News Updates for the Week of May 6

1.      The Path to 80 Percent Market Share for LED Lights - Increased competition, steady cost reductions and improved technology performance are putting the LED lighting industry on a path to securing an 80 percent market share for lighting by 2020.With revenues flattening out in the broader LED market, lighting technologies will become a more important focus for manufacturers. This will put pressure on traditional lighting companies like Philips and Osram, which are also investing heavily in LEDs. The lighting industry has been relatively stable for the last 100 years. But the emergence of cost-competitive LEDs has caused a "paradigm shift" in the lighting industry that has "changed everything." Historically, the incumbents had an edge in lighting manufacturing because of the specialized glass furnaces needed for traditional bulbs. But high-volume LED production has allowed new entrants to enter the market, eating away at the share for traditional lighting companies. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/The-Path-to-an-80-Percent-Market-Share-for-LED-Lights

2.   High-Performance LED Street Lighting Using Microlens Arrays - An efficient LED lamp that illuminates the street with high quality is presented. The luminaire shows high optical efficiency, high optical utilization factor, low glare, and illuminates the street with high uniformity. The concept is simple but effective: a cluster of LEDs with TIR lenses are put inside a reflective box, which is covered with a microlens sheet; the reflective cavity improves efficiency by light recycling; each TIR lens collimates the LED light for the microlens array; and the microlens sheet uniformly distributes light only into the street. In this context, LED luminaires have the potential to deliver precise light patterns to maximize illumination performance by directing light to the appropriate area. http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-21-9-10612&id=253009

3.     LIGHTFAIR^® International Presentations Posted - 2013 DOE training session presentations:  http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/news_detail.html?news_id=19174

4.    DOE Publishes Updated SSL R&D Plan - The U.S. DOE has published the April 2013 edition of the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP). This year's new, streamlined edition provides a description of the activities the Department plans to undertake over the next several years to implement its SSL mission, and informs the development of annual SSL R&D funding opportunities. The MYPP reviews SSL technology status and trends for both LEDs and organic LEDs (OLEDs) and offers an overview of the current DOE SSL R&D project portfolio. Significant updates to the Technology Research and Development Plan include revised efficiency projections, priorities, task descriptions, and metrics to align DOE targets with progress made to date and industry trends. To download a PDF of the 2013 MYPP:www.ssl.energy.gov/techroadmaps.html

5.   DOE Report Estimates LED Savings in Common Lighting Applications - The U.S. DOE has released a report analyzing markets where LEDs compete with traditional lighting sources (e.g., incandescent and fluorescent). The report, Adoption of Light-Emitting Diodes in Common Lighting Applications, provides estimates of current energy savings, plus potential savings if these markets switched to LEDs overnight. Download a PDF of the report: www.ssl.energy.gov/tech_reports.html

6.   US Survey: Nearly Half of New Lighting Projects Use Automated Controls - All the major LED companies are focusing on implementing intelligent platforms for controlling lighting fixtures in industrial and commercial buildings. A range of new partnerships are being formed to make it easier for LED manufacturers to produce "intelligence-ready" products, which may also create new opportunities for setting modern communications standards in lighting. Lights offer the perfect entry point for building intelligence. They see themselves as far more than lighting companies. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/survey-nearly-half-of-new-lighting-projects-use-automated-controls

7.    Reminder: Webinar on LED Street Lighting Case Studies - On Wednesday, May 8, DOE's Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium will host a 90-minute live webinar entitled Member Case Studies: LED Street Lighting Programs in Algona (IA), Asheville (NC), and Boston (MA).The webinar will begin promptly at 1:00 p.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. PDT) and will include a 60-minute presentation, followed by a 30-minute question-and-answer session with attendees. IES continuing education credits will be offered. To register, visit the DOE SSL website

8.   Armstrong-Area PA Small Businesses Plug in Energy Savings - Area grocery stores have brightened up by going green thanks to a cost and energy-saving program offered throughout the region by West Penn Power. The program has helped small businesses reduce energy costs while increasing efficiency with new LED lighting in all the refrigerated cases and new interior and exterior lights. Under contract with West Penn Power, it pays up to 80 percent of the project cost to area grocery stores through the Small Business Direct Install Program. The Ecobrite LEDs lining the refrigerated cases don't emit any heat and are 28 watts compared to the old tubes which were 110 watts. 4/26 Leader-Times

9.   Intelligent Efficiency: Innovations Reshaping the Energy Efficiency Market - This new paradigm is already reshaping the way we think about energy efficiency. All around us, embedded in every commercial building, manufacturing facility and corporate campus, is a vast, untapped energy resource: efficiency. In the past, that resource was hidden, ignored or misunderstood by the companies sitting on the potential, and recognized only by a small group of energy professionals. But with dramatic advances in web-based monitoring, real-time data analytics and utilities using peak pricing, that hidden resource is now becoming something tangible--an asset that companies can measure, manage, procure and sell. This emerging approach to energy efficiency is information-driven. It is granular. And it is empowering consumers and businesses to turn energy from a cost into an asset. We call this new paradigm "intelligent efficiency."  http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/intelligent-efficiency-innovations-reshaping-the-energy-efficiency-market