By LEORA BROYDO VESTELAs part of the government’s aggressive push for more energy efficient lighting options, the Department of Energy announced Friday it had awarded more than $37 million instimulus funds for research and development projects that will help advance the market for products that use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

aA significant portion of the 17 projects selected to receive money were proposed by well-known lighting companies, including General Electric, Osram Sylvania, Philips and Cree. The awardees have promised to pony up an additional $28.5 million in private-industry matching funds for the projects, and to spend the money in the United States.

“These solid-state lighting projects will help us significantly cut our energy use, reduce our carbon footprint and save money,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement. “This funding will also support the United States as a global leader in this rapidly evolving industry, creating high-tech, value-added jobs.”

This is the sixth round of Energy Department funding for solid-state lighting projects, but the first time money has been given to develop better manufacturing technologies. According to the department, the focus on manufacturing is part of a new initiative to accelerate adoption of LEDs by improving quality and cost – while also encouraging production in the United States.

A considerable amount of LED manufacturing occurs in Asia, according to the department’s solid-state lighting research and development plan. The plan states that developing advanced automation methods could improve product consistency, reduce labor content and potentially make domestic production “a more attractive option than it is today.”

Lighting accounts for about 24 percent of energy use in buildings in the United States, and the Department of Energy estimates that LEDs – which have the potential to be 10 times more energy efficient than traditional incandescents – could shrink electricity use for lighting by a third nationally by 2030.

The idea behind the design was to muddle the barrier between the room and its contents, creating the illusion that light comes from the room itself.

If you’re like us, you’ve been salivating over the all of the fresh green gadgets presented at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to narrow down the list to our five favorite gizmos unveiled at the show. From fun new approaches to portable power generation to ultra-efficient displays and sleek eco laptops, check out the full list after the jump!

5. CASIO GREEN SLIM VIDEO PROJECTOR

Environmentally conscious movie lovers, rejoice: Casio has unveiled the world’s first mercury-free line of projectors. Dubbed the ” Green Slim” line, the 9 new projectors show images at up to 3,000 lumens using a hybrid LED and laser system. That’s significantly brighter than today’s projectors, which beam 2,000 lumens. Casio also claims that the projectors’ brightness deteriorates slower than in mercury-filled projectors. Stay tuned for pricing details.

4. ASUS WAVEFACE ULTRA SMARTPHONE BRACELET

Want to pretend you’re in a sci-fi movie? The Waveface Ultra can help. Asus’ conceptual OLED wristband doubles as a piece of jewelry and an ultra high-tech smartphone. No word on a release date, but information junkies are sure to be waiting with baited breath.

3. PIXEL QI UNVEILS TRANSFLECTIVE LCD SCREENS

We first saw Pixel Qi’s remarkable energy-efficient displays in the OLPC laptop, and we’re thrilled to see them unveil their latest work: a full-color LCD that doubles as an E-Ink quality display for reading in light. With so many tablet pcs on the horizon, expect to see multitasking super-efficient displays such as this everywhere in the near future.

2. SONY VAIO W SERIES LAPTOP

The Sony Vaio W series “Eco Edition” mini laptop comes in a green-tinted plastic enclosure made from 23% recycled CDs and has a carrying case made from recycled plastic bottles. The device is energy efficient too, with RoHS, Energy Star 5.0, and EPEAT certification. Sony’s latest offering also has a high-definition, 10.1 inch LED screen, 250 gigabytes of hard drive storage, and up to seven hours of battery life. At just $450, it’s a reasonably-priced offering for anyone that needs a second computer for simple tasks. Need we go on?

1. YOGEN HANDHELD CHARGER

Handheld emergency chargers are nothing new, but the YoGen makes electricity generation extra easy. Users simply pull on the string to generate a 5 watt charge. No matter how hard you pull, the same charge is generated. And since the YoGen generates the same charge as a plug-in charger, it’s easy to keep track of how much power is being produced — one minute of pulling generates the same amount of power as one minute using a wall charger, and so on. The charger sells for $39.99 in the YoGen online store.

Originally Posted on inhabitat.com on 1/11/10

12 pack Rechargeable, LED Candles

Millennium Visual Systems has donated over 4000 battery-operated, LED candles to a local Chapter of American Red Cross that responds to disasters in the Greater Somerset County area of New Jersey. These flameless and smokeless candles provide the look of a flickering candle without the danger of an open flame.

Amy Sutton, the Chief Executive Officer of this Chapter of the Red Cross, said,  “Your contribution helps us move closer to realizing our vision of a resilient community, one that can survive and recover quickly from any kind of disaster. Now we can encourage residents to use the LED candles instead of traditional candles to prevent house fires”. She continued, “Millennium’s donation will be shared with Red Cross Chapters throughout the state of NJ.”

The statistics are startling. According to the US Fire Administration, in 2008 over 20,000 people were injured or killed as a result of fire and direct property loss due to fires was estimated at $15.5 billion. In the United States, someone dies from a home fire roughly every 134 minutes. Many of these deaths could have been prevented with attention paid to open flames or use of an alternative source, such as the LED candle.

1.  SWITCH TO LED LIGHTING- Use 75% less energy that lasts up to 10 times longer.

2.  TURN OFF THE LIGHTS- One 100-watt bulb left on overnight costs $25 per year. Multiply that by how many are in your house.

3.  KEEP LIGHTS CLEAN- Dust can cut a bulb’s light output by 25%

4.  USE SLEEP MODE/FUNCTION- An average household can cut 60% of the energy their electronics use by using the sleep mode

5.  RETHINK OUTDOOR LIGHTS- You save energy and money by switching to efficient outdoor lights. Also consider installing a motion sensor to increase security and savings

6.  TURN DOWN THE THERMOSTAT FIVE DEGREES- Turning it down one degree saves about 2% on your heating bill. Turning it down 5 degrees saves about 10 %. Install a programmable thermostat and it will do the work for you.

7.  CHANGE OUT FILTERS- To keep your heating systems working at top performance, change out your furnace’s air filter before the winter season sets in. A dirty filter will redue air flow, making your systems work harder

8.  USE YOUR CEILING FAN IN THE WINTER- Use the reverse spin option at its slowest speed to help send the warm air down into the room

9.  PLUG ELECTRONICS INTO POWER STRIP- Easy to shut off strip when not using. Save these devices from draining energy and your wallet

10. FIX LEAKY WATER FAUCETS- 30 drops of water per minute can waste up to 50 gallons of water per month.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Warmest Regards,

Your Friends at Millennium Visual Systems

Dress Lights Up When It Detects Carbon Dioxide

Danish design company Diffus has created a stunning LED-studded dress that lights up when it detects carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The luminous ensemble is laced with conductive embroidery that links a CO2 sensor to an Arduino Lilypad microprocessor. When the presence of CO2 is detected the lights begin to blink faster and faster, issuing an immediate warning about the invisible environmental threat.

Originally Posted by Mike Chino, 12/21/09 on www.inhabitat.com

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

Alighting at Bryant Park. Photo by Bill Wisser courtesy of PRNewsFoto/Lighting Science Group.

“The Jewel-Lights add a brighter and environmentally friendlier experience,” said the Director of Design of Bryant Park, Igancio Ciocchini, about the energy saving light emitting diodes. The light fixture is created by lighting designer Leni Schwendinger, who participated in Mexico’s recent “City Beautification/Sustainable Lighting Design Forum.

“I wanted to develop a beautiful, practical, forward-thinking and sustainable solution for new and retrofit markets that translates into significant cost savings and beautification for cities,” said Schwendinger who manufactures the Luminaire through the Lighting Science Group Corporation. Her Light Project fuses art and design with light, illuminating public works and infrastructures around the world for municipal agencies and buildings. Recent projects include the Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, and SpectraScape in Dallas, Texas.

The Luminaire is durable enough to use on bridges, sidewalk light fixtures and exteriors, aesthetically reducing costs and energy. Available in white diamond, ruby, amethyst, sapphire, and emerald (hence the Jewel-Light name), the environmental solution contains just 24 LEDs that use only 28 watts of energy with a lifespan of 50,000 hours, which should last years unlike incandescent bulbs.

Originally posted on: www.treehugger.com
Reposted on www.nicernews.com

Woodcliff Lake, NJ (December 2009)- The Borough of Ridgefield enhanced their community information system this week by installing two Millennium Visual Systems’ LED, programmable displays outside of their Community Center and Building Department. Mounted on each building, these displays are regularly updated with current information and also provide a constant display of the time and temperature.

With all the exciting events going on community-wide there is no better way to communicate with the public than to centralize the messages on these two displays.  Eric Lenander, the Assistant to the CFO of the Borough of Ridgefield said, “These displays maintain an important transparency between our town and the community.”

These displays will provide municipal announcements, recreational information, health information, and assist in emergency management. Recently, they played a critical role in notifying the community about flu-shot clinics and swine flu health precautions. These eye-catching displays are now a crucial part of the Borough’s communication standard.