Tag Archives: LED

Would LEDs Have Kept Us In The Light At The Super Bowl?

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Super Bowl Lights OutFor Baltimore Raven’s fans, today is the best day ever winning the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers 34 to 31. However, it could have easily gone the other way with help from what is now called the ‘Superdome Blackout.’

During the third quarter for more than a half-hour, the lights went out in New Orleans for what is yet another Super Bowl malfunction. For 34 minutes, officials were trying to figure out what exactly went wrong.  Why did the power go out and yet some of the lights were on for half of the stadium? Even the CBS audio for Jim Nantz and Phil Simms went down. Rumors are endless on the Internet from the 49ers causing the outage to disrupt the Raven’s lead to a possible cyber terrorist attack on the power grid.  Even going as far as saying the power was handled by a Venezuelan company called Corpoelec and they deliberately caused the outage. Others just state that Beyonce’s halftime performance was too ‘electrifying.’

Super Bowl LightsOther reports say that the stress on the New Orleans power-grid was just to demanding and simply went out, causing yet another strike against the city still struggling to regain its infamous name since hurricane Katrina. Auxiliary power kept the playing field from going total dark but escalators, credit-card machines and all the concourses were only lit by emergency lighting. Even halftime host James Brown said a ‘power surge caused the outage.’

FBI officials have since ruled out terrorism and New Orleans fire department dismissed any reports that a fire caused the outage so the question remains. Some reports go on to say that a piece of equipment from Entergy New Orleans, the city’s power company, sensed an abnormality in the system and shut itself down as a safeguard. So for now the speculation remains.

So if the power supply required was to great at the Superdome then it lends to ask why did they not use a more energy-efficient light source like LED lighting? Most stadiums currently use 1000-watt metal halide Sportslighters to light their field. LED lighting manufacturers are currently testing fixtures that will lower the wattage to around 250-watts, savings 750-watts per fixture. In addition, the LED Sportslighters are instant-on, thus no longer requiring the warm-up time of 15 minutes that is associated with the Sportslighters of today.

Let’s hope that next year the Super Bowl will make a statement and move towards LED lighting and keep us in the light instead of the dark.

For more information on LED lighting, visit the LED lighting Experts™ at LED Source.

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Bye Bye 75W Incandescent Light Bulb – Phase-out Continues

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75W Incandescent BulbThe start of 2013 marked another year closer to the ultimate demise of the Incandescent light bulb in the U.S. and around the world. So what has changed since the U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2007 to ban the bulb that Thomas Edison created? The reason for the Act was to eliminate inefficient energy sources like the incandescent bulb and slowly phase-out the various high-wattage bulb types.

The Energy Independence and Security Act set the stage in 2012 for the banning of the 100-watt incandescent bulb. While this was not enforced since funding was pulled for the Department of Energy (DOE) to police, manufacturers quickly implemented their own program to ultimately stop production. So bye-bye 100-watt bulb.

Fast-forward to 2013 and what is the next plan in the common light bulb phase-out? Say goodbye to the 75-watt bulb as of January 1st and then followed by the 60-watt and 40-watt bulb in 2014.

What is the big problem with conventional incandescent bulbs? While they provide more than adequate lighting for each of us to light our homes, they are highly inefficient. An average of 90% of the energy used to light the bulb is converted into heat, hence the reason it is on the list. Their life span is also a problem when compared to other lighting sources.

The Act mandates that all light bulbs are requiring 25% greater efficiency by 2014. The second part of the law states that by 2020 all light bulbs must be 60-70% more efficient than bulbs used in 2007 and produce a minimum of 45 lumens per watt. Some compact fluorescent (CFLs) and most light-emitting diodes (LEDs) meet these requirements today, shaving energy usage by as much as 75-85%.

There are some exceptions regarding light bulbs being banned in the Act – appliance bulbs, colored lights, plant lights and 3-way bulbs are exempt, as well as light bulbs currently less than 40-watts.

Was the incandescent bulb the only one being phased out? The answer is No. Some fluorescent lights like the T8 and T12 are also on the list. Read more here.

So why did the United States pass this legislation? The goal is to move the Country towards greater energy independence and security, increase the production of clean renewable fuels and improve energy performance while increasing the efficiency of products.

A19 LED Lamp BulbBy now you have heard the entire buzz around LED lighting and consumers are starting to take notice of the benefits, efficiency and the longevity related to this state-of-the-art technology. On average LEDs use 75% less energy, last 15 times longer than incandescent bulbs, instantly turn on, are dimmable, produce little to no heat, perform well outdoors and in cold temperatures and are extremely durable. Many LED Lamps (the word ‘Bulb’ is not commonly referred to for LED Lamps) are Energy-Star Rated and contain no toxic chemicals or gases, unlike CFLs. It is as easy as taking out the existing 100-watt or 75-watt light bulb and screwing in an LED replacement.

The stage is now set for LED lighting to dominate the marketplace. It is estimated that by 2020 over 60% of general lighting will be LED. Isn’t it time you made the switch to LED lighting?

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Lighting the Empire State Building and Miami Tower with LEDs

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Empire State Building LED LightingWhat does it take to light an iconic skyscraper today? Look no further than the recent LED lighting upgrades for the exterior of the Miami Tower and Empire State Building. Conventional lighting consisting of metal halide fixtures no longer can compete to the energy-efficiency and versatility of LED lighting. In the past for a building’s exterior to have color, expensive colored gels had to manually be installed to fixtures. This was not only costly to have maintenance crews perform the task; it also was very limited in the colors available, and forget about the possibility of changing colors on demand.

Miami Tower LED Lighting LED SourceNow with state-of-the-art LED lighting, color changing can now be done at the push of a button from an iPhone, and the color palette has increased from a handful to now over 16 million color combinations.

A trend is underway with city skylines being reinvented with LED lighting. Iconic buildings such as the Miami Tower, a 47-story building in the heart of downtown Miami, and one of the most famous buildings in the world, the Empire State Building, have been resurrected thanks to LED lighting.

Miami Tower LED Lighting LED SourceThe Miami Tower underwent a transformation with their exterior lighting in September as part of a broader initiative by building owner, Jones Lang LaSalle. The Tower was previously lit with 382 metal halide fixtures consuming 878,519 kWh annually. The new LED lighting system reduced the number of lights to 216 using Philips Color Kinetics ColorReach Powercore and ColorGraze Powercore fixtures. Energy consumption was reduced by 807,668 kWh annually, which represents a total energy savings of almost 92%.

Miami Tower ColorReach LED SourceWith the new LED lighting system, almost $260,000 annually in related energy and operating costs has been saved.  Even with these incredible benefits, what really sets it apart is the ability to use the building’s exterior almost as a canvas to create beautiful color changing transitions and images such as the American Flag. The possibilities are almost limitless with LED lighting.

Alicia Keys LED Lighting Empire State BuildingNot to be out done, the Empire State Building, the world’s most famous office building, recently changed its traditional fixtures to Philips Color Kinetics LED lights. It officially unveiled the innovative LED lighting system in a coordinated live 5 station on-air radio and internet broadcast, synchronized to the music of Grammy® Award winner Alicia Keys. The custom light show on top of the Empire State Building created a stunning event for all of New York, and the world, to see. From color changing transitions and cross-fades, to strobes and bursts of light, the new LED system delivered superior light and vibrancy levels in real-time, unlike the previous floodlights.

The dawn of a new era for architectural lighting is upon us. LED lighting is not only cost-effective; it allows buildings to stand out from the crowd with a range of colors only limited by imagination.

Watch the Empire State Building LED Lighting Event with Alicia Keys.

Watch the Miami Tower LED Lighting Case Study Video.

Reinvent a city skyline with help from the LED lighting experts at LED Source®.

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LED Lighting Versatility and Flexibility

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As I started in the LED lighting industry, one of the things that really excited me is how energy-efficient and long-lasting LED lamps and fixtures are.  While that is still very important, I continue to be amazed by the many other benefits of LED lighting.  In certain environments such as retail, having the right lighting can make the difference of products selling or not. When I have compared LED lighting against traditional fixtures, the versatility and flexibility makes it the perfect choice for most applications. Now imagine using LED products where you wouldn’t normally think lighting, in the traditional sense, could be used.

LED Source Residential LEDAccent lighting with LED tape light is common, but the way you approach it can be unique.  Working with an interior designer at Interior Trends Inc. (ITI) here in Wichita, we used LED tape lighting to create the effect of ‘floating’ panels.  They had an electronic fireplace, two pieces of art and a headboard – all would be ‘floating’ off of the wall by several inches. They wanted an accent light behind those panels to enhance the effect. LED tape lighting was used because of its ability to be in tight spaces. It was cost-effective and provided just a subtle amount of light to create the perfect ‘glow’ around the panels and created the effect of floating.  An added bonus is that since it is all low-voltage, all they had to do was plug a transformer into a receptacle and attach some simple plug-and-play connectors.

LED Source Residential LED LightingWhat about using LED tape lighting to create a ‘crown-molding effect? On a recent project, a client built a small cove near the top of the room and the LED tape light made a beautiful angle of light around the entire room.  Simple, elegant and cost-effective, but more importantly, the effect was striking.

At LED Source®, we have a passion in challenging traditional thinking in the lighting industry.  We believe that by doing that, we can bring the greatest value to our clients!  Sometimes that can be as complex as engineering a complete solution for an entire facility or as simple and elegant as using a slick little product like LED tape light.

Travis Hettenbach is the owner of the LED Source® Wichita franchise.

Skyscrapers Going Green with LED Lighting

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As power plants struggle to keep up with the demand of the world’s electricity requirements, it is essential that the biggest consumers of electricity, such as commercial buildings, find various way to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint. Retrofitting a skyscraper with energy-efficient LED lighting can seem like a daunting task, but the benefits and savings can certainly outweigh the initial expense. In many cases the ROI for an LED lighting upgrade is less than 3 years and “Green Buildings” can attract the most environmentally conscious tenants.

Miami Tower DaytimeWith lighting being responsible for 35% of energy consumption in buildings, finding ways for building owners to lower operating costs while being environmentally responsible has become a priority.

Solid state LED lighting not only provides better performance than most conventional light sources, it has the added benefits of increased durability and longevity. It also lowers the environmental impact especially when compared to incandescent, halogen, metal halide and fluorescent lighting.

Tenants and building owners looking to become more green friendly have also noticed that by upgrading to LED lighting, not only are they reducing their carbon footprint, they are also lowering operating expenses. Today, there are many tax benefits and rebates being offered by both federal and local governments for building looking to go green. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) even offers incentives to buildings looking improve their energy efficiency.

Miami Tower Metal Halide FixturesOne example of a skyscraper making the switch to LED lighting is the 47-story Miami Tower in downtown Miami, Florida. The building’s previous exterior lighting system consisted of 382 metal halide fixtures consuming 878,519 kWh annually. To achieve an ever-changing color effect, it required the manual changing of high-maintenance and expensive color gels for each fixture.

Miami Tower LED SourceLED Source® worked with the team at Philips Color Kinetics to provide a new LED lighting system using the ColorReach Powercore and ColorGraze Powercore fixtures. Using only 216 fixtures, new LED lights have a color palette of 16 million colors and can be changed at the touch of a button.

It is estimated that the Tower will have an annual reduction of 807,688 kWh – a total energy savings of 92%, equivalent to 1.2 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, Jones Lang LaSalle, the building’s owner and Management Company, would subsequently save nearly $260,000 annually in energy, maintenance and operating costs.

Miami Tower LED SourceThrough the use of LED lighting, city skylines are able to reinvent themselves while becoming environmentally conscious. If other skyscrapers around the globe took the same initiative as the Miami Tower, imagine the savings and benefits to the planet that would be achieved from LED lighting.

Miami Tower Reinvented with LED Lighting

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When you look at buildings in your city’s downtown, are they just plain skyscrapers with little architectural design, or are they modern works of art? Many buildings throughout the world have just the basics when it comes to exterior lighting. But what if there was a solution that not only saved money for building owners and helped the environment, but also brought the building alive with color?  Through the use of energy-efficient LED lighting, reinventing a city skyline with almost limitless color possibilities, is a reality today.

In most cities there seems to be one building that stands out in the concrete jungle. The building design tends to separate it from the rest and most times, it is lit at night with some architectural lighting to enhance or highlight certain areas. Many times it is just in white and in some cases, a handful of colors are used through the use of colored gels. While the use of lighting on a building exterior adds a nice touch, it does come at a significant cost to building owners and conventional lighting systems are manually intensive.

Miami Tower Metal Halide To light a building, there are several different traditional fixtures that have been used in the past. This consisted many of 400-watt or 1000-watt metal halide fixtures and if color was required, maintenance crews added lens or gels. While these fixtures were the best solution in their day, times have changed and LED lighting has made a dramatic entrance.

Miami Tower LED SourceFor the city of Miami, the Miami Tower has been an icon since opening back in February 1987. The colorful lights illuminating the exterior of the building has made it a landmark for the city. In recent years, the aging lighting system, which consisted of 382 metal halide fixtures, had become highly inefficient and required constant maintenance to change lamps, ballasts and even the colored gels. To find a solution to their lighting problem, Miami Tower called upon the LED lighting experts at LED Source®. State-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures were chosen from Philips Color Kinetics that provided the versatility of color changing while reducing energy costs.

ColorReach PowercoreTo update the metal halide fixtures, 216 ColorReach Powercore and the ColorGraze Powercore LED lights were used. These fixtures are able to produce 16 million colors and offer hundreds of lighting effects. The new LED lighting system not only reduced lighting related energy consumption by 92%, it also allows the Tower to change colors at the touch of a button without any additional maintenance expense. The building owner will save nearly $260,000 annually and 1.2 million pounds of CO2 emissions.

What does it take today to create an icon for city skylines? Look no further than architectural LED lighting to add color to your building.

For more information on the Miami Tower LED lighting upgrade project, please contact LED Source.

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Upgrade Your Gas Station To LED Lighting

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Gas Station LED Lighting LED SourceIf you are the owner of a gas station, then the daily maintenance of your business is priority. Making sure garbage cans are not over flowing, lighting fixtures are working and fuel pumps are functioning, is a daily routine. Aside from convenience, fuel prices and necessity, do you know why some motorists choose to stop at your gas station and why others do not? Could it be your lighting? Should you upgrade your gas station to LED lighting? In most major metropolitan areas, you can usually find a gas station within a 5-mile radius and pass several stations on your daily commute. Knowing the factors that can influence a customer’s decision to visit your gas station can seriously impact the bottom line and affect the growth of your business.

One of the main factors is your lighting. After sunset, take a look at your gas station from across the street and ask yourself “Does my lighting draw the attention of passing motorists. Does it make them feel safe?” If your answer is “No,” then you may want to consider upgrading your gas station to LED lighting. For the past 10 years, most gas stations that operate 24 hours a day use expensive High Intensity Discharge (HID) fixtures for the lights in the canopy. HIDs consume 175W to 400W of energy, but lose lumen output over time while utilizing the same amount of power. In other words, they are a waste of money and energy for less performance. HIDs also require a ballast, which means more maintenance for you. Once you factor in the costs of replacing a broken fixture (labor and lift rental), daily energy usage and maintenance, it’s easy to see how HID lights have an expensive cost-of-ownership.

Now fast forward to 2012 and imagine an LED fixture that uses 80% less energy, lasts 20X longer, reduces maintenance, emits virtually no heat and comes with a warranty of up to 5 years. Allow me to introduce you to the next generation of gas station lighting – LEDs. Over the past several years LED lighting technology has been replacing traditional lighting fixtures and lamps because they last longer, save energy, illuminate brighter and require less maintenance than halogen, incandescent, fluorescent and metal halide lighting.

Mini 300 LED Gas Station CanopyPhillips innovative Mini 300 LED under canopy fixture is a retrofit solution for gas station owners looking to upgrade their existing fixtures without major modifications. This LED fixture can replace a 400W metal halide fixture, consumes only 110W, can be dimmed to 30% and last over 100,000 hours. Phillips estimates a Return On Investment (ROI) of less than 4 years and depending on where your gas station is located, you could qualify for an energy rebate from your local utility company, thus reducing the cost of upgrading and ownership. If you’re still unsure about making the switch to LEDs, consult with a gas station LED lighting EXPERT at LED Source®.

Nothing Out Of Pocket For LED Lighting

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LouMan MoneyI know it sounds a little “pitchy” but in fact, this is 100% a true story. Our company has recently started a finance program appropriately titled “LouMan Money®” in order to fund Lighting Solutions for our commercial clients. LouMan Money® provides not only the financing for lighting products, but will also include all design, install and even disposal or recycling costs for the products being removed.

So what does this all mean to you? I am glad you asked!

Lets say we use our fancy analysis tool, the Lampinator®, to figure out what you’ve got  for existing lighting and what LED products we’ll put in to replace it. For the sake of this example, lets say that we determine we are saving you $10,000 / year with an initial cost of $20,000 in product, installation, etc. So, that’s pretty easy math, right? $20,000 will take exactly two years to reach “payback”. Then, we can dig a little deeper and calculate ROI (Return On Investment) based on the expected life of the state-of-the-art LED products. Lets use 10 years for the sake of this example. So how does the math look so far?

  • Investment: $20,000
  • Annual Savings: $10,000
  • Payback Period:  2 years
  • Life of new LEDs 10 years

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LED Lighting LED SourceSo based on the above, your eventual ROI (not including rate increases, inflation, etc) will be (savings) 10,000 X (life in years) 10 – (Investment) 20,000 = $80,000. Yes, it’s true. In 10 years, you will have earned a profit of 80,000 on your initial investment of 20,000. Sure, some will say “but what if those products don’t last the full 10 years”… well, even though the rating on the lamps may be as long as 20+ years, lets say they ONLY last the 5 year warranty… you’re still looking at a $30,000 profit on the 20,000 investment.

The argument then can only be “well, we’ve been through a rough 5 or 6 years with this crazy economy. For our business to put $20,000 into lighting products, when our lights are working perfectly makes little sense to us”. I understand. Trust me, in my own businesses, it’s hard to justify investments in anything other than staff and inventory.

The answer is this. “Invest someone else’s money!” This is where we come in. LouMan Money® allows our clients to pay for the entire project, from start to finish, with other people’s money. We match the payment closely to the savings, then give you all sorts of options on what you want to do. Lets say for example:

  • Project Total: $20,000
  • Monthly Savings:  $833
  • Down Payment:  $0
  • LouMan Money 24 mos: $891
  • LouMan Money 36 mos: $612
  • LouMan Money 12 mos: $1,726

So, using this example, if you pay for the lights over 36 months, you’re seeing Positive Cashflow from month 1 of $221 from the very first month. You’ve paid nothing out of pocket, there are no personal guarantees (in most cases) and only the LED lighting serves as collateral. Yet, you are realizing savings month one!

You also have options to pay for the lights in a shorter, or sometimes even a longer period. The flexibility is there.

LouMan Money® offers so many more benefits including easy application process, the availability of master lines (allowing you to approve multiple locations at once, but ship only as needed), and much more. Heck, we can even easily finance governments and municipalities! The goal is only to provide as many businesses as possible with better lighting solutions, improving the world and your bottom line while we do it.

For more information on LouMan Money® or LED lighting products, visit www.LEDsource.com or call (866) 900-4LED (4533).

Parking Garages and LEDs – A Match Made in Heaven

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If you own, run or work for a parking garage, you know the challenges inherent in lighting it.  The lights you have now are expensive to run.  They’re energy hogs.  You’re swapping lamps out because they burn out all the time. During the lamp replacement, you have to hire a maintenance person to replace the bulbs and not to mention that drivers are trying to kill you as they fly through the parking garage to get in and out.  When these bulbs burn out, they cause dangerous black holes in your space.  These lamps must be on 24/7 with no downtime.

All of these challenges lead to one solution, LED lighting.  Generally, you’re talking about a 200-Watt fixture being used to light the various areas of your garage.  What if I told you that we could replace that fixture with a 60-Watt LED fixture?  Not only does it use 65% less energy than what you’re currently using, but it will last nearly 7 years if you ran it for 24/7 and it requires no maintenance.  There is really no downside to replacing what you have now with new LED fixtures except is one thing… the price.

People perceive LED lighting as being expensive and if you look at it purely from the perspective of the initial cost, you’re absolutely correct.  They’re more expensive than what a typical legacy lighting solution would cost.  When you look at the Return On Investment (ROI) and factor in lamp replacement costs, energy savings and the time wasted replacing lamps, you’re looking at the MOST inexpensive solution available.  How can you beat that?  LEDs will save you the most money, time and headaches. Make the switch today.


For more information on LED lighting, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source – 866.900.4533.

Know The Features Of LED Lamps

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Knowing the Key Features of different LED lamps is crucial in making the right choice when making a purchasing decision.

Most LED lamps feature low-wattage, which translates into energy savings. When compared to a traditional bulb, many LED lamps are an average of 20-40 times more efficient and uses up to 75% – 85% less energy.

The energy savings are clear when using LED lamps but how long will they last? One of the key features of LED lighting is that many will last 10 to 20 years before needing replacement. When compared to traditional incandescent bulbs only lasting around 1,000 hours and compact fluorescent (CFL) lasting an average of 5,000 hours, LED lamps last an average of 50,000 hours and even then, the LEDs don’t burn out. They only lose intensity and will operate around 70% of the original light output and could last many more hours.

OK the saving and life-span seem very good but do LED lamps carry any warranty? If you are buying LED lamps from high quality manufacturers like Cree, Philips Lighting, Lighting Science Group or Toshiba Lighting, on average these companies will warranty their lamps for 5 years.

I hear that CRI is important. What does it mean and what should I look for? Color Rendering Index or CRI is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reproduce the colors of various objects in comparison to a natural light source. Getting the correct CRI is very important for some applications like Photography, TV Studios or Cinematography. The CRI on many high quality lamps is between 85-90. This translates into the human eye actually seeing the TRUE color of the object being lit. The CRI on most traditional light sources can be as low as 25-50, with High Pressure Sodium lamps being the worst culprit at a CRI of around 25.

When doing an LED lighting retrofit, why is Color Temperature important? Knowing which Color Temperature to match for an existing project is critical. When LED lamps are installed, there does not need to be any surprises with a totally different Color Temperature than what was there previously. Color Temperature is often shown with a “K” (kelvin) beside a number which is the temperature that radiates light of a comparable hue to that of the light source. Lower white temperatures (2,700-3,000K) are considered Warm colors and Cool colors (5,000K or over) often produce a blueish white color. Use warm color temperatures in public areas or in a home and cooler temperatures in offices or warehouses.

While knowing the features of LED lamps can be a bit confusing at first, it is a much better way of getting the exact lamp you need for your project.

For more information, contact the LED lighting Experts at LED Source – 866.900.4533