Citing Health Concerns, Some Cities Consider Dimmer LED Streetlights

 In the last several years, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle and other U.S. cities have installed high-intensity, white LED streetlights. In all, at least 13 percent of outdoor lighting is now LED, and many communities that haven’t yet made the switch are rushing to do so. But health concerns, heightened by a recent warning by the American Medical Association (AMA), are giving pause to some local officials, spurring them to consider less-intense LED alternatives. Honolulu, Phoenix and smaller cities in Arizona, California, Florida and Massachusetts are among those who are taking the health warnings seriously.

Cree revamps entire LED line of better bulbs

Cree, Inc. announces a completely new portfolio of next generation LED bulbs aimed at delivering better light experiences for consumers. The new bulb portfolio consists of 25 new products, offering better light quality, better dimming, better lifetime, better warranty and better pricing to deliver on the true promise of LED technology to make lighting better than it was before.

“Cree is committed to innovation and unlocking the true potential of LED technology,” said Betty Noonan, Cree chief marketing officer and general manager, consumer lighting. “Many new LED products fail to live up to the promise of LED technology; shouldn’t you choose a better bulb when it will live in your house for decades?  Cree believes it’s now more important than ever to give consumers a better choice.”

Notable features in the new bulbs include superior lifetimes, with most projected to last 22+ years and some up to 32 years.  Color rendition is improved, with smoother, quieter dimming to levels as low as 1 percent.  Cree’s market-leading “Candlelight Dimming,” available in the new candelabra bulb, mimic’s a true candle flame with a warmer 1800K color when dimmed.

The new Cree bulbs meet or surpass the requirements for ENERGY STAR product certification and are covered by a 10 year 100 percent satisfaction guarantee – one of the strongest warranties in the industry. The new bulb portfolio includes new A-lamps, BR lamps, PAR lamps and Candelabra lamps, as well as a new series of recessed downlight retrofit products.

Achieving Optimum LED Performance With Quantum Dots

The invention of blue LEDs and the subsequent rapid rate of development of new phosphor and down-converting technologies have enabled the phenomenal growth of all LEDs in general lighting applications. White LEDs initially employed the use of a blue LED combined with a single phosphor with broad yellow emission. However, the light quality provided by this relatively simple solution was less than satisfactory, particularly in the red part of the visible spectrum. But more recently, new phosphors and phosphor combinations (green-yellow plus red) have been developed to provide a higher quality of light. While these advancements afford a significant improvement over previous offerings, phosphor technologies have yet to deliver desirable white light with rich color rendering ability along with the energy efficiency typically attributed to LEDs.