• Industry Guide
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Magazine Archive
  • Newsletter Archive
  • Architectural Products
  • Architecture + Design Master
    1. Connected SSL & Controls
    2. White-Point Tuning

    DOE lists funding sources, revises L Prize requirements

    June 30, 2009
    A list of sources of funding has been compiled by the DOE, and three significant revisions have been made to the requirements for the L Prize competition.

    As a preview to the proceedings of the recent DOE SSL Manufacturing Workshop held in Vancouver, WA, Brian Owen reports that the DOE has completed a new resource detailing Financial Opportunities for researchers, manufacturers and distributors of solid-state lighting products.

    The DOE's Jim Brodrick commented that the DOE responded to the request for this resource from the industry.

    Categories include R&D support, manufacturing support, commercialization support and tax incentives.

    Revised L Prize requirements

    The U.S. Department of Energy has released revised competition requirements for the L Prize a little over a year since its launch.

    The L Prize is the first government-sponsored technology competition designed to accelerate development of high-quality, high-efficiency solid-state lighting products to replace the common light bulb.

    The competition will award significant cash prizes, plus opportunities for federal purchasing agreements, utility programs, and other incentives for winning products.

    The revised competition requirements include updates in three key areas:

    1) Revision to the eligibility requirements: As a result of industry/stakeholder feedback, current state-of-the-art of SSL technology, and lessons learned through practice of SSL products, the eligibility requirements for the competition have been revised. The change reflects current approaches available on the market and allows for greater participation in the L Prize competition.

    From the revised requirements:
    "In addition to meeting technical performance specifications discussed in Section IV, qualified entrants must meet one of the requirements from Section A and the requirement of Section B:

    A1) A majority (≥75% by count) of the LED die or chip, defined as the solid-state semiconductor material that converts electrical energy directly into light, must be manufactured in the United States.

    or
    A2) The LED must be packaged in the United States.

    or
    A3) A majority (≥75% by subsystem and assembly cost) of the final product assembly/integration must be carried out within the United States.

    and

    B) In the case of a private entity, the entity shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States; and in the case of an individual, (whether participating as a single individual or in a group), the individual shall be a citizen or a lawful permanent resident of the United States."

    2) Revision to correlated color temperature (CCT): In order to maintain the competition's intent for high quality light, the CCT specification has been complimented with a specification for chromaticity.

    3) Revision to the PAR 38 minimum center beam candle power (CBCP): Based on additional analysis of baseline technologies and benchmark testing through the DOE CALiPER program, the minimum CBCP specification has been revised for the PAR 38 category in order to more accurately reflect the products the L Prize is intended to replace.

    For more details, view the revised Competition Requirements at www.lightingprize.org.