Welcome to the LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter for June 26, 2020. It’s hard to believe we are facing up to the mid-point of 2020. And more of the half year has passed with the coronavirus looming and now perhaps accelerating in spread once more here in the US.
The reopening of economies here in the States and indeed in countries around the globe has been a conundrum. I know we need economic recovery in the LED and solid-state lighting (SSL) sectors. And I feel even more for all of the people working (or not working) in the service economy. But the fastest way to the true endgame would have been continued shutdown. Many US states will be facing incredibly tough decisions in the coming days.
As I mentioned last week, there has been increased activity in the LED and SSL spaces in recent days. In our newsletter today, we have an outdoor SSL story with news from several different LED street-light projects. Ameresco has enabled an Oregon project involving 8000 luminaires through an energy savings performance contract (ESPC). Energy savings will pay for the cost of the retrofit, and the installations are dark-sky friendly.
In that same story, we also covered a couple of New York State projects. Signify is working with the New York Power Authority on a project that could ultimately total 500,000 or more luminaires. But Signify is touting that much of the installation will include deployment of the company’s Interact City connectivity and Internet of Things platform. Syracuse is one city installing the smart lighting.
I also have to share news of the street lighting outside my own home and perhaps partially admit that I might have just been a little bit mistaken about outdoor SSL CCT. More than once, I have stated my preference for cooler CCTs in street lights. And having been on test sites, I continue to believe I would detect objects more easily under cooler lights.
But my city recently upgraded the street light directly adjacent to my house. Now I haven’t gone to lengths to get the specifications for the new light. But I’d be very surprised if the CCT is above 3000K. And I’m fairly sure the luminaire is a GE Current design. I have to say the light is very comfortable to the eyes. It may not match a 4000K luminaire for visibility. But I see so much better under the new light than I did the prior high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixture that I am very happy to have the retrofit.
Also, we do have our requisite ultraviolet (UV) disinfection story in this newsletter. I jest, of course, but UV-C-centric announcements are hard to avoid these days. Signify and Osram seem to be alternating press missives on the topic. Even after covering Signify news last week, our Mark Halper learned of additional plans Signify has for new UV-C lamps and also that the company acquired Dutch company Germicidal Lamps & Applications.
You will find many more stories of interest in the body of today’s newsletter. And always feel free to contact me to discuss content we post or to pitch a contributed article.
- Maury Wright, (858) 748-6785, [email protected]