ultraviolet light that is transformed into visible light by the phosphor coating inside the tune. CFL bulbs give off about 90% of the energy they consume in the form of heat.
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. LEDs are small light sources that become illuminated by the movement of electrons through a semiconductor material. LEDs are cool to the touch and 90% of the energy they consume is given off in the form of light, with less than 10% given off as heat.
