Nualight (Cork, Ireland), a specialist in LED lighting for the food retail sector, has secured a multi-million dollar deal to install its LED lighting in freezers and ice-cream cabinets throughout 800 UK-based stores owned by the Co-operative Group (Manchester, UK).

Nualight’s Porto lighting will be installed in the doors in low-temperature merchandising cabinets and its Alto canopy lighting will be installed in ice-cream display cabinets throughout the stores.

Porto and Alto have been designed specifically to reduce energy consumption, but also to make food displays look brighter, fresher and more colorful.

Porto LED lamp

For instance, the low-wattage Porto 600 LED lamp is designed to be invisible from the customer’s point of view while still enabling brighter lighting of products.

Alto LED lamp

LED’s niche in freezers and refrigeratorsFood retailers in the UK has already transitioned to doors on frozen food displays as an energy saving measure and are beginning to apply the same measure to refrigerators (chillers). However, this has led to problems with dark spots across the face of food displays where the light cannot reach. Nualight’s Porto door lighting produces bright and uniform lighting for freezers and refrigerators with doors.

Liam Kelly, CEO of Nualight said, “Our lighting delivers significant energy savings of over 70% when compared with fluorescent technology and it is also maintenance-free. We’re delighted that our technology can play an important part in The Co-operative Group’s ambitious ethos of responsible retailing.”

For high-margin food displays such as ice cream and luxury desserts, it is vital that the lighting also brings out the richness of color in the packaging. Alto canopy lighting delivers high CRI, boosting color vibrancy in the products on display.

Co-operative’s sustainability agenda

“The motivation for introducing Nualight’s LED lighting solutions to our stores arose primarily from our unique commitment to sustainable retailing practices,” explained Alex Pitman, Energy and Carbon Manager at the Co-operative Group.

The Co-operative has over 3000 food stores and supermarkets around the UK. It focuses on quality with honest, ethically sourced products and has an ambitious Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. A survey in 2008 found The Co-operative to be Britain’s greenest supermarket. The company has the toughest carbon reduction targets of any major business in the UK.

The Nualight transaction with The Co-operative follows a similar Nualight deal with Tesco in the UK last year as well as with the Fresh N Easy chain of stores in the US.

Other European retailers who are benefiting from Nualight’s LED technology include Morrisons, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Migros, Tengelmann and Coop Switzerland.

Nualight has the largest installed base of horizontal LED lighting globally and is successfully rolling out its products in 20 countries with major global retail players such as Tesco (Europe), Ahold (US) and Coles (Australia).

Cree says that its motivation for the acquisition exactly matches the company’s stated mission of accelerating the deployment and market acceptance of SSL. Chuck Swoboda, Cree’s chairman and CEO said, “Cree is taking another bold step in leading the LED lighting revolution, creating a company that has an unrivaled focus and commitment to driving LED lighting adoption.”

Cree and BetaLED have been close partners over a number of years, with the latter using many Cree LEDs in its fixtures. BetaLED will bring a greatly expanded sales channel for Cree Lighting’s system products.

Ruud will continue to operate from its Racine, WI headquarters with more than 800 employees joining Cree. Alan Ruud has joined the Cree board of directors. The acquisition includes $372 million in cash, and stock valued at $211 million based on Wednesday’s closing market price of $34.74.

Ruud joins Cree Lighting

Of course Cree is not new to the position of selling both packaged LEDs and lighting fixtures and systems that use the LEDs – presumably in competition with other customers of the component business. Cree entered the lighting systems business in early 2008 when it acquired LED Lighting Fixtures from former Cree Inc co-founder Neal Hunter, and made Hunter the president of Cree LED Lighting Solutions.

Still, Cree has insisted that its activity in the lighting space was ultimately focused on helping LED component customers knock down roadblocks to widespread SSL deployment. Indeed, major announcements this year of an Energy-Star-compliant retrofit lamp for 60W A Lamps, and an even more-efficient prototype that outputs 1330 lm both appear to be reference designs more so than products destined for sale under the Cree Lighting brand.

Impact on Cree LED customers

Now, however, Cree will operate a lighting business that is solely focused on winning in the fixture/systems game. BetaLED has primarily been focused on the outdoor-lighting market, and is clearly one of the market leaders in the lucrative LED street light space based on publicly-announced customers such as the City of Los Angeles. BetaLED has less of a presence in indoor applications, but without question, has been a major Cree customer.

BetaLED will certainly provide Cree with a ready outlet for the system products, including modules, that Cree Inc and Cree Lighting have introduced. The ready availability of that technology will enable BetaLED to quickly address applications beyond its outdoor-lighting base. Alan Ruud, chairman and chief executive officer of Ruud Lighting said, “Joining Cree was the right thing to do so Ruud Lighting can build on our leadership position; as leaders we create opportunities for everyone.”

Surely Ruud’s statement was meant to allay the concerns of other Cree LED customers while recognizing the value that a closer tie will bring to Ruud fixture customers. But that closer relationship will clearly worry other customers of Cree LEDs.

Cree stated that it would gain even more knowledge and expertise regarding what system and luminaire designers need in next-generation LEDs via the Ruud acquisition. There’s surely some truth in that, but we will wait to see if it’s enough to keep other LED customers from looking elsewhere for a supplier.

Vertical integration trend

Cree isn’t the only LED vendor to have close ties to lighting companies. LED maker Philips Lumileds is a sister business to several Philips Lighting brands and the same is true for Osram Opto Semiconductor and Sylvania. Perhaps it’s such vertical integration that’s needed to drive SSL prices down and increase market penetration.

Vertical intregration may seem unusual, comparing the LED industry to the structure in today’s broader semiconductor market. However, back in the 70′s and 80′s all of the IC vendors also made system products.

Acuity Brands Chairman President and CEO Vernon Nagel said, “The rapid expansion of LED lighting and other emerging technologies makes integrated lighting control increasingly pivotal in our ability to deliver high-quality, customer-focused solutions.” While Horizon’s products aren’t limited to use with LEDs, clearly SSL is an important strategic direction for the application of controls.

The entire Horizon workforce is joining Acuity Brands including founder Alan Martello. “Our extensive background in lighting control combined with the talents and resources within Acuity Brands creates a synergy that enables us to deliver advanced products providing a superior customer experience,” said Martello. “We are thrilled to have joined the Acuity Brands team.”

Nagel added, “We are excited to bring this talented and proven development team on board to accelerate the company’s ability to deliver superior products to the market.”

Horizon has supplied its systems globally to theaters, theme parks, convention centers, hotels, museums, cruise ships, and other public spaces. Acuity stated a commitment to supporting the existing Horizon customer base and clearly will combine the control technology with products from Acuity’s many lighting brands going forward.

Notable Acuity brands include Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Roam, Winona, and many more.

The investment came from a select group of private investors and includes participation from the company’s management and board of directors. In addition, the financing includes a new term loan and working capital line of credit from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

“This financing allows us to invest in international market expansion ahead of plan, to further enhance our product development capabilities and to ensure our manufacturing strategies and capacity are solidly in place to meet the accelerating demand for our products,” said François-Xavier Souvay, the company’s president and CEO.

Labsphere collaborates with Chinese test center

Test and measurement specialist Labsphere, Inc. has signed a cooperation agreement with National Lighting Test Centre in Shanghai, China. The organization’s National Luminaries Quality Supervision Testing Centre is the first professional international laboratory for lighting equipment in China.

Labsphere has supplied the center with its Thermal/Optical/Electrical LED Measurement Systems (TOCS), to which the center will apply its patented technology to correlate voltage drop with junction temperature. Additionally, the companies have agreed to actively share information pertaining to developing lighting trends and to cooperate in the launch of academic communications and activities.

Stellarnet celebrates, adds distributor

Tampa, FL-based StellarNet, Inc. has celebrated a milestone of 20 years in the spectroscopy industry, and has also added Titan Electro-Optics as its distributor in China, with offices in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai.

“Over the past two decades StellarNet has strived to provide low-cost, yet research grade instrumentation,” says company President and Chief Scientist Will Pierce. “We look forward to the future with more exciting products being developed to meet the demands of today’s applications, and securing additional distribution.”

Illumitex cuts deal with GLG

Austin, Texas-based LED developer Illumitex, Inc. has signed a strategic alliance agreement with Gerard Lighting Group Limited (ASX:GLG), the largest lighting manufacturer and distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

In addition, GLG has invested $3 million in Illumitex for a small minority interest as part of the LED company’s latest round of private equity financing.

Under the strategic agreement, effective immediately, GLG will become the exclusive general lighting integrator and distributor of Illumitex’s LED products in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

South Korea was no.2 LED producer in 2010

South Korea was the second-largest producer of LEDs last year, according to an article in the China Post.

A statement by Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy said that combined worldwide sales by Korean LED manufacturers more than doubled to 6.9 trillion won (US$6.35 billion) last year, compared with 3.1 trillion won (US$2.9 billion) in 2009, and more than tripled from 2.2 trillion won (US$2.05 billion) in 2007.

The government has supported the growth of LED lighting and is encouraging the replacement of incandescent lamps with LED lamps in the private sector by providing tax benefits. The ministry said that LED technology accounts for 14 percent of total lighting systems in municipalities and state-run corporations nationwide, and 8 percent at public institutions.

Distribution deals

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation has signed a global distribution agreement with Taiwan-based Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd. Everlight manufactures through-hole and surface-mounted LEDs, optical sensors and infrared components, and state-of-the-art lighting fixtures and digital LED displays.

In related news, Mouser Electronics has signed a global distribution agreement with Cree, and will supply the company’s lines of lighting-class XLamp LEDs, high-brightness LEDs, LED modules, and power products.

Dimension Edge 2 AFM

The new Dimension Edge PSS atomic force microscope (AFM) from Santa Barbara, CA-based Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq:BRKR) delivers precise 3D profile information to control the most advanced PSS processes.

AFMs are microscopes that use tiny probes mounted on a cantilever to scan the surface of the wafer, whose interactive forces are measured by a piezoelectric transducer. The result is exceptionally precise (sub-nanometer) distance measurements laterally (x and y directions) and even better resolution vertically (z direction).

The Dimension Edge PSS AFM system’s AutoMET software enables automated data collection, data analysis and report generation to provide a pass/fail output for technicians inspecting 2- to 6-inch wafers. The software can be configured to measure between one to nine wafers at multiple points per wafer, including automated data analysis and reporting. The software also allows two different parties, such as the engineer and operator, to access and process the data at once.

“The Dimension Edge PSS provides rapid process feedback with its speed of measurement and unmatched precision and resolution,” said Mark Munch, President of the Bruker Nano Surfaces Division. The AFM offers closed-loop x and y position noise of less than 0.5 nm RMS and z position sensor noise of less than 0.2 nm RMS.

With the release of the Dimension Edge PSS, Bruker continues to demonstrate its commitment to superior AFM performance and usability for both researchers and production environments,” added David Rossi, Vice President and General Manager of Bruker’s AFM Business. Bruker acquired the metrology business of Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq:VECO) for $229 million at the end of 2010.

De Pere has been testing SSL luminaires from Philips Gardco, Leotek, Dialight, and BetaLED on the Claude Allouez Bridge. The LED fixtures are all in the range of 150W according to Assistant City Engineer Karen Heyrman and they were used to replace 250W metal-halide (MH) fixtures. The city replaced the lights on the south side of the bridge.

De Pere Claude Allouez bridge

Heyrman said that she took light meter readings using a grid pattern both directly under the lights and between adjacent poles on both sides of the road. The city is now analyzing the data both for the comparable brightness of the LED and MH lights, and for the uniformity of the light.

The city believes that LED lights will save money despite high upfront costs. Moreover, Heyrman expects prices to drop with more manufacturers entering the market. De Pere has not selected a vendor yet, but Heyrman expects to begin purchasing SSL products in 2012.

Pittsburg SSL street lights

The city of Pittsburg near Sacramento in California is installing 1307 BetaLED street lights replacing HPS lights with the goal of saving $76,000 per year in energy and maintenance costs. “The conversion to LED will not only help achieve our initial goal of reducing operating expenses, it will help us get closer to meeting environmental goals and initiatives by saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Laura Wright, City of Pittsburg’s Environmental Services.

From the environmental perspective, the city projects that it will annually eliminate 281,413 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions with the conversion. It expects to see a 59% reduction in energy usage with the new lights.

The city also believes the light quality will be better and more uniform. The city surveyed both residents and police officers that reported better nighttime visibility under the LED lights.

The project was funded in part by a US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) combined with rebates from the Pacific Gas & Electric utility.

Port Columbus airport

Port Columbus, the second busiest airport in the state of Ohio, has installed 344 BetaLED SSL luminaires in the curbside passenger drop-off, arrival, and baggage-claim areas. The SSL conversion has reduced energy consumption by 60% relative to the previous MH lights.

Port Columbus airport

The airport is operated by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA), and the lighting retrofit was part of the CRAA’s “15 by 15″ program to reduce overall energy consumption by 15% by the year 2015. CRAA was also looking for a lighting system that could operate 24 hours a day with “virtually no maintenance.”

“We sought to install one-for-one replacements that would improve lighting performance and outlast the old HID system that was costly to maintain,” said Paul Kennedy, Manager of Energy and Environment at CRAA. “All things considered, after realizing the short payback timeframe and energy and maintenance savings the decision was easy to make.”

Easthampton street lights

According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, the city of Easthampton Massachusetts will replace 469 HPS street lights with LED-based fixtures. The city expects to save $36,700 annually in energy and maintenance costs.

Massachusetts declared Easthampton a Green Community last year. And part of the funding for the retrofit is coming from a $170,000 Department of Energy Resources Green Community grant. The Western Massachusetts Electric Co. utility contributed $52,700 to the project.

Easthampton is installing LED fixtures from LED Roadway Lighting. It is using 88W fixtures on highways to replace lights that consumed more than three times as much energy. And it is using 44W SSL product to replace 70W lamps on city streets.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the projects for the 8th Round of funding to support the advanced research, development and market adoption of solid-state lighting (SSL) technology.

The funding supports two existing DOE SSL R&D program areas for core technology research and product development in Round 8. The projects are designed to meet the goals spelled out in the March 2011 Multiyear Program Plan.

In the area of core research, projects will focus on applied research that fills technology gaps or provides enabling knowledge in critical areas. Projects are invited in four target areas including:

Emitter materials research

Down-converters

Novel OLED materials and structures

LED light extraction approaches.

The second program is focused on product development, applying basic or applied research to develop commercial viable devices, materials or systems. The DOE emphasizes that selected projects will have fully defined price, efficacy and other performance parameters needed for a successful product. Projects are invited in four areas including:

LED package architecture

Novel LED luminaire systems

Large-area OLEDs

OLEDs panel outcoupling.

The DOE, which provides further details on its website, has extended the application deadline for these projects to November 3, 2011.

In addition, under the core technology opportunity, the cost share requirement is waived for projects in which the prime recipient is a federal research center or national laboratory.

Furthermore, though the size of the 8th round of funding has not been revealed, in the 7th Round the DOE did award $4.3 million to core technology research, $3.6 million to product development and $6.9 million to manufacturing projects for a total of $14.8 million.