2011年3月30日 星期三

City to replace streetlights with LED bulbs

Within 10 months, Pittsburgh hopes to replace about 3,000 streetlights in the city's business districts with LED bulbs that are brighter and cheaper to light.

City Council on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to the city's first lighting code, which Councilman Bill Peduto said will provide "light equity" -- meaning that all neighborhoods will be lighted equally. He cited Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside as one area that is over-lighted.

Some areas "have streetlights on every pole, and others have just one light at an intersection," Peduto said.

Pittsburgh would be the latest community in western Pennsylvania to upgrade its streetlights with LED technology. In 2009, New Kensington received a $213,000 federal grant to replace nearly 180 lights. City Clerk Dennis Scarpiniti said the city saves about $2,000 a month on its utility bills, but he added that he was unsure how much the LED lights contributed to that savings. The city locks in its utility rates.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration has been working for more than two years on plans to upgrade streetlights. Peduto hopes the city would start seeking bids for the lights' replacement in June, and that work would begin in the fall.

The lights will be replaced throughout the city's 50 business districts. Peduto said the effort would be expanded to the rest of the city, which has nearly 40,000 streetlights, during the next few years, though funding has not been secured yet.

An $800,000 state grant would pay for some of the initial work in the business districts, Peduto said. James Sloss, the city's engineering and utilities manager, said the rest of the cost would come from the city's 2011 utility fund.

Some contract changes saved the city more than $500,000, money that can go toward the project, Sloss said.

Pittsburgh is spending about $1 million a year to maintain its streetlights and another $1.1 million on electricity, he noted.

By the time all of the lights are replaced, Sloss said, the city could be saving more than $1.3 million a year.

There are about 50 LED streetlights in the city right now, he said, including along Grandview Avenue in Mt. Washington; in Schenley Park; and along part of Walnut Street in Shadyside.

Finelite Introduces New Energy-Efficient LED Desk Lamp – Reach by Finelite

Finelite announces the second in a series of energy-efficient LED desk lamps – the Reach. The ENERGY STAR® qualified desk lamp is available now for anyone who wants more light for less cost.

Following in the footprints of first-generation lamp Curve, Reach offers the same award-winning technology but with an added twist – an adjustable arm lets you fine-tune your light with ease. Anyone with a workspace – commercial or residential - will love the flexibility to light your entire task area with a single desk lamp.

Efficient energy in a sleek design.

Like light bulbs, LEDs generate heat. Reach solves this thermal management problem with internal heat transfer pads and a head designed to radiate heat away from vital internal components, so you get enhanced light output and a long-term product life.

Plus, there are two stylish head designs to choose from: Viper has a triangular geometric shape, while Velo offers you a smooth, curved look. Whatever you choose, your Reach lamp will make a contemporary statement in any office.

2011年3月27日 星期日

Vermont towns turning to LED lights

LED lights, those darlings of environmentalists and the budget conscious, are hitting the streets.


The light-emitting diodes, which can use as much as 70 percent less energy as traditional lights, have been turning up regularly in car headlights, traffic signals, aviation lights and increasingly in home interior lighting.

GU10 LED Light bulbs 
GU10 LED Light bulbs




Now they're taking over street lighting in Vermont.


Waterbury is installing several dozen along Main and Stowe streets. They're in Winooski's city parking garage. A few have gone up in Burlington, and the city is toying with the idea of making LED streetlights far more widespread. Colchester has a Town Meeting Day ballot item that, if approved, would mean LED streetlights along all town roads.


Environmentalists love LED lights. They use so much less energy than traditional bulbs that their increased use could delay or even eliminate the need to build more electrical power plants, environmental experts and activists say. Many such plants spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which scientists agree would hasten and worsen global warming.


Budget cutters embrace LED, too. The more than five dozen LED street lights are expected to save Waterbury about $3,000 year, said Waterbury Community Planner Steve Lotspeich. Colchester, too, would see savings from the LED lights and take advantage of a grant to pay for the cost of installing the new lights, said Colchester Public Works Director Bryan Osborne.

2011年3月23日 星期三

Elemental LED Offers New Resources for Large LED Lighting Installations

New Products, Installation Tutorials and Wiring Diagrams make it Easier and More Affordable for Customers to Install 12V LED Lighting in Large Spaces

San Francisco, CA - March 21, 2011 - Elemental LED, a San Francisco Bay Area-based lighting company, now offers installation tutorials and products for large LED lighting installations. These new offerings position the company as a resource to large buyers seeking products and expertise on 12V LED lighting. The tutorials include video, written instructions, and wiring diagrams on how to configure 12V LED lighting products for large spaces. Elemental LED is offering 100-foot LED strip light spools and high wattage capacity 12V drivers in response to customer demand and as part of an effort to offer a spectrum of resources for large installation buyers.

"12V DC installation is new to almost everyone and we are proud to be an educational resource," says Elemental LED CEO Max Darling. "Educating our customers about the run limits of LED fixtures and the issue of voltage drop is essential for large installations."

Observing run limits when stringing together multiple feet of LED strip lights or fixtures insures that those LED fixtures will not lose power and will last a long time. Elemental LED provides a comprehensive run limit table, which includes each of the company's LED lighting fixture and strip light products.

The new tutorial explains how to avoid voltage drop when installing an LED fixture far from a 12V power source and how to avoid overloading a 12V driver. Wiring diagrams provide installation examples of how to properly configure LED lighting fixtures, power supplies and wiring that adhere to run limits and avoid voltage drop.

Elemental LED added 100-foot Flexible LED Strip Light spools to their product line at the request of their customers. The company has offered shorter spools of all their LED strip light products for over two years, including standard flexible, high density, waterproof and color-changing versions. The new offerings by Elemental LED signal that demand for these high-quality, versatile products has risen, and that Elemental LED has stayed on top of their customers' needs by offering large quantities at affordable prices.

300W and 600W hard-wired 12V drivers, or transformers, are also now available from Elemental LED. "Large LED installations often call for a lot of power. Our new 300 and 600 watt drivers will help make installations easier and more economical than using multiple small capacity drivers," says JB Lowe, Customer Service Technician at Elemental LED.

2011年3月16日 星期三

Jury finds Fort Benton man guilty of deliberate homicide

A jury found a Fort Benton man guilty of shooting and killing his girlfriend on Thanksgiving 2009 after less than an hour of deliberation.

The verdict came after three days of arguments in the Chouteau County District Court in Fort Benton.
Daniel John Paulsrud was accused of deliberately shooting and killing his girlfriend Leslie Davidson on Nov. 26, 2009 — Thanksgiving Day.


The prosecution, led by Assistant Attorney General Brant Light and Chouteau County Attorney Steve Gannon, rested its case this morning after calling its last witness.


Paulsrud's defense, led by public defenders Steven Scott and Ed Sheehy, did not call any witnesses.


During his statement, Light focused on previous testimony stating that Paulsrud and Davidson fighting on the day of her death is evidence she was shot on purpose.


"This case is vey simple," Light said. "The defendant shot and killed Leslie Davidson, and this was not an accident."


Sheehy argued that the state did not meet its burden of proof as to whether the shooting was accidental, and cautioned against viewing Paulsrud's and Davidson's arguments on the day of the death as anything besides circumstantial.


"It was a tumultuous relationship, no doubt about it," Sheehy said. "But that doesn't mean that he killed her purposefully or knowingly. The gun went off. That's what he said."


During jury instructions, Cascade County District Judge Dirk Sandefur, who is presiding over the trial, warned the jury against giving too much weight to admissions or confessions during their deliberations. Paulsrud allegedly admitted to Fort Benton Police to shooting Davidson before also shooting himself.


"A conviction cannot be based on an admission or confession alone," Sandefur said.


The case was handed over to the 12 member jury shortly after 3:30 this afternoon and a verdict was reached about 45 minutes later. Paulsrud's sentencing was set for May 9.

2011年3月15日 星期二

Deliver Four Million LED Light Bars in 2011

Ledtech Electronics, provider of LED chip packages, expects to supply about four million LED light bars in fiscal 2011 when compared to its total shipment of nearly six million units in preceding years.
In the past, the company was concentrating on the European and the US markets. Since 2010, the company has changed its strategy and assigned more resources to the Southeast Asian and Chinese markets. The company expects more orders from the new regions. The company also expects that its assembly business, comprising mainstream and low-temperature LED lighting, will represent 70% of its revenues in 2011 and its component business, comprising display, lamp and SMD, will reduce to 30%.

Ledtech has secured orders from Taiwan's convenience stores and hypermarkets, Pepsi and Coca Cola. The company has purchased a land in Guangdong, China in the beginning of 2011 to build its third LED light bar facility. According to industry reports, Ledtech is now purchasing the required patents in specialty lighting and plans to commence mass production in fiscal 2012.

2011年3月14日 星期一

Eco-story Rolls Out New LED Refrigerated Case Lighting Fixture

Eco-story, a leader in LED lighting solutions, today announced that it has added LED refrigerated case lighting fixtures to its portfolio of products. Eco-story decided to add the product because of high demand for sustainable, uniform LED lighting in refrigerated displays for convenience stores, grocery stores and markets that require case lighting.

The standard case light operates at less than 19W per door, compared to the industry average of 26W, and has a single solid-state power supply and uniform light distribution. Stock color temperature is 3500K with a minimum 80 CRI, though custom color options are available. The fixture is offered in 48", 60", and 72" versions. The product carries a five-year warranty and is NSF and Design Lights Consortium approved. The majority of case installations are expected to realize return on investment in approximately two years.

"The main challenge with case lighting is how to distribute the light evenly and we've noted that many competing products create both dark and hot spots on the product," said Bill Stauffer, co-founder of Eco-story. "This new product not only cuts energy costs but also distributes light evenly."

In fact, the fixture offers a unique design that allows the light to be adjusted in stores to optimize light distribution for shelves that range from three to 12 inches deep. The refrigeration case light fixture is being manufactured in the U.S. and is competitively priced against similar products manufactured in China.

Eco-story, based in Portland, Maine and with an office in Denver, has a strong track record of manufacturing quality interior lighting for restaurants, retail stores and hotels. Eco-story's LED lights have proven to save money for businesses over traditional incandescent lamps, while retaining the look and ambiance businesses desire.

LED Light Therapy System to the Baby Quasar

Marta compares the Sirius Aurora LED Light Therapy System to the Baby Quasar


Marta recently revealed one of her favorite anti-aging secrets: LED light therapy. She originally shelled out over $400 for the Baby Quasar, available in the TIA Shop. When she was approached about a product claiming to do the same function as the Baby Quasar at a fraction of the cost (37 percent of the cost to be exact), she was naturally skeptical. Well, she’s tried it, and to her surprise and delight, the Sirius Aurora LED Light Therapy System works every bit as well as the Baby Quasar and it’s available in the TIA Shop for only $149! Not only does the Sirius perform every function the Baby Quasar does, but it comes with green and blue light attachments, to boot!

If you want to see a side-by-side comparison of Sirius Aurora and Baby Quasar, watch our video.

2011年3月8日 星期二

Four Major Challenges LED General Lighting Faced

It was said by US DOE that solid-state lighting is the most destructive technology in the illumination field over past 50 years, which agreed by many industry insiders and regarded that it is going to be replaced by LED. In fact, LED is still facing four major challenges including light quality, light-efficient performance, and reliability and simplifying when it is entering into illumination market. Zhou Xunjun, Philips Marketing Director in Asia, explained that there is still some way to go when LED compared with traditional lighting on its light quality and some applications; since the reliability of LED lighting depends on chip, electricity, optic, thermal, mechanism and connectors and therefore it can not maintain sufficient light output lumens to prolong lifespan; the lack of uniform standards results in variety of products with complex installation and construction, which hampers the acceptation by users in short-term.

Then, are there any programs to enhance the light quality and light-efficiency currently? Usually we talk about light quality mainly refers to the light distribution, the angle and shadow of light and color rendering. Here, Zhou requires us to put emphasis on following issues: if different LEDs have the same light color; if different LEDs have no changes as time passing; if color shading exists at different viewing angles; how is the performance of color-rendering index.

The improper package process will result in hidden cracks in the chip. In order to solve this problem, Philips Lumileds recently lunched LUXEON Rebel LED series that adopts latest TTFC and unique Lumiramic fluorescent technique to avoid inconsistent color emitting which as a result of off-center optic centre.

So far, the most troublesome thing in lighting design is dividing bin. As for some experienced LED manufacturers, they will take white light LED in the use of entire output range. However, this will limit applications and add its complexity and stock. CREE gave the solution of EasyWhite bin to solve this problem.

How to improve the efficiency of LED light? The key point is its package. A flat light source array chip takes integrated COB direct packaging technique with multi-chip. Aluminum plate used in light source is in good heat distribution and can radiate more heat. According the way of LED light emitting, it is an ideal package to improve its efficiency.

2011年3月7日 星期一

LED Grow Lights - Benefits

If planting and growing your own vegetables is your hobby then using a LED grow light is the best way to get cheap and fresh vegetables. LED stands for light emitting diode. It has no filament and light is produced when electricity is passed through the semi conductor diode. It is a tried and tested technology and it is far more superior than HID or any other incandescent light used for fast growth of plants and vegetables.

First of all LED lights are totally environment friendly. They do not contain any harmful metals or gasses and thus provide no threat to the environment or to any living being. Other lights make use of some toxic metals or harmful gases and thus cause pollution. Even if you consider power consumption LED lights are much better. They consume far less power than other light systems.

LED lights have a better and more spreading spectrum of blue and red light. It spreads further and provides better growing results. Other lights like HID favor only one of the two spectrum's either blue or red. Hence you will have to buy two separate lights to get the same growing result which you can get from just a single LED light. AS no filament is present they are long lasting. They do not tend to get hot even when left o for a long time.

They come in different colors with variations that are made to suit different plant types. Seedlings usually require a blue light while flowering plants are more suited by a red light. LED lights are usually in the ultraviolet spectrum and invisible to naked eyes. But visible ones are also available. Thus they are eco friendly, use less power and give better results. Just use these and watch your plants grow faster.

2011年3月3日 星期四

Using LED Lights in Creative Photography

Flashlight photography is an emerging technique being pursued by photographers. Using a flashlight in photography allows a photographer a new avenue of imagination and creativity for the photographer. When used correctly, LED flashlights can mimic natural lights and create effects not possible in photo imagining and manipulation software. LED lights allow the light source to be directly controlled by the photographer's vision. The following are some basic equipment tips and techniques.

The Right Camera

The single-lens reflex camera, or SLR, uses a mirror to accurately reflect to the photographer the same scene that the camera does. The digital SLR, or D-SLR, has the same capabilities as the film SLR, but uses a memory card instead of film. Either type of camera is great for flashlight photography because you can adjust the shutter to a long speed, which is perfect for LED light techniques.

Tips and Techniques

It is helpful to use a lot of LED lights to get a good quality picture. These lights tend to be on the small side, and don't give off a whole lot of light. But don't worry - LED's are fairly cheap and you can get dozens of them for just a dollar or so.

LED flashlights are wonderful hard lighting sources, because the light is extremely focused. A photographer can use the LED flashlights by placing one or more flat on the ground in order to light up the bottom of an object or some other specific focal object. If you need lighting going upward, stack the lights on top of each other in tripod fashion.

Another way to use LED flashlights is to use self-adhesive Velcro to make a hook strap that wraps around the lens of your camera. Allow two extra centimeters slack for attaching some loop Velcro. Connect the loop side to the hook side with the adhesive side facing outwards. Next, attach the lights to the adhesive side one at a time until you cover the entire strap, and voila! You now have your very own lighting source for pointing LED light directly at objects, and you hardly spent a dime.