Master-Planned Community Masters Energy-Saving Street Lighting with GE Evolve LED Fixtures

Press release from General Electric:

28 August 2012

Master-Planned Community Masters Energy-Saving Street Lighting with GE Evolve LED Fixtures

 

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EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — August 28, 2012 — (NYSE:GE) — When Lake Nona pursued a vision to line its Southeast Orlando streets with new lighting, the 7,000-acre, master-planned community needed to match exacting aesthetic guidelines to leading-edge technology. Community leaders found their answer in GE Lighting’s Evolve™ LED Contemporary Twin Support Post Top and Evolve LED Roadway fixtures. Combined, the energy-saving street lighting fixtures will consume approximately 253,000 fewer kilowatt hours (kWhs) of electricity a year as opposed to traditional high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting – a $27,000 utility cost reduction.

Adjacent to Orlando’s international airport, Lake Nona was established in the late 1980s and has continued to grow into the state-of-the-art community it is today. A recent surge in development caused Lake Nona to consider new energy-saving street lighting to match the modern architecture and design of new businesses, medical facilities and a residential neighborhood of 2,700 homes.

“We wanted to push our energy savings initiatives, so we made the commitment to going 100 percent LED with our street lighting,” said Richard Levey, vice president of planning, Lake Nona. “But none of the decorative fixtures we were being shown had the exact design aesthetic we wanted, and we felt it was critical to install a forward-focused lighting solution to go above and beyond in all aspects of the community to build long-term value for our residents.”

Lake Nona architects connected with GE Lighting engineers to arrive at a decorative fixture solution that matched the community’s contemporary look and feel. The fixture uses the same energy-efficient LED technology as other GE Evolve LED post top fixtures; the base and pole being specially designed for Lake Nona.

More than 370 Evolve LED fixtures now illuminate Lake Nona where a 175-watt metal halide system had been originally proposed. GE’s 86-watt LED fixtures will save the community about $18,000 a year by drawing 170,000 fewer kWhs.

Orlando’s local electric utility, Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) also helped make Lake Nona’s decision easy with its OUC Convenient Lighting Program. This program bundles pole and luminaire purchases, installation, design, expertise, maintenance and energy costs all into one convenient point of contact.

“The payback for us has been almost immediate – we’ve essentially seen savings since day one,” said Levey. “Lake Nona’s unique relationship with OUC coupled with OUC’s long and successful partnership with GE Lighting ensured this project would proceed flawlessly. The LED technology is so efficient that, when paired with an energy credit also earned from OUC, it didn’t make sense not to install the new fixtures. It was a win-win.”

Throughout Lake Nona, GE’s Evolve LED Contemporary Post Top fixtures also reduced glare commonly cast onto lawns or into homes by conventional street lighting.

“This lighting is exactly what we wanted. It fits perfectly with our vision — it’s the right scale and the right character. GE did what we didn’t think was possible — they took an idea, really a picture, from us and turned it into a phenomenal product in record time,” said Levey, explaining Lake Nona received the first fixtures in time to satisfy the project’s aggressive timeline.

Around Lake Nona, new lighting on more heavily traveled arterial and collector streets was also installed. GE’s Evolve LED Roadway fixtures, drawing 130 watts each, avoided a 250-watt high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixture design, saving 83,000 kWhs annually, or nearly $9,000. The 134 fixtures feature advanced reflective optics to more efficiently aim light where it’s needed. A unique heat sink design further provides excellent thermal management to extend LED life.

GE Evolve LED Contemporary Post Top and Roadway fixtures have helped Lake Nona achieve its goal of creating a community both contemporary and futuristic in nature. And this represents only 10 percent of total project completion. In coming years, Lake Nona anticipates more than 5,000 GE outdoor LED fixtures will be installed at community education, medical, retail, residential and recreational facilities.

LED lighting installations are just one component of a larger corporate relationship between Lake Nona and GE. GE’s ecomagination℠ and healthymagination solutions are being showcased in hospitals, homes and clinics as part of Lake Nona’s commitment to developing an innovative health and sustainability community. Among GE’s innovative, energy-efficient products currently available in Lake Nona homes are compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs and ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances including refrigeration, laundry and water heater units.

“The specific example of the LED streetlight project speaks about the level of this kind of relationship between Lake Nona and GE,” said Cody Bunce, Associate, GE Enterprise Team. “The fact that the Lake Nona team brought realistic ideas of what they wanted to accomplish with LED light fixtures made their big ideas, like creating a lamp to call their own, very doable.”

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

About Lake NonaLake Nona is a 7,000-acre master-planned community within the city limits of Orlando that will be home to world-class education, medical and recreational facilities, a medical city, diverse workspaces, retail centers, entertainment choices and residential options for all types of people seeking the best the city has to offer with all the conveniences of living within a dynamic, vibrant community. Lake Nona is being developed by Lake Nona Property Holdings, owned by Tavistock Group, a private investment company with a broad portfolio of assets around the world.

For more information on Lake Nona, visit www.learnlakenona.com.

About Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC)Established in 1923 by a special act of the Florida Legislature, OUC—The Reliable One is the second largest municipal utility in Florida. OUC provides electric and water services to nearly 225,000 customers in Orlando, St. Cloud and parts of unincorporated Orange and Osceola counties. Visitwww.ouc.com to learn more about our commitment to reliability, affordability and sustainability.

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.

Ohio Hospital Cures Costly Outdoor Lighting, Delivers New GE LED Fixtures in Parking Lot

Press release:

09 August 2012

Ohio Hospital Cures Costly Outdoor Lighting, Delivers New GE LED Fixtures in Parking Lot

 

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EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — August 9, 2012 — (NYSE:GE) — Since 1892,Aultman has served Canton, Ohio, with exceptional health care services. In 2010, Stark County’s largest hospital and employer launched a project to serve patients and staff with exceptional new parking lot and parking deck illumination. Evolve™ LED lighting systems from GE Lighting proved the right prescription. Onlookers are remarking on an “incredible difference,” and Aultman found that it has delivered a healthy $13,000 annual energy cost savings to its campus.

The hospital first trialed GE’s Evolve LED Area Lights in its new employee parking lot in May 2010. Impressed with light quality and uniformity, Aultman moved quickly to retrofit a second older lot using high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures with the same LED solution.

Thirty-two Evolve LED Area Lights replaced 52 HPS fixtures in the lot, creating a much-improved sense of security among associates, according to Pooley.

“Our security team stood on top of our building and looked down into the lot – everything was completely evenly lit, the continuity of light was absolutely incredible,” said Betsy Pooley, director of building services for Aultman. “With the old fixtures, you had a blob of light, but then you’d go two parking spaces over and it was dark. That wasn’t there anymore. It was a dramatic difference, from making out the color of a car to reading a license plate with our security cameras.

“The hospital is right in the middle of a residential area, so one of the concerns administration had was, ‘Are the neighbors going to be upset?’ We haven’t received any negative feedback – visibility is excellent and light pollution isn’t an issue whatsoever.”

Aultman’s average expense to light the HPS-equipped lot was $1,500 per month including the cost of an electrical contractor to replace lamps at the end of life. Since the LED conversion, the hospital found that its utility bill has fallen to $400, and Pooley hasn’t placed a service call yet.

“We drive by the lot every day to ensure everything is OK, but we haven’t touched it at all since the lights were installed nearly two years ago,” she said, adding it costs just $60 a month to light Aultman’s newest lot where the LEDs were initially installed.

During this time Pooley also evaluated a competitive fixture on the ground level of the hospital’s three-tier parking deck but determined budget would not permit outfitting the entire structure. At a trade show later that year, she discovered GE’s Evolve LED Garage Light fixture.

“We knew at once, ‘This is the one!’ The quality of light was better, the distribution was better. It was a much sturdier fixture than what we had, and the price point was right,” she said.

Aultman has since replaced all T12 strip lighting in the lower level of its 250,000-square-foot garage with new LED fixtures. When the parking deck project concludes later this year, more than 120 Evolve LED Garage lights will brighten the first and second tiers, with more than 60 Evolve LED Area Lights illuminating the open rooftop.

“We’ve had such success with GE’s lighting systems that as we move forward renovating parking lots or looking at buildings, the Evolve LED is the new standard for the Aultman campus,” Pooley said.

Combining the latest in LED system electronics, thermal management, and mechanical and optical design, high-efficiency GE Evolve LED fixtures make the advantages of LED lighting a practicality in parking lots and general lighting applications. They provide an estimated 10-year service life (50,000-hour rated life) that is four times the recommended service interval of traditional high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting. Additionally, Evolve LED optics offer more directional focus of light, reducing spillover to surrounding areas.

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

About AultmanThe Aultman Health Foundation is a not-for-profit healthcare organization serving Stark and surrounding counties. The vertically integrated institution includes Aultman Hospital, the locally managed health-insurance provider AultCare, The Aultman Foundation and Aultman College of Nursing and Health Sciences. With 682 beds, 530 active physicians and a staff of more than 5,000 employees, Aultman is Stark County's largest hospital. For more information, visit www.aultman.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.

Michigan Hospital Lights Parking Deck for $170,000 Less with GE LED Fixtures

Press release:

09 August 2012

Michigan Hospital Lights Parking Deck for $170,000 Less with GE LED Fixtures

 

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EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — August 9, 2012 — (NYSE:GE) — Spectrum Health, one of Michigan’s largest not-for-profit health systems located in Grand Rapids, has an aggressive customer-centered sustainability program. When focusing on revamping their parking decks used by patients, visitors, and employees, they had three goals in mind: improve security, reduce maintenance costs and save energy. After retrofitting 1.25 million square feet of parking garage space and more than 3,500 parking spaces with 1,500 GE Evolve™ LED Garage fixtures, Spectrum accomplished its three goals at the medical center.

Lighting is a vital component when updating security measures in a parking facility. “Our patients and employees are our first priority,” said Tom Theoret, director of facilities for Spectrum Health. “It’s important that everyone feels welcome and secure while at our facilities. GE Lighting’s LED fixtures not only met this requirement but also reduced our energy consumption and reduced burdensome maintenance.”

The GE Evolve LED Garage fixture uses cutting-edge technology, featuring an advanced LED low glare optical system coupled with a unique thermal management system to ensure long life and excellent photometric performance—that is, casting light where it’s needed without trespassing into areas it’s not.

The upgrade has saved the facility nearly $170,000 annually in combined energy and maintenance expenses, helping to further fulfill Spectrum’s environmental efforts. By replacing older 175-watt high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures, with GE’s 60-watt Evolve LED lights, the hospital will see a 67 percent energy reduction, yielding 1.6 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy savings annually.

Spectrum also installed 50-watt GE Lumination™ LED Recessed Troffers in ceilings in entrance/exit corridors, replacing 150-watt high-intensity discharge (HID) fixtures. The 2'x2' troffers are as thin as the width of a finger and emit a crisp, uniform light to brightly illuminate spaces inside the garage.

Combining overall savings from maintenance costs, energy costs, a Novation rebate, and a Consumers Energy utility rebate, Spectrum will realize project payback in just three years.

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

About Spectrum HealthSpectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, a state-of-the-art children's hospital that opened in January 2011, and 190 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 600 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 625,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with more than 18,000 employees. The organization provided $176.5 million in community benefit during its 2011 fiscal year. In 2011 and 2010, Spectrum Health was named a Top 10 Health System by Thomson Reuters.

About GE LightingGE 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.

Goodbye, Watts. Hello, LUMENS!

From the DOE Energy Savers Blog:

May 17, 2012 14:21

For years, I bought light bulbs based on watts, or energy use. Like many light bulb consumers, I looked for a traditional 40, 60, 75, or 100 watt incandescent bulb. Now that stores today carry more and more energy efficient lighting choices, I wanted to replace my old incandescents with new bulbs to save energy and money on my electricity bill. But in shopping for the right bulb, I came across a challenge in looking for bulbs based on watts. Since these newer bulbs use less energy, I found bulbs that use 8, 15, or 26 watts. The wattages are pretty close to each other, but the brightness levels of each of these bulbs can vary a lot! Sound confusing? No worries. Read on, because there is a light at the end of this tunnel (pun intended)…

So, all I wanted to do was to find a light bright enough for my bathroom so I don't get cut shaving in the morning. I realized that the best way to shop for light was to look for the brightness, or lumens, of the bulb, instead of the watts. Lumens tell you how bright a bulb is, and are listed on the bulb packaging. More lumens mean brighter light. When replacing a 60-watt traditional bulb, you should look for a new bulb that gives you about 800 lumens.

The Energy Department has some informative resources to educate consumers on lumens. For example, check out our lumens placard and tip card. Or listen to some of our radio public service announcements. We have recently launched a billboard campaign effort to raise awareness of lumens in Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Phoenix, Arizona; Miami, Florida; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri; Detroit, Michigan; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin—so be sure to look out for it if you're driving by those cities.

So, the next time you find yourself looking to replace your traditional incandescent with an energy efficient bulb, choose your next light bulb for the brightness you want and look for lumens—the new way to shop for light.
As for me? After looking for lumens instead of watts, I found an LED bulb for my bathroom that was about 800 lumens. The light quality was great for the bathroom, the color was warm white, and my electricity bill has gone down a lot compared to using the traditional incandescent.

John Chu is a Senior Communications Specialist at the U.S. Department of Energy.

GE Bright From The Start™ Bulb Now ENERGY STAR® Qualified

Press release:

03 May 2012

GE Bright From The Start™ Bulb Now ENERGY STAR® Qualified

 

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EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio – May 3, 2012 – (NYSE:GE) —GE’s award-winning Energy Smart® Bright from the Start^TM bulb is the nation’s first hybrid CFL light bulb to receive ENERGY STAR® qualification. This innovative hybrid bulb combines the best features of an incandescent, CFL and halogen bulb in one. The result is an instant-on technology that uses 75 percent less energy than an incandescent bulb and lasts eight times longer.

“The ENERGY STAR qualification is just one more validation of how truly special this light bulb is,” says Jeff Patton, general manager of consumer marketing, GE Lighting. “It’s already been widely embraced by consumers and received top-notch award nods. We’re so pleased that this latest recognition now conveys this important energy-saving distinction.”

GE engineers carefully crafted this bulb to eliminate the delayed start associated with the CFL bulb. They discovered a solution by nestling an instantly bright halogen capsule inside the swirl of a compact fluorescent light bulb. The halogen element comes on instantly and turns off once the CFL comes to full brightness, thus preserving the energy efficiency of the bulb. It’s also housed in the incandescent-shaped shell consumers are used to and has an extremely low amount of mercury: 1 mg. CFLs typically contain 1.5 mg to 3.5 mg of mercury.

When comparing the 15-watt hybrid halogen-CFL with a light output of 800 lumens to the standard 60-watt incandescent with 840 lumens, consumers will see an energy savings of $39 over the life of the bulb (seven years at 3 hours of usage per day).

Available in both Soft White and GE Reveal^® styles, the GE Energy Smart Bright From The Start 15- and 20-watt bulbs are meant to replace 60- and 75-watt incandescent bulbs. Retailers set prices, but customers could expect to pay $5.99-$9.99 based on product line and wattage.

To find out just how much they can save by making the simple switch to this bulb, consumers can visit www.GELighting.com/Lighttransforms to calculate their savings.

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.

Century-Old GE Bulbs Light Up 100th Anniversary Celebration of Nela Park

26 March 2012

Century-Old GE Bulbs Light Up 100th Anniversary Celebration of Nela Park

 

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EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio – March 26, 2012 – (NYSE:GE) — One hundred years ago—March 25, 1912 to be exact—executives and employees gathered at GE Lighting’s newly forming Nela Park campus to bury a hermetically sealed time capsule packed with a daily newspaper, pamphlets, pins, photos and some GE light bulbs representing available and emerging incandescent technologies of the era.

The collection of treasures inside the capsule and an accompanying lead box filled with additional mementos placed inside a cornerstone of Marketing Building #307 were intended to speak to future generations about the state of lighting technology and the transformational growth that GE was experiencing in 1912.

GE Lighting employees reminisce, look to future at unearthing of time capsuleHundreds of GE Lighting employees and retirees today gathered at the base of Building #307 for a real-time, once-in-a-lifetime history lesson. The time capsule was unearthed and its contents were carefully and lovingly removed and put on display before being moved to a secure temperature- and light-controlled space across the Nela Park campus, near GE’s current multi-million dollar LED reliability and testing labs and clean room.

In a remarkable testament to the craftsmanship and quality of GE products and solutions at work for customers then and now, one of the tungsten filament lamps buried for 100 years showed signs of life. It was cleaned, screwed into a socket near the time capsule site and slowly powered up to the point of emitting light.

“It’s fitting that this time capsule was meant to be unearthed when significant changes in the incandescent light bulb occurred,” commented GE Lighting’s President & CEO Maryrose Sylvester. “We’re celebrating innovation at a time when GE scientists and engineers at Nela Park and around the world are developing advanced lighting solutions that are transforming not only the application of lighting, but also the business of lighting.”

GE’s energy-efficient lighting solutions are enabling millions of dollars in energy and maintenance cost savings for some of the world’s biggest and best-known brands, and municipality roadway projects of every size.

“When GE customers such as Marriott, Walmart and cities big and small—from Sydney, Australia to Stamford, Connecticut—can save money with energy-efficient lighting that costs less to operate and lasts as long as a decade,” adds Sylvester, “they can put the savings toward new or expanded growth initiatives. We’ve always been a company that offers solutions that make the world work better. Just ask our customers.”

In April 2013, the company will bring Nela Park employees together for a ceremonial burying of a new time capsule, which is expected to include a GE Energy Smart® 60-watt LED bulb that lasts over 22 years when operated 3 hours a day, new more informative consumer light bulb packaging debuting in 2012, marketing materials and an employee photo.

Nela Park and the GE Lighting InstituteIn addition to being the nation’s first industrial campus and GE Lighting’s world headquarters, the Nela Park property was once a vineyard known as “Panorama Heights.” Chosen for what was then a rural location, the 92-acre campus sits approximately 234 feet above—and three miles from—Lake Erie. The “Nela” in the park’s name stands for “National Electrical Lamp Association,” an organization that was eventually purchased by GE. On April 18, 1913, GE Lighting moved its headquarters from a downtown location at East 45^th Street and Hough Avenue to Nela Park in a caravan of cars and horse-drawn carriages. At the time, the move was known as one of the biggest in Cleveland’s history. Not only was it completed in a day, but employees only missed three hours of work. Since its establishment, Nela Park has been home to a number of innovations including both halogen and LED technologies. In 1975 Nela Park was listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.

Since the founding of the Nela School of Lighting in 1924—it became the GE Lighting Institute in 1933—over a quarter million customers from around the world have visited the Nela Park campus for training and education. Approximately 4,000 customers visit Nela Park and the GE Lighting Institute annually.

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.

San Antonio Small Businesses "Seeing the Light" with Energy Upgrades

San Antonio Small Businesses “Seeing the Light” with Energy Upgrades

March 21, 2012 

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KBK to the Trade

Thanks to the City Lights program, this design shop is saving an estimated 25,500 kilowatt-hours and $2,000 on electricity bills each year. | Photo Credit: City of San Antonio
Date taken: 05/24/2011 - 15:06

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  KBK to the Trade

  Thanks to the City Lights program, this design shop is saving an estimated 25,500 kilowatt-hours and $2,000 on electricity bills each year. | Photo Credit: City of San Antonio
  Date taken: 05/24/2011 - 15:06
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  Gallista Gallery

  Joe Lopez, artist and owner of the Gallista Gallery, received energy and money-saving lights through the City Lights program. “We compared our bills to last year and we have seen a decrease...They should have more programs like this... Small businesses need help. We struggle as a small business, every little bit helps.” | Photo Credit: City of San Antonio
  Date taken: 05/25/2011 - 15:02
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  Ronald McDonald House

  The Ronald McDonald houses in San Antonio serve as a home-away-from-home for families with children being treated at medical facilities in San Antonio. Pat Bivin, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House of San Antonio, says that any money the houses can save by being more energy efficient goes right back to the families that they are serving. City Lights saved the organization an estimated 105,500 kilowatt-hours and $8,600 on electricity bills each year. | Photo Credit: City of San Antonio
  Date taken: 05/25/2011 - 16:49
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  Magik Theatre

  Richard Rosen, executive director of Magik Theatre, says that the lighting upgrades have saved money, but more importantly send a message of energy conservation to the students who visit. City Lights is saving the theatre an estimated 11,700 kilowatt-hours and $960 on electricity bills each year. | Photo Credit: City of San Antonio
  Date taken: 05/25/2011 - 14:09
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  AJ's Fresh Line Up

  Richard Sanchez, co-owner of AJ'S Fresh Lineup, says he and his parter paid about $20 to have all the lights in their small barbershop replaced through San Antonio's City Lights program. The program is saving the barbershop an estimated 1,630 kilowatt-hours and $133 on electricity bills each year. | Photo Credit: City of San Antonio
  Date taken: 05/24/2011 - 16:31

Todd Allen

Project Officer, Golden Field Office

What does this mean for me?

• In the first 10 months, City Lights has saved San Antonio businesses an estimated 3.4 million kilowatt-hours of energy.

If you were going to a new gallery showing of your favorite local artist, would you want to view the canvasses under dim lights? Or if you were reupholstering your favorite sofa, would you want to look at fabric samples under fluorescent lighting and risk mistaking indigo blue for charcoal black?

Small businesses are a main economic driver in cities across the country -- and San Antonio is no different. Lighting may seem like a small detail, but as more than 800 small businesses in San Antonio have discovered, having the right lighting can improve business and conserve energy. With over 40 percent of a company’s energy consumption coming from interior lighting, upgrading to more efficient lighting can dramatically reduce a company’s energy consumption and lower utility bills.

As part of San Antonio’s “Mission Verde” initiative, the city launched the City Lights Small Business Lighting Retrofit Program using Recovery Act funding through the Energy Department’s EECBG program. The City Lights program is helping business owners increase their lighting efficiency, reduce energy use and lower electricity bills.

In the first 10 months of City Lights, participating small business saved an estimated 4.9 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Beyond these savings, the program trained and employed local energy audit experts and electrical contractors who helped businesses identify potential energy and cost saving measures. 

The program worked in cooperation with the municipally owned local utility, CPS Energy, as well as the energy-efficiency program management company EnerPath, which helped the city oversee the program.  

City Lights has not only lowered utility bills, but the city has also received positive feedback from owners and staff of the participating businesses as well as their patrons.

Richard Sanchez, co-owner of A.J’s Fresh Line Up barbershop, offered his views on his shop’s new lighting upgrades, which only cost the business approximately $20 after the program’s incentives were included.

“You can’t give a good haircut in bad lighting. We are already seeing our bills drop and it’s much brighter than it was before,” said Sanchez. 

Like Richard Sanchez, the 847 other businesses owners participating in the program are leading the way for San Antonio to become a sustainable community leader in the 21st century.

News Release from GE - LED Lighting

13 March 2012

Tetra® LED Lighting Systems Outshine Fluorescent Tubes in Cabinet Signs Offering 90 Percent Energy Savings

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EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio – March 13, 2012 – (NYSE:GE) – For businesses intent on keeping up appearances, the two newest members of the GE Tetra® LED Lighting Systems family deliver superior light uniformity in shallow cabinet signs. GE Lighting Solutions introduces Tetra EdgeStrip and Tetra miniStrip, which are designed to replace T8 fluorescent tubes by offering a number of features that provide superior visual performance in any climate while delivering up to 90 percent energy savings compared to T8 lamps.

Both Tetra LED Lighting Systems feature GE’s patented OptiLens™ optical lens technology, which captures otherwise wasted light and redirects it toward the illuminated surface to maximize the performance of each LED module and ensure an exceptionally uniform sign. OptiLens eliminates light striping and shadows that can occur with fluorescent tubes.

“Cabinet signs are supposed to grab attention and project a professional brand image. T8 fluorescent tubes don’t always provide uniformity, with the space between tubes appearing dark, leaving an unwanted striping effect,” says Matt Tavernelli, product marketing leader, GE Lighting Solutions. “Tetra EdgeStrip and Tetra miniStrip eliminate this problem in shallow cabinet signs by providing even illumination across the sign face to maintain brand image while also greatly reducing energy consumption.”

GE’s new Tetra LED Lighting Systems for cabinet signs include:

· Tetra EdgeStrip—designed to fit into the frame of cabinet signs with 3- to 6-inch depths, Tetra EdgeStrip lights signs from the edge, which reduces installation time and the number of LED modules needed. By tightly following the contour of the frame of single- or double-sided signs, Tetra EdgeStrip brings the benefits of LED technology to custom shaped cabinet signs, whether square, curved, or angular, while evenly distributing light to every inch of the sign face. Trade the higher brightness of T8 Fluorescent tubes for the exceptional uniformity and impressive energy savings of up to 78 percent offered by the advanced technology of Tetra EdgeStrip.

· Tetra miniStrip and Tetra miniStrip DS—for single-sided signs with 3- to 6-inch depths and double-sided signs with 6- to 12-inch depths (Tetra miniStrip DS), the new LED lighting systems can transform shallow cabinet signs into better looking, better performing images for businesses. Tetra miniStrip offers energy savings up to 90 percent and Tetra miniStrip DS offers savings up to 79 percent compared to overlit T8 fluorescent tubes, while also eliminating cold weather concerns by maintaining constant light output in any temperature.

About GE LightingGE 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.

Good Idea

I received this as a forwarded e-mail message.  I have no idea how many people saw it before I did or who the original author was.  But it seems like a good idea.

 I have a friend who used her solar lights inside at night when her current was off during the hurricane. She stuck them in a jar or

bottle and said they gave off plenty of 'free light'. She put one in

each room and would put them back outside in the daytime and

bring them in at night as long as the current was off. They are

safe to use and cheaper than batteries. Bring in a solar light
one night and test it.

Due to a thunderstorm, we lost power for about 5 hours. We were scrambling around in the darkness, looking for matches, candles, flashlights, etc. We looked outside, and noticed our solar lights

shining brightly all around our patio, stairs, dock, etc. They were beautiful. My wife walked outside, and brought several of the solar lights inside.

We stuck the solar light pipes into plastic drink bottles containers

and they made the nicest, brightest, safest, lighting you could ever imagine.

We put one in the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, etc. There was plenty of light. There are all types of solar lights available. We bought ours at Harbor Freight. We put them all around our yard. They look nice and they do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around our doorway.

The lights we have fit into the small (20 oz) water bottles and they

also fit into most of the larger liter bottles. If you need a weight in

the plastic bottle to keep them from tipping over, you can put a few

of the pretty colorful "flat marbles" that they put in aquariums, and vases. (you can also use sand, aquarium gravel, etc., whatever you have available).

The lights we have were perfect inside our home. They burn all night long if you need them.

The next day, you just take your solar lights back outside and they

will instantly recharge and be ready for you to use again any time

you need them.

Perfect for power outages, hurricanes, etc.

I never thought of it and now you don't have to. -----

New Lighting Facts Label

From the Energy Savers blog of the U.S. Department of Energy:

New Lighting Facts Label: Takes the Guess Work Out of Shopping for Light Bulbs

January 25, 2012

If you're like me, it sometimes feels overwhelming standing at the store and staring at a big wall of light bulbs, trying to understand all the lighting choices. With new lighting standards taking effect this year, now's a great time switch to energy-saving incandescent, CFL, and LED light bulbs, which are available in most hardware and home improvement retailers. They all are more energy-efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs, and upgrading 15 of the inefficient incandescent light bulbs in your home could save you about $50 per year.
I've learned that when I'm shopping for light bulbs, it's most important to compare lumens to be sure I'm getting the amount of light, or level of brightness, I want. More lumens means it's a brighter light; fewer lumens means it's a dimmer light.

The brightness, or lumen levels, of the lights in your home may vary widely, so here's a rule of thumb:

• To replace a 100-watt (W) incandescent bulb, look for a bulb that gives you about 1600 lumens. If you want something dimmer, go for less lumens; if you prefer brighter light, look for more lumens.
• Replace a 75 W bulb with an energy-saving bulb that gives you about 1100 lumens.
• Replace a 60 W bulb with an energy-saving bulb that gives you about 800 lumens.
• Replace a 40 W bulb with an energy-saving bulb that gives you about 450 lumens.

To help people like you and me better understand the switch from watts to lumens, the Federal Trade Commission will require a new product label for light bulbs in the coming months. It will help people buy the light bulbs that are right for them.

Example of a Lighting Facts label.

The Lighting Facts label will help consumers understand what they are really purchasing. The label clearly provides the lumens—or brightness—of the bulb, the estimated operating cost for the year, and the color of the light (from warm/yellowish, to white to cool/blue).

Download our placard Lumens: the new way to shop for light to see how to use the Lighting Facts label to buy the right light bulb for your needs.
For more information:

• View the Energy 101: Lighting Choices video
• Learn about the new lighting standards and how they affect you
• Find out how to shop for energy-efficient lighting
• Get answers to frequently asked questions.

Chris Stewart is a senior communicator at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which assists EERE in providing technical content for many of its websites.