Cree introduces 10-year LED lighting warranty

LED chip, lamp and lighting fixture maker Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA has introduced a 10-year limited warranty on nearly all new Cree commercial LED lighting fixtures."Cree continually pushes the limits on LED lighting innovation," said Doug Knisely, director of building and petroleum construction, Sheetz, Inc. "The new warranty further validates our decision to use Cree LED lighting. Industry leading energy efficiency, lifetime performance and quality make Cree LED lighting a smart choice.""With leading LED research and development, a strong financial balance sheet and some of the industry's longest-running field LED lighting installations, the new 10-year limited warranty underscores Cree's commitment to the long-term performance and reliability of our products," said Ty Mitchell, executive vice president, lighting, Cree. "Added to the energy savings LEDs offer over traditional technologies, this warranty is a win-win for everyone."
The 10-year warranty covers nearly all Cree globally available commercial-grade indoor and outdoor fixtures, which can be installed in restaurants, offices, hospitals, grocery stores, shopping malls, schools and universities, auto dealerships, roadways, parking facilities, gas stations and many other commercial spaces.Taiwan-based LED light guide plate maker Global Lighting Technologies (GLT), in view of growing demand for light guide plates used in large-size LED-backlit TVs, will invest NT$300 million (US$10.1 million) to expand production capacity in Taiwan and China by 30% in total, according to company chairman Lee Mang-shiang.
GLT will add another production line to the three at its factory in Taiwan and add two lines to make seven in total at its factory in southern China. The three additional lines are scheduled to come online in the first quarter of 2013, Lee indicated.GLT has begun production of light guide plates for use in 55-inch LED-backlit TVs, and models for 60-inch TVs are under certification by Sharp. The company is developing models for use in 70-inch TVs with shipments likely to begin in November or December 2012, Lee pointed out. In addition, GLT plans to supply Taiwan-based TV panel maker AU Optronics (AUO) with light guide plates for use in 65-inch TVs, Lee noted.With production capacity fully utilized currently, GLT ships 600,000-700,000 TV-use light guide plates a month. In addition, GLT expects its shipments of light guide plates used in luminous keyboards in 2013 to grow by 15-20% from 2012, Lee said. GLT has also started small-volume shipments of car-use light guide plates.GLT expects light guide plates used in TVs and luminous keyboards to account for over 30% and 40%, respectively, of 2012 revenues, LED products for up to 10% and light guide plates for other uses for 10-20%, Lee indicated.

Solar Capital Ltd: Shedding Light On This High Yielding Star

Solar Capital Ltd. (SLRC) is a special lender that is known as a business development company. It lends money at attractive rates to small and medium sized businesses, the type that are too thinly traded or too risky for individual investors to invest in on their own. In addition, most of SLRC's loans are to companies outside of Europe, which shields its performance from Euro troubles.
Book Value and NAV are important metrics used to determine the value of this company, as its book of loans is how it generates most of its collateral and income. SLRC has its book value evaluated by independent third party companies. One of the methods these independent companies use to determine fair value of a company like SLRC is to look at indices of more liquid loans to compare the fair value of its portfolio. Because of this, some of SLRC's loans are marked at "fair value", which is definitely an arguable measure.Firefly LED Lighting Wins Technology Award for Innovation.This means some of SLRC's more "risky" loans are priced at less than 100% of book value. This is because the companies of some loans have been deemed "distressed". So in effect, much of SLRC's book value already accounts for riskier loans in its portfolio. Therefore, SLRC offers reduced risk because risky loans are already reflected in the Price/Book measure, but also because independent third parties determine these delicate judgments on SLRC's massive book of loans; thus eliminating the risk of irregular or tricky accounting practices. Currently, SLRC sports a book value of around 1.03x.
As per an interview with Jim Cramer, SLRC's CEO Michael Gross explained how the company loans money to growing companies primarily in the US. Although small and less liquid, these companies were performing well. Mr Gross insinuated to Cramer than there is a very low occurrence of defaults. He also noted how SLRC's experts research perspective companies for weeks and sometimes months, before approving any perspective loan candidate. Then, they don't simply buy syndicated loans available to the public. Instead, they approach management directly for these special deals, similar to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.B) dealings with Bank of America Corp. Since its IPO, in early 2010, the company has been a dream to yield hungry investors. SLRC has consistently paid $.60/share quarterly dividends over the past 2 1/2 years. At a current price of 23.17/share the yield is 10.36%, which certainly offers an enticing return to dividend chasers. To give perspective on this amazing return to shareholders, by using the "Rule 72" approximation, in around 7 years your SLRC investment will double assuming dividends are reinvested, and price/share and dividends stay static.

Firefly LED Lighting Wins Technology Award for Innovation

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce recognized Firefly LED Lighting,as the winner of the Technology Award in the small business division at the 2012 Greater Austin Business Awards on August 30."We recognize these businesses as paragons for their industries, as well as being role models for diverse businesses thriving in Austin," said Austin Chamber Chairman of the Board Clark Heidrick.Receiving the award for innovation and creating significant new opportunities, Firefly LED Lighting designs and manufactures a full range of patented "smart LED" light bulbs for direct replacement of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.
According to Steve Barcik, CEO of Firefly LED Lighting, "With LED lighting becoming the most impactful technology in lighting since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, Firefly LED Lighting set out to develop the most reliable and the most efficient LED lighting products on the market. This process created the Firefly lighting products which are class leaders in reliability, efficiency, and light output." Barcik explained, "The Firefly product line is 22 to 81 percent more reliable than the big-name brands. The product line offers the only fully dimmable fully equivalent 75 to 125 watt replacement lamps on the market."Putting it in vivid terms, he added, "These products are like buying a car that gets 232 miles per gallon and lasts three million miles!"
Through technical innovation, Firefly LED Lighting inventors created a fully modular LED lamp. This allowed the company to increase output and adjust heatsink size in response to rapid technology growth. The same modular innovation allows the lamps to be changed in beam and color with a simple change of the lens. With over 28 patents in process, the company has found innovative approaches to every component in LED lighting.Firefly LED Lighting is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and the bulbs are manufactured in the United States. "Firefly LEDs are designed for high-speed manufacture while most other LED products are hand-built in China," said Barcik. "Firefly combined new ideas with ideas from the semiconductor, electronics, and automotive industries to create a process that will use automation to build these lamps efficiently, effectively, and rapidly in the U.S.A."ConEd falls squarely into this category. The utility, which serves New York City and some surrounding areas, is seeing a booming demand for LED lighting, but is still waiting for more standards. The report notes that other Northeast utilities, including National Grid and NStar, are some of the most progressive, offering prescriptive rebate programs for a range of LED lighting applications.

Solar Project to Light Up Makueni Village

A village in Makueni is set to benefit from a multimillion shilling solar energy research project by the University of Southampton and Imperial Colleg, London . The project is sponsored by the Research Councils UK and Department of International Development, United Kingdom.The solar energy research project started three years ago, looking for options for electrification and its social implications in rural Kenya.The project will be carried out in parts of in Makueni with Kitonyoni market selected as the ideal site by the researchers. Speaking yesterday when he arrived at the village to install the solar panels, "The project, is set to benefit 3,000 inhabitants and 40 direct connections to shops, school, churches and hospitals once completed," said the group's leader Prof AbuBakr S. Bahaj, who is the head of the Sustainable Energy Research Group at the University of Southampton said:
"The main aim of the project is to help the community through sustainable energy and this is exactly what we are giving this village today," he said. "Once the project is complete, the community can harness the solar energy to light their homes and also initiate viable enterprises to help alleviate poverty in the area."He said the project will change the lives of the local community if used wisely.Are LEDs Coming Soon To A Light Socket Near You?He however challenged the community to initiate viable income generating activities that could take advantage of the venture to change their lives saying that they identified Kitonyoni as the suitable site for the project over the other sites due to its grave needs and the remote locality and the enthusiasm of its community to support this activity.
"When we came to Kenya three year ago, we surveyed 1, 200 households in various locations to ascertain the suitability of the project. We eventually settled for Kitonyoni owing to its distance from the grid and facilities and businesses in need of electrification," he added. SERG is part of the Engineering and Environment Faculty working with Social Sciences at the University of Southampton and IC constituted an interdisciplinary team of researchers bringing the different fields involved in renewables, energy efficiency, social and economic aspects of these fields to rural community electrification.SERG was established in 1993 and it concentrates on six major fields of research which span renewable energy generations, resource assessment, energy efficiency in Britain and other countries. Speaking while accompanying the team, the Makueni County Co-operatives Officer Mrs. Rhoda Mulili said the team arrived in the country last Sunday and was scheduled to wind-up the installation phase of the project before the end of this month.

Chile's capital city using solar-powered lights at bus stops

Next time you find yourself waiting at a bus stop in Santiago by night, look up and chances are you'll likely find that your stop's lights are being powered by solar energy.Santiago's bus system Transantiago currently enjoys 1,300 solar LED lit bus stop shelters - and the city plans to install 1,200 more. Today, more than 200,000 commuters can expect their journey to be illuminated by solar LED lighting.According to El Mercurio, the new project is a result of an opinion poll executed late last year. It found that Transantiago riders were requesting three essential attributes for every bus stop shelter in the city: night lighting, roof coverage, and security.
Now, seven months and 1,300 solar LED light installations later, passengers are expressing a newfound love for their Transantiago bus stops. A survey conducted by Transantiago and the World Bank showed that passengers that frequented stops with the solar LED light systems indicated a more positive perception of their bus service.This enthusiasm, coupled with energy saving incentives for Santiago municipalities on smaller budgets, has led the Ministry of Transportation to allocate an extra US$4,551,206 (CLP2,160,000,000) for the installation of 1,200 new solar LED lighting kits in the future.
When asked about the project, Transportation Minister Pedro Pablo Errázuriz responded enthusiastically, according to El Mercurio."We are improving the quality of service in all aspects," Errázuriz said. "The travel experience of people on public transport begins when they leave home, and continues when they come to the bus stops. That's where it is important to initiate investments that promote greater safety for our users."LED solar technology is based on a system of deep cycle batteries that accumulate energy captured during daylight hours. This, coupled with the low unit cost of installation, means each lighting project costs about US$3,792 (CL$1,800.000), allowing municipalities to generate significant energy savings."It would make the industry easier to understand," Doyle said. "The competition amongst them would be fierce. If there is a smaller number of manufacturers, there will be economies of scale."Even though some solar companies may be closing their doors over the next few years, all of the panelists said they expect the number of Americans employed in the solar industry to increase by 2016. While the solar industry currently has just over 100,000 employees, Pfund said she expects the industry to employ over 500,000 in the next few years.

Are LEDs Coming Soon To A Light Socket Near You?

You may think buying light bulbs get more complicated every day. Even home improvement store employee Samantha Supplee thinks so — snd she's a light bulb specialist."We have an entire aisle dedicated to straight light bulbs. There's so many choices. So many different sizes, so many different shapes. I mean, everything," Supplee says.Supplee says people come into her home improvement store with questions all the time. Supplee says she does see more people buying energy-efficient lighting.There are the compact fluorescents – those pigs tail looking lights. The LEDs – they look a little more traditional, but many have cooling "fins" on the side. And then there are the usual incandescent lights.Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have analyzed each of these options. They've studied the entire lifecycle of LED, compact fluorescent (CFL), and incandescent bulbs. The study took into account everything from the mining resources used to make the bulbs to the environmental impact of their disposal.
The study projects that in the next five years the technology to make LED light bulbs more efficient will dramatically improve. That's while compact fluorescent light bulbs, an older technology, remain pretty much the same, says Marc Ledbetter, a manager of emerging technologies at the lab."The LED lamps are a very new technology, and so they are improving very, very rapidly. Every year, you can go into the store and find lamps that are significantly improved over the lamps that were available last year," Ledbetter says.But don't go throwing away your compact fluorescent bulbs just yet. Ledbetter says the technology currently on the market is similar.Europe to Investigate Chinese Exports of Solar Panels.And disposing the CFL bulbs creates waste.
"If it's working, and it's working well, it's best to let that lamp operate until it no longer works, and then replace it with an LED product," Ledbetter says. "However, the same cannot be said of incandescent lamps."One of the trade-offs between LED and CFL bulbs: currently LEDs are more expensive. They can cost $20 to $50 for a light bulb, but they will last about 20 years. That's compared to CFLs that cost around $10 and are designed to last about 10 years.Because 20 percent of the nation's energy use comes from lighting, Ledbetter says, it's important to understand the different options available.Ledbetter says right now LEDs work better in directional lighting, like a recessed light, while compact fluorescent lights work better in omnidirectional uses, like a desk lamp."I have some LED lamps. I have a number of compact fluorescent lamps, and I also have a number of incandescent lamps. … I need an omnidirectional lamp in my closet, and the thing is hardly ever on. So I use an incandescent lamp, not a compact fluorescent," Ledbetter says.

Europe to Investigate Chinese Exports of Solar Panels

Defying Chinese threats of retaliation against European wines and industrial materials, the European Union is preparing to begin on Thursday morning a broad investigation into whether Chinese companies have been exporting solar panels for less than it costs to make them.The case would be one of the largest trade actions in European history and could lead to steep tariffs on much of China's $20 billion in annual exports of solar products to Europe, four people familiar with the dispute said Wednesday.The anti-dumping case, which follows a series of bankruptcies and factory closings by European and U.S. solar panel manufacturers, would broaden what has already become one of the biggest sticking points in trade relations between China and the United States. The U.S. Commerce Department imposed preliminary anti-dumping tariffs in May of at least 31 percent on Chinese solar panels, in addition to preliminary anti-subsidy tariffs of 2.9 percent to 4.73 percent that were imposed in March.
The Chinese government has responded by accusing American producers of polysilicon, the main material used in solar panels, of engaging in unfair trade practices and has threatened steep tariffs on the producers.Chinese polysilicon producers have asked the country's Commerce Ministry to investigate whether their European rivals have sold subsidized material below cost in China. The official newspaper China Daily on Wednesday quoted an unidentified person at the Commerce Ministry as saying that if the European Union opened the solar panel trade case, the Chinese government might retaliate with trade restrictions aimed at European wines and polysilicon.
Chinese government officials declined to comment Wednesday evening, saying that they wanted to see first what the European Union would do.The E.U. trade case differs from the American action in that the European case will most likely be limited to an anti-dumping complaint, without including an anti-subsidy charge, the people familiar with the dispute said. They insisted on anonymity, citing the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue.The Union also takes longer than the United States to investigate such cases. Preliminary tariffs could be imposed in Europe next May, and final tariffs would not be set until December of next year. E.U. officials declined to comment on the solar panel issue. Regarding the possibility of Chinese retaliation, they repeated the Union's standard position that foreign countries should impose trade restrictions only if they follow procedures that comply with the World Trade Organization's rules.

Hayward asks residents to weigh in on new LED lights

The city is replacing its old streetlights with energy-efficient LED ones, and city staff wants residents to weigh in on which style of fixture would be best.Staff members narrowed the choices to three styles, and workers installed some of the three types along C Street in downtown, from Watkins Street to Foothill Boulevard. The poles are marked A, B and C, and city staff is asking residents to say which style they prefer and why."We felt that since this was a very large scope project, and because there are so many different kinds of products, we wanted to get public feedback on their preferences," said Don Frascinella, transportation manager for the city.Hayward will be replacing about 7,700 of its 8,200 streetlights starting later this year, switching from the current high-pressure sodium lighting.
"You will see a difference in the quality of lighting. The light looks cleaner, better," Frascinella said.The three types of LED, or light emitting diode, lights along C Street were chosen based on city staff's experience with different streetlights and by looking at what is being used in other cities. The three also are PG&E-approved.LED technology revolutionizes world of lighting.Feedback from residents "should be based on quality of light, amount of light, color, etc. We are trying to evaluate the light that is emitted from the fixture, not the fixture itself," Frascinella said.The new lights are being paid for with a $3 million loan from the California Energy Commission. Although the light from the LED fixtures looks better than before, "energy savings for us was the focus" of the replacements, he said.
The city spends $650,000 annually on street lighting energy."Some agencies that have switched over to LED have seen well over 60 percent savings," he said. Hayward staff members estimate the city will cut its energy consumption by about half, with the savings being used to pay off the $3 million loan.The city is scheduled to pay off the loan in seven to 10 years, but it could be sooner if energy savings exceed 50 percent.In addition, the city will save in maintenance costs, especially the first year, when the new lights are under warranty. The city spends about $200,000 a year for streetlight maintenance. And most noticeably, LED streetlights on green poles now line much of Foothill Boulevard and the streets that will be part of the downtown traffic "loop" being created as part of the Route 238 Corridor Improvement Project. Similar LED lights on green poles also are being installed along Mission Boulevard down to Industrial Boulevard as part of that same improvement project. Funding for those lights largely came from Measure B, Alameda County's half-cent sales tax.