The new investment fully funds the company’s operating plan to expand production and enable growth with minimal debt.

Investors including Argonaut Private Equity, Braemar Energy Ventures, Paladin Capital Group and Stata Venture Partners have led a new investment round in Luminus Devices. Luminus specializes in LEDs for specialty applications such as projection displays, digital signage, and ultra-violet industrial processes.

The new funding will allow Luminus to expand product offerings and the breadth of target applications. Keith T.S. Ward, president and CEO, Luminus Devices, said “This financing has dramatically improved our balance sheet, simplified our equity structure, while better aligning investor objectives with management’s market-focused strategy.”

Luminus’ PhlatLight LEDs are currently designed into products such as projectors at leading consumer electronics companies such as Acer, LG, Philips, Sony, Samsung, and Toshiba. The products are in DLP, 3LCD, and LCOS projection products. The company targets the range of applications from pico projectors to home theater.

The investment group sees a bright future for Luminus. “We continue to be bullish on energy efficiency, especially in the area of LEDs and solid state lighting, which makes up a large portion of our portfolio. With our expertise in the area and Luminus’ dominance as a LED manufacturer and supplier across multiple market segments, it provides a great investment opportunity for Braemar,” said Dennis Costello, managing partner, Braemar Energy Ventures.

Dr Paul Conley, principal at Paladin Capital group, added, ” We invest in companies with strong leadership and breakthrough innovations in high growth markets. We’re proud to back the Luminus team again. It’s incredibly rewarding to see the rapid adoption of the PhlatLight LED products in a diverse range of commercial, industrial and defense applications.”

Ironically, Luminus was almost force from business in early January (see related stories at right for details). Now the company appears both stable and ready for growth.

Over two decades, LED-based SSL deployment could generate $120 billion in energy savings assuming products achieve forecasted performance objectives.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a new report that analyzes the potential energy savings of broadly deployed solid-state lighting (SSL) sources – predominantly LED- and OLED-based products. The DOE projects that between 2010 and 2030, SSL could save 1,488 terawatt-hours representing a savings of $120 billion at today’s energy prices.

The DOE has taken an active role in supporting and funding SSL lighting both to achieve energy savings and to position the US as a global leader in SSL technology. This latest report updates previous projections the DOE made in SSL lighting over the last decade.

The multi-faceted reports begins with an examination of lighting inventory and lumen demand. It continues with a look at the installed base and the technology improvements in conventional light sources.

The LED-centric content examines the improvements and cost savings expected in SSL over two decades. For instance, the report projects efficacy improvements. In high CRI (76-90) SSL lights, the DOE expects efficacy to go from 64.3 lm/W today to 147.3 lm/W in 2020 and to 176.3 lm/W in 2030.

From a cost perspective, the DOE projects SSL to go from $169.49 per klm today to $5.03 per klm by 2030 for high CRI products. The report makes projections for other CRI ranges and for OLED lighting as well.

The latter portion of the report focuses on projected market penetration and energy savings calculations. The analysis attempts to take a balanced view on the gradual replacement of technologies such as fluorescent with SSL alternatives.

The conclusion as stated up front is certainly impressive. The DOE expects SSL to completely displace all other technologies in commercial, residential, industrial and outdoor segments by 2030. The projected savings, however, come primarily from the replacement of fluorescent and halogen lamps in the commercial sector.

The new 70 foot long, 30 foot high sign has the same dimensions and the same general look as its predecessor, but the neon lights have been replaced with 4,800 CFLs for the white lettering and strip LEDs for the sign’s background. The end result is a sign that is crisper, brighter, and most importantly, more efficient than the original. 100 percent of the power used by the sign is offset by wind renewable energy certificates.

Wondering how you missed the sign switchover? The whole thing happened in just four days, with the new sign in place by Christmas Eve. Almost all the metal and wiring from the original sign has since been recycled.

It’s easy to chastise Coca-Cola for not taking down the energy-intensive sign altogether, but we have to applaud the company for figuring out a way to keep an iconic advertisement without compromising its sustainable ideals.

What Christmas is complete without a giant spinning illuminated star? This one is the largest in the world and just happens to be made up of LED lights, allowing it to use the same amount of energy as a common hairdryer! The revolving LED superstar was designed and built by Siemens and is currently mesmerizing viewers in Munich. Check out our amazing pics of this brightly lit installation with 9,000 LED lights spinning away into the night.

Developed in the last 12 months by Siemens and Munich multimedia artist Michael Pendry, the Christmas Star puts out the eco-lighting equivalent of 20,000 candelas. Pendry convinced both Siemens and the Stadtwerke München (Munich City Utilities) to let him install this art piece on one of the utilities’ wind turbines. Each 30 meter blade holds 3,000 LED lights and when it rotates, the blades turn into a dazzling display of light.

The city of Munich will keep up the Christmas Star until the Day of Ephiphany on Januray 6, 2010, which is the last official day of the Christmas season. The Star can be seen every day from 4:30 p.m. to midnight and from 4:53 a.m. to 8 a.m.

Originally Posted on www.inhabitat.com on 12/23

Making her 15-story office building by the harbor more environmentally friendly ended up also helping a developer pay the bills.

The developer is Lynn Fusco. She was talking about receiving an“Energy Star” rating — and then landing a profitable new tenant for her building.

She said the new rating will also make the difference in attracting future clients.

At an afternoon ceremony on Tuesday, Fusco Corporation’s office building at 545 Long Wharf Dr. received the Energy Star rating from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The award recognizes the energy efficiency of the building, which was built in 1984 and has been retrofitted with energy-saving technology.

After the ceremony, Fusco (at left in photo) said that the pending Energy Star award was a key factor in convincing medical supplies company Covidien to move its administrative offices into the building. Environmental certifications are a vital part of bringing in tenants these days, she said.

The award presentation began at 1 p.m. on Tuesday in the lofty three-story atrium of the Long Wharf Maritime Center’s Building One. It is now the only building in New Haven with an Energy Star rating from the EPA.

“What makes me happy are buildings that are full,” said Mayor John DeStefano, the first to speak at the podium. The market demands energy efficient buildings, he said, and New Haven has more LEED certified buildings than any New England city outside of Boston.

EPA representative Cynthia Veit (at right in photo) praised “the Elm City’s” leadership role in the area of energy efficient buildings.

With the Energy Star rating, the building joins 1,870 other building in the U.S. — including the Chrysler Building in New York City — that are helping to reduce energy consumption, she said. All the Energy Star buildings combined have a carbon footprint reduction equivalent to taking 2 million cars off the road per year, Veit said.

Steve Krawczynski (at right in top photo), president of the engineering company that oversaw the energy-saving improvements to the Maritime Center building, explained after the ceremony where the savings had come in. He said they are the result of “lighting retrofits” and improved “controllability” of the building mechanical systems, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning.

The improvements not only make the building more environmentally friendly, they make it more tenant-friendly, said Fusco.

“This is a commodity, in a way,” she said. “It’s become extraordinarily important to be energy efficient.” It’s “tremendously helpful” in attracting tenants, she said.

It’s what made the difference for Covidien, which will be moving 300 employees into the building. “The Energy Star rating was critical to their decision-making,” Fusco said.

“All of a sudden” everybody wants to be in an energy-efficient building, she said. “It’s really in the hands of the consumer.”

Article Originally Posted on New Haven Independent

Streetlights glow along Moody Street.

WALTHAM —Cities across the country, from Anchorage to Los Angeles, are looking to cut energy consumption and trim costs by installing LED streetlights. Ward 8 City Councilor Stephen Rourke thinks Waltham should look at following their lead. Through a resolution to the council last week, Rourke asked Mayor Jeannette McCarthy and other city officials to study the cost benefits of putting in LED streetlights. Cities that have already installed the light emitting diodes include Anchorage, Alaska, New York City, Los Angeles and Ann Arbor, Mich. While they cost more than traditional streetlights, the LED bulbs last longer, require less maintenance and use less energy.

“You have to spend some money to save money,” Rourke said.

Rourke said given that Waltham would be using an increasingly popular green technology, the city could get a hold of federal dollars to purchase the LED lights.”Many (cities) are using federal stimulus money to get their programs under way,” he said. Rourke said hopefully if the city did decide on using LED lights, there wouldn’t be a need to switch the poles and fixtures, only the bulbs. He said he would like to see the city look into at least a five-year plan on switching over the lights, as the technology is likely to only improve with time.

“I would be willing to bet five years from now we will have even better options,” he said.
The council’s Public Works Committee is expected to take up Rourke’s resolution soon.

Chestnut Ridge, NY- (September 2009) Millennium Visual Systems, one of the areas leading designers and producers of LED electronic signs and programmable displays, has entered the world of social media with a bang. Now, with a blog, twitter account and facebook page there are more ways than ever before to stay updated on the exciting new products Millennium Visual Systems is placing across the United States.

Millennium Visual Systems’ blog is an electrifying insight into the world of LED technology. The blog is updated regularly with all the latest and greatest information involving the technology that has helped unite towns, grow businesses and keep communities safe. The blog capitalizes on the great energy efficient aspects of LED signs.  For more information please visit the blog at www.millenniumvisuals.com/blog/

Owner/CEO of Millennium Visual Systems, Dave Goldberg, emphasizes the importance of the sites saying, “These new social networking outlets allow for our community to be updated on all the exciting news within Millennium Visual Systems.” Twitter and Facebook create an atmosphere of open sharing that will facilitate both employees and customers to voice their opinion on the Company and show their individual experience with the Company’s  high quality products and world-class customer service.

Millennium Visual Systems is a 12 year-young company with expert staff that assists clients in all aspects of a project, from concept development to installation to follow-up, ensuring project satisfaction with ongoing hardware and software support and service. MVS successfully provides superior products across the USA. For more information please call (845) 356-4100 or visit www.millenniumvisuals.com.

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. researchers said on Thursday they have found a way to make large-scale flexible display screens that can be stretched to fit the contours of a bus yet are transparent enough so riders can see out windows.

The thin, light screens might be used to make brake light indicators that follow the contours of a car, or health monitors or imaging devices that wrap around a patient like a blanket, said John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose study appears in the journal Science.

He said the large display screens combine the scale and durability of light-emitting diodes, or LED technology, used to make flat, lighted billboards, with the flexibility of screens made using organic — carbon-containing — materials.

“If you look at these giant billboard displays along the road side, those are made out of inorganic light emitting diodes (LEDs). Our feeling is those systems are quite impressive,” Rogers said in a telephone interview.

“The question became is it possible to take that technology and use it in a non-billboard format.”

Rogers said current technology using inorganic materials produces chunky individual LED lights that need to be arranged piecemeal with a robotic arm. Screens made using organic materials can be sprayed or painted onto a film surface, but they are not as bright or durable, he said.

To solve this challenge, researchers built their LEDs on a thin layer of film later dissolved by a chemical and then affixed tiny plastic tabs on two corners to ensure the LEDs did not wash away in the chemical bath.

The team used a special stamping technology to deposit and assemble the inorganic LEDs onto glass, plastic or rubber surfaces. The system works much like a rubber stamp and ink pad, using the LEDs as ink.

“The new approach can lift large numbers of small, thin LEDs from the wafer in one step, and then print them onto a substrate in another step,” Rogers said.

The LEDs can be interconnected and wired with a conventional process used to wire computer chips, he added. And because LEDs can be placed far apart and still provide enough light, the panels and displays can be nearly transparent.

“We can put them on a strip of plastic and make brake lights,” said Rogers, who noted that the project was initially funded in part by Ford Motor Co, which was looking for a way to make brake lights that can follow the contour of a car.

The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy also funded the project.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Paul Simao)

While there’s no question that LED lamps use a fraction of the energy to produce the same amount of light compared with a standard incandescent bulb, several Bits readers have pointed out that that’s only half the story.

If the energy used to create and dispose of the LED lamp is more than that for a comparable standard bulb, then all of the proclaimed energy savings to produce light are for naught.

Until recently, no one knew if that was the case. In March, a preliminary study reported by Carnegie Mellon indicated that LED lamps were more energy efficient throughout their life, but the researchers pointed out that not every aspect of the production process was taken into account.

A new study released on Tuesday by Osram, the German lighting giant, claims to have confirmed the efficiency findings.

Conducted by the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations (Siemens is the parent of Osram and Sylvania), the report examines the energy needed to create and power an LED lamp. Even the energy needed to ship a lamp from the factory in China to an installation in Europe was taken into account.

The study used a 25,000-hour LED lamp life as a constant, comparing the energy needed throughout its life to that used for 25 1,000-hour incandescents and 2.5 10,000-hour compact fluorescents.

The findings, according to a summary of the study: today’s LED lamps are essentially as energy efficient as compact fluorescents, in the amount of energy needed to create, recycle and provide light. Osram said it expected those numbers to improve as LEDs become more energy efficient.

The company issued no in-depth information to support its claims. It said that confirming data will be released this fall, after review by three independent analysts.

But assuming the numbers hold, this total Life Cycle Assessment should put to rest any lingering doubts about the overall “greenness” of LEDs.

Over the last few years, AT&T re-branding efforts across the US included a redesign of its logo that necessitated the replacement of 7,000 channel letter signs on more than 6,500 AT&T office buildings and retail locations.

The company switched to the Tetra LED lighting system from Lumination, GE Consumer & Industrial’s LED business. In total, approximately 2.6 million GE LEDs replaced both the high-voltage, high-maintenance neon that is often used in small-building signs and less-efficient linear fluorescent lighting, which performs less favorably than LEDs in cold climates.

AT&T expects to save more than 5.8 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity a year and eliminate 3,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. This, says AT&T, is the equivalent of planting more than 950 acres of trees.

The new lighting system will also provide AT&T with financial savings, compared with neon. “We knew a switch to more efficient signage would be a sustainable business decision, both environmentally and financially,” said Shawn McKenzie, SVP of Corporate Real Estate, AT&T Services Inc. “We researched our options, analyzed the data and ultimately chose the GE system for its reliability, energy efficiency, environmental benefits and long-term value proposition. It also helped that GE is built to handle such large-scale efforts.”

According to Eric Stevenson, GE’s Global Product Manager – Signage, “companies like AT&T that pay to operate thousands of signs every day are quick to recognize the value of a high-quality LED signage system.”

The energy-savings differential is significant, but it’s often the maintenance savings that seals the deal, continued Stevenson. “Our GE Tetra(R) LED system with a 50,000-hour rated life eclipses the life of incumbent fluorescent systems by more than three years. Our LED system virtually eliminates the problem of burned out signs, which is common for both neon and fluorescent systems.”

According to Stevenson, high-rise backlit signage is challenging to maintain because the signs are frequently mounted many stories above ground level, requiring large cranes or helicopters to conduct maintenance or repairs. “It’s work that can cost thousands of dollars a day for rental equipment and services,” he noted.