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September 4, 2008...Wow. The feedback continues to come in, and the consensus is: Just what we needed, do it again soon. In case you missed the Solid State Lighting Design Summit 2008 in Weehawken, New Jersey, be sure to take a look at the final agenda so you have some context for what went down in the first-of-its-kind event. Sized for the kind of interaction that creates a real synthesis in idea-sharing, the Summit brought together industry thought leaders, pioneers, leading designers, lighting decision-makers and innovators from the across the solid state lighting eco-system (SSLdesign Summit... accept no substitutes...). The conference included an evening "showcase reception" at the conclusion of the first day that allowed attendees the kind of "hands-on" that both brought tangibility to the day's topics, and facilitated the "deal-making" discussions that often mark this kind of event.

Key to the success of the Summit was the fact it was an ongoing dialogue among key stakeholders, not just another series of sales-ish presentations on the latest fixture or newest developments in light-emitting technology. The audience heard from notable individuals in the design community, including IALD President (and conference co-chair, Pivotal Design's Jeff Miller, along with Matthew Tanteri and Leni Schwendinger, who shared insights into what makes lighting "design" tick, and what it achieves. For anyone who is not intimate with the elemental artistic nature of lighting design, it is a shock how little of it has to do with lighting sources, and how much of it has to do with the human perceptive experience. (Note: Lighting design is not to be mistaken as having to do with "luminaire design". The divergence is comparable to "painting" versus "paint manufacturing".) With so many of the additions to the LED-lighting product line-up coming from the electronics side of this new industry, and not from the lighting side, it's clear that there have been major disconnects in communicating the value proposition to the community that will be instrumental in driving SSL into the public eye. Better informing luminaire manufacturers and enablers on not just the needs, but on the designer's project perceptions, will prove to be a critical step in enabling the industry's growth.

And how is that growth proceeding? It's exciting, and consistent and, as the notes are compared, still in its infancy. Govi Rao of Lighting Science, reminded us all of how early in the adoption cycle we really are. As we hear about cities "moving to LEDs" for streetlights and parking structures (areas where the higher efficiency cool white is vastly superior to the poor-color rendering HPS or cold-weather challenged fluorescent incumbents), we can miss that it's still only 2 or 5 or possibly up to 50 fixtures that are being installed as the most basic proof-of-concept. Testing, validation, re-evaluation of the options and finally a procurement and retrofit installation process will take years for someplace like New York City.

By way of example, moving from the mini-computer to the PC in the early adopter finance and inventory management departments, where the business case was strongest, was far from an overnight process. Only after the hard lessons had been learned there, and the technology continued to evolve, did we hit the mass-adoption cycle that marks the real start of our collective "PC revolution" memory. Detailed discussions on "how much, how soon" were a big part of the roundtable discussion that wrapped up the two-day event. There wasn't much dissension that LEDs (including OLEDs) should be producing the vast majority of the world's lumen output by 2020. How many of those lumens would be LED-based by 2012 was the interesting part... the opinions ranged from "enough to show the impact" to "a surprising percentage".

A recurring theme that was designed into the format was, "What do you need to know to separate the wheat from the chaff?" and the questions to ask were covered on a number of fronts. The speakers were often very strong in their emphasis that designers/specifiers and decision makers should insist on seeing the photometric and other test data to back up manufacturer claims. That was a significant addition to the suitability checklist that has been more typically presented over the last few years, and not something the lighting decision-makers, especially in public works type applications, are used to doing. It's not a surprise that it has been added to the checklist, but more a natural outgrowth of fact that key standards and evaluation criteria are now in place, including IES LM-80, which provides luminaire-level performance criteria, and LM-79, which covers LED lifetime characterization.

Luminaire manufacturers took away nuggets on the breadth of the design support network available, modular types of solutions that can speed them towards a finished product, and again, the questions to ask their suppliers to separate the useful from the problematic. Optics enjoyed some time on the agenda, both standalone and as part of several luminaire discussions. We found out that there are indeed solutions that are bright enough today for recessed lighting, Troffers and wide-area industrial retrofits, including several case studies that highlighted the dramatic results from retrofits that are primarily providing better distribution of the light within the space. LEDs do that particularly well (light where you want it, and not where you don't). As part of the case studies, the audience also saw that the payback periods are now within a range that provides a strong business case, right now, with today's technology and efficacy. We were reminded that LED lighting is also a handy tool for the lighting design professional who finds themselves running out of power budget and having to give up creative opportunities within a project. Saving watts in uses that the more efficient fluorescents couldn't serve allows the addition of accent and decorative lighting that may have otherwise been pushed out of the project.

Fundamentally, there was agreement that LED lighting is on track, beginning to prove itself to the skeptics, and ready for primetime in a number of applications. There are still holes, both in how to separate the good stuff from the junk, as well as in the validity of the claims found in the spec sheets. Selecting an SSL partner is not for the faint of heart, but it's becoming easier to spot the winners as more hard data and industry specifications are becoming available. The Summit will be back soon, hopefully to a town near you!

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Nichia Initiates U.K. Patent Infringement Lawsuit against Seoul Semiconductor for Important Thermal Annealing PatentLIGHTimes Staff

Cree Widens Distribution of its LEDsLIGHTimes Staff

Bay County to Have Special Financing Arrangement for Traffic Signal ConversionLIGHTimes Staff

Neo-Neon to Begin Producing LED ChipsLIGHTimes Staff

Universal Display Awarded SBIR Phase I Grant for OLED DevelopmentLIGHTimes Staff

Freescale Introduces LED Driver for LCD ScreensLIGHTimes Staff

Sharp to Introduce New Solar-Powered LED Street Lights in JapanSSLDesign News Staff

Luminus Devices’ PhlatLight LEDs Used in Compact Projectors from Samsung and LG ElectronicsLIGHTimes Staff

Summit 2008: What the industry learnedTom Griffiths - Publisher