GE LED Lamps Bring New Glow to New Zealand’s Wanganui City Bridge

22 June 2012

GE LED Lamps Bring New Glow to New Zealand’s Wanganui City Bridge

 

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New Zealand — June 22, 2012 — (NYSE:GE) — The Whanganui River is New Zealand’s third longest river and holds special significance in Māori culture. At the mouth of the river is Wanganui, an area renowned for culture, heritage, the Wanganui National Park and river adventures. The rich history of Wanganui is displayed throughout the city center in its beautifully conserved heritage buildings and tree-lined avenues. One of the few road bridges across the Whanganui River is the Wanganui City Bridge.

The Wanganui District Council embarked on a trial of different LED light sources as an alternative to conventional technology used for the Wanganui City Bridge. Besides improved illumination for this key roadway, the district council aimed to explore alternatives that would conserve precious energy resources.

With the aim of providing the same light levels on the ground while offering adequate savings to justify the replacement of the conventional light sources, Evolve NZ Ltd, an engineering firm in Sydney, provided the district council with a solution using GE’s 80W R150 LED lamps. The fittings have the backing of a local supplier in New Zealand and the support of GE Lighting.

Today, the Wanganui City Bridge sports a refreshing new look at night as a result of the new GE LED luminaires. The 14 new fittings on the bridge will save the Wanganui District Council up to NZ$9,000 (USD $7.4K) over the life of the fittings in terms of reduced power and maintenance costs. This translates into a payback period of 6.2 years.

GE’s LED fittings are a better choice compared to the Wanganui City Bridge’s existing Sodium Lights, as they offer the following benefits:

• Energy savings: from 165-watts to 80-watts: Each LED fitting consumes only 80 watts of power (less than the amount of power consumed by a 100-watt bulb in your home). There is a 52 percent power saving from the previous Sodium Light fittings. The new luminaires direct the light to where it is needed while reducing the glare from the fitting to less than 5 percent. There is no wasted upward light leakage from the new fittings.
• Reduced maintenance: LEDs have a longer life than Sodium Lights and can last between 12 to 15 years. Over the same period, the existing Sodium fittings would have to be changed 3 to 4 times.
• Improved light output: White light, produced by the installed LEDs, makes driving at night a pleasure. Colors are rendered more accurately, so drivers can see more clearly while behind the wheel. Security cameras also become more effective with the improved color rendition.

Mr. John Birks, General Manager of Evolve NZ Ltd, described the result in providing a far more natural environment, where people report feeling safer. “The white LED light makes for a more modern and vibrant atmosphere in the night space, where it is easier to see the real colors of life. We are expecting that this type of lighting will bring more people out to enjoy the city where we live.”

Councilor Ray Stevens, Chair of the Infrastructure and Property Committee of Wanganui District Council added, “There are clearly a range of potential benefits and savings for the public. The public will notice that the new LED light fittings create a ‘white light’ rather than an ‘orange glow’ from the Sodium Lights which were previously installed.”

The Wanganui District Council will progressively replace conventional fittings with LED light sources when these fittings reach end of life.

About GE Lighting
GE Lighting invents with the vigor of its founder Thomas Edison to develop energy-efficient solutions that change the way people light their world in commercial, industrial, municipal and residential settings. The business employs over 17,000 people in more than 100 countries, and sells products under the Reveal^® and Energy Smart^® consumer brands, and Evolve™, GTx, Immersion ™, Infusion ™, Lumination™ and Tetra^® commercial brands, all trademarks of GE. General Electric (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter to build a world that works better. For more information, visitwww.gelighting.com.

GE LED Lamps Cast an Even Brighter Future for National Automobile Museum

22 March 2012

GE LED Lamps Cast an Even Brighter Future for National Automobile Museum

 

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EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio – March 22, 2012 – (NYSE:GE) – Colors have never been richer at the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) in Reno, Nev., and it has enthusiasts seeing vintage cars in a new light. Following the installation of more than 600 GE energy smart® LED replacement lamps, patrons are remarking on a “remarkable difference” and the museum is enjoying $18,000 in annual electricity savings as the result of its environmentally intelligent investment.

When National Automobile Museum opened in 1989, it was reported to have set new standards for automotive exhibits with its extensive collection and dramatic displays. Recently named one of ‘America’s Five Greatest Automobile Museums’ by AutoWeek magazine, it features more than 200 cars, the majority from the world-famous collection of the late gaming pioneer, Bill Harrah. In August 2011, 635 90-watt standard lamps in four galleries were replaced with an equal number of GE 17-watt PAR38 LEDs. Museum management, working with the Business Environmental Program (BEP) at The University of Nevada, Reno to identify areas to conserve energy, had efficiency in mind, and didn’t mind sacrificing lighting quality to achieve it – or so they thought.

“I felt that when we entered into this project, because of the significance of the energy savings, that we would be compromising the quality of lighting in the museum, and we were prepared to make those adjustments,” says Jackie Frady, executive director for National Automobile Museum. “That was the expectation, and we were so surprised to find that the end product far exceeds the quality of the lighting we had.”

The lensed design of GE’s PAR38 LEDs made the difference when the displays were illuminated. Exposed LEDs would have been visible in the cars’ paint, a distraction to the museum’s more than 65,000 annual visitors. Instead, GE’s LEDs diffused the light evenly and outperformed the 90-watt lamps they replaced.

“Now the collection just comes to life,” says Frady. “The paint colors are more striking on the vehicles. There’s also a new vibrancy in the galleries. A few people who are very familiar with the museum have come in just to see the lighting, and I heard back from them saying, ‘What a great project, what a difference!’”

The new LEDs are making a difference in utility and maintenance expense as well. National Automobile Museum will save $18,000 (nearly $30 per fixture) this year in electricity costs alone. Including reduced lamp maintenance and replacement, annual savings will approach $30,000. Instead of changing each light every year, a task requiring between two and five hours a week, the LEDs will last between three and five years based on the museum’s hours of operation.

Project payback, based on energy savings alone, will be achieved in approximately 17 months.

“Lighting is a key opportunity for lower energy use for businesses,” says Peter Millar, the BEP energy management specialist who steered the museum to new energy-efficient practices including re-lamping. Established in 2006, the BEP provides free and confidential environmental management assistance to commercial and business operations in Nevada.

“Lighting can represent up to 40 percent of your energy consumption depending on your type of operation. Among all energy-efficient improvements, lighting has perhaps the highest return-on-investment potential in most cases,” notes Millar.

GE energy smart® LED replacement lamps use an electronic chip (not a superheated filament) to produce more light with less power versus comparable incandescent bulbs. They also generate less heat and could, depending upon the particular environment, bring additional HVAC savings. Solid-state construction means no moving parts and no filaments to burn out. Sturdy and dependable, some are rated up to 50,000 hours of life, depending on the lamp.

“Particularly for nonprofit businesses, we need to save money, and the fact that this project has brought forth such a significant savings makes it worth it,” says Frady. “And then when you have that extra benefit of improving your product or environment, you just can’t beat it.”

For more information on the GE Lighting products used in this project, visitwww.gelightingsolutions.com.

About National Automobile Museum
The National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) is an internationally recognized museum and a nonprofit 501(c3) organization formed solely for educational purposes. The Museum’s mission is to collect and preserve the automobile for future generations, with an emphasis on vehicles collected by William “Bill” Fisk Harrah, to tell the story of the impact of the automobile on American society, and to perpetuate the legacy of Mr. Harrah as a renowned collector. Visit www.automuseum.org to learn more.

About The Business Environmental Program

The Business Environmental Program is an active component of The Nevada Small Business Development Center, a statewide business assistance outreach program of the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business. The BEP provides free and confidential assistance in environmental management issues and energy efficiency opportunity evaluation and project implementation. For more information, visit www.unrbep.org .

About GE Lighting
GE Lighting invents with the vigor of its founder Thomas Edison to develop energy-efficient solutions that change the way people light their world in commercial, industrial, municipal and residential settings. The business employs over 17,000 people in more than 100 countries, and sells products under the Reveal^® and Energy Smart^® consumer brands, and Evolve™, GTx, Immersion ™, Infusion ™, Lumination™ and Tetra^® commercial brands, all trademarks of GE. General Electric (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter to build a world that works better. For more information, visitwww.gelighting.com.

News Release from the DOE - L Prize

Energy Department Announces Next Phase of L Prize® Competition to Create Innovative Energy-Saving Lighting Products

March 8, 2012 - 2:00pm

As part of the Energy Department’s commitment to driving innovation in U.S. manufacturing and helping American businesses and consumers save money by saving energy, the Department today launched the next phase of the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition. The L Prize competition challenges the lighting industry to develop high performance, energy-saving replacements for conventional light bulbs.

The competition announced today will spur leading-edge companies to build innovative LED replacements for conventional parabolic aluminized reflector (PAR 38) lamps, commonly known as spot or flood lamps, which are in widespread use in retail businesses and as outdoor security lights and track lights.

“The L Prize competition challenges the best and brightest engineers and scientists across America’s lighting industry to drive innovation in new, more efficient products and boost our nation’s competitiveness in manufacturing,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “The winning products will help expand lighting choices for consumers, reduce our nation’s energy use, and save money for American families and business owners.”
There are approximately 90 million PAR 38 light bulbs installed in the U.S., in both residential and commercial applications. The Energy Department estimates that replacing them with bulbs efficient enough to win the L Prize would save the country 11 terawatt-hours of electricity per year – approximately equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of Washington, D.C. – and avoid 7 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

The L Prize was established by Congress in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. The Energy Department launched the L Prize competition in May 2008 to spur development of exceptionally high-performance, ultra-efficient LED alternatives for two of the most widely used light bulbs: 60-watt incandescent lamps and PAR 38 halogen lamps. The first L Prize was awarded in the 60-watt category in August 2011 to Philips Lighting North America. The winning product is expected to hit retail store shelves in spring 2012.

The rigorous performance testing needed to win the L Prize ensures that the performance, quality, lifetime, costs, and availability of winning products meet expectations for mass manufacturing and widespread adoption. U.S. sourcing remains a key part of the commercial production requirements, generating jobs for U.S. workers. For the PAR 38 category, at least 50% of the LEDs must be produced in the U.S., and all of the assembly must be done in the U.S.

For more information on the L Prize competition, including full specifications and requirements for the PAR 38 replacement category, see www.lightingprize.org. DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) accelerates development and facilitates deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality.