In outdoor lighting, Cree Lighting has announced an extension of The Edge luminaire family with high-output models that are designed to replace 1000W metal halide lamps. Applications include area lighting in parking lots where security concerns drive the use of the 1000W lamps, and of course big-box retailers like to draw attention to their location with lighting. Cree also developed a new optic specifically designed to illuminate the front line of autos for sale at a dealership. The new products range from 279 watts to 851 watts and generally provide around 50% energy savings over metal halide lamps.
We are working on a comprehensive story on The LED show that took place earlier this summer. We have posted some conference stories online, and a session on color mixing was especially interesting. Marc Dyble of Osram explained that mixing amber LEDs with phosphor-converted white LEDs could deliver both high CRI and high efficacy. Demanding applications, such as retail, are especially sensitive to CRI and that has traditionally required a tradeoff in efficacy in luminaires based strictly on white LEDs.
There was also an interesting presentation by Kurt Vogel of Lithonia Lighting that focused on techniques for retrofitting fluorescent troffers with solid-state lighting. Vogel discussed kits from multiple vendors that can be inserted into the troffer frame without disrupting the dust above and with minimal rewiring. He said that a retrofit can take as little as 10 minutes.
