European consumers are switching to green products as a result of the EU ban on incandescent lamps. According to a market research company, sales of traditional light bulbs fell by up to 35 percent in the first quarter of 2009 in a number of European countries. Increases in purchases of regular light bulbs are a regional phenomenon, particularly in Germany and Austria. EU ban on incandescent lamps will help consumers and the climate

Enfis, a specialist in the design and manufacture of LED Light Engines for high-power Solid State Lighting (SSL), announces the formal launch of its Lighting Evolution Centre (LEC) in Swansea, UK. The LEC enables Enfis customers to ‘evolve’ their lighting product portfolios quickly and effectively into efficient SSL solutions – either existing legacy products or new SSL-focused luminaires.

A street lighting test facility with LED technology has now been set up in Fürth near Nuremberg, Germany. A total of six LED lamps have been installed on the road to the airport in the town’s north and will provide an insight into the street lighting of tomorrow.

At Morrissey's 2009 "Tour of Refusal", 12 BB7 beam lights from i-Pix have been used to bring different dynamics to the stage with the quality and feel of the BB7 light output.

Nualight Ltd., a specialist in LED lighting for food retail, has signed a strategic supply and partnership agreement with Kysor//Warren, a division of Manitowoc Foodservice. The three year agreement enables Kysor//Warren to offer its customers temperature-controlled food displays that are high on impact and low on energy combining Nualight's award winning Vantium™ LED Lightbars with Kysor//Warren's next generation display case, STRATUS.

Linear Technology has announced the LT3599, a 45V, 2.1MHz DC/DC boost mode converter designed to operate as a constant current LED driver for up to 40 white LEDs. From a 12V input, the LT3599 can drive four strings of LEDs, each with up to ten 120mA white LEDs in series while delivering efficiencies up to 90%. Its multichannel capability makes it ideal for medium-sized TFT-LCD backlighting applications.

Sharp extends its range of industry-compatible LCDs with LED background lighting with two new displays in diagonals of 12.1 and 23 inches. The range now comprises nine displays with screen diagonals of 2.5 to 23 inches.

Infineon Technologies AG has recently introduced the low cost LED driver IC BCR 450 which was specifically designed for driving high power LEDs. As BCR 450 produces no electromagnetic radiation, it is well-suited for applications sensitive against electromagnetic interference (EMI) as well as medical applications with communication bus systems, and wide range of other applications, according to the company.

UK LED manufacturer i-Pix launches a new version of its BB7 LED luminaire - with wider angles than the original 10 degree BB7 Beam Light fixture developed last year. The new BB7 optics offer a 10 (spot), a 20 degree and a 35 degree (flood) angle - in one fixture.

A study on the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of LED lamps by OSRAM shows the latest generation of lamps achieves a very high score for environmental friendliness. This study involved a close look at their entire life-cycle – how much energy and raw materials the lamp consumes in terms of production, use and disposal and the environmental impact involved in the process. The result was that today’s LED lamps achieve the LCA values of compact fluorescent lights and are far superior to conventional incandescent lamps.

Optoga has introduced an update on their line of light Engines called OptoDrive. With integrated driver to secondary optics, just plug and play modules! OptoDrive Felicia and Clara are complete light modules that can easily be fitted into most types of light fitting. The compact modules give superbly balanced light, both in terms of color reproduction and spread, according to the company.

Applied LED technology specialist Dialight has introduced Powerwhite® AR111 and MR16 fully modular circular arrays using the latest ultra high brightness LEDs as highly efficient and long lasting retro-fittable alternatives for conventional lighting fixtures.

With this new range of designer LED ceiling lights, ICONIC LIGHTS have found that energy saving lights can not only save money but can be designer or contemporary too. LED lights use a fraction of the electricity that a traditional light would do and they last 25 times longer. And homes or businesses can not only create a dramatic impact but can save up to 80% electricity too, the company said.

Interview with Dr. Christian Geng, Vice President Greater China, General Manager AIXTRON Taiwan and Mr Bernd Wachtendorf, Director of Operations: Encouraged by lower sapphire substrate price, the 4 inch MOCVD equipment is expected to become mainstream next year.

Researchers with Philips Lumileds have developed a monochromatic nitride diode that closes the yellow light-emitting diode (LED) gap. The phosphor-converted (PC) amber LED demonstrated by Regina Mueller-Mach and her colleagues uses the down-conversion of blue light from an indium-gallium-nitride (InGaN) LED to longer-wavelength light by a phosphor, in a variation of a well-established process for producing cold or warm white light from blue LED light.

Nanosys, Inc. today announced it has agreed to settlement terms of a patent infringement lawsuit against Nanoco Technologies Ltd. The lawsuit claimed that the United Kingdom firm's quantum dot technology infringes upon five seminal quantum dot patents held by Nanosys. In the settlement, Nanoco agreed to terminate its current U.S. business for its core-shell quantum dots. Those quantum dots were sold in the U.S. by its U.S. distributor, Sigma-Aldrich under the name Lumidots.

e:cue lighting control – An OSRAM Company, introduces light-drive elite, its first standalone DMX controller and user interface for dynamic RGB LED lighting that does not require software programming. Users can easily control intensity, color, and speed as well as setup their favorite color-changing effects through light-drive elite’s glass interface with touch-sensitive keys and touch wheel.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) will host the 4th npower Ashes Test starting on 7th August 2009. All the hard-fought action will be replayed on Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground’s new giant 102m2 digiLED Ld10S screen. The 16m (w) x 6.4m (h) screen replaces the previous scoreboard and is the largest LED video display in a UK sports venue.

Following the launch of the VEX 130, Vexica, a UK based provider of SSL solutions, has announced the launch of the VEX 70. The VEX 70 is a small light engine suitable for indoor applications. The high power LED light engine uses the company’s patent pending technology at the heart of the product. The VEX 70 delivers between 900 and 1350 lumens (colour temperature dependent) of LED light in a form factor that offers unrivalled lumen level and homogeneous light output.

Unlike conventional LED strips which emit isolated, lined up spots of light, the M-TUBE from MENTOR is the first LED light guide system that dissipitates light perfectly homogeneous to the environment. The principle of the targeted light reflection along a crystal clear light guide makes this possible: The light is simply fed in at the side of two LED housings and is dissipitated in a targeted way to the environment along an imprinted reflector line inside the bar.

With the pressing of a button general director Mart van Buuren fromBVB Substrates reopened the research greenhouse at Bas van Buuren's  premises in De Lier, Holland. In BVB's new test greenhouse growers can do tests with Philips LED-lights to find the best combination of substrates treatments and lighting for their plants in-situ. This is what distinguishes this location from earlier LED tests.

Dialog Semiconductor and TridonicAtco, a member of the Zumtobel Group, have established a joint development centre for next generation energy efficient lighting technology.

Heptagon, the Finland-based developer of wafer-scale micro-optics, announced that it has raised over $22m in new equity financing. Most of this financing is coming from a new syndicate led by GGV Capital. Heptagon’s current investors, including Innovations Kapital of Sweden, Innovacom of France and Nokia Growth Partners have also participated in this latest round.

A major extension to St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff has included the use of iColor Flex SLX LED luminaires from Philips Lighting in an illuminated wall running the length of the escalators linking the refurbished centre with the new St David’s 2 development to the South. Supplied by Value Added Reseller Architainment, the LEDs provide the centre’s operators with the opportunity to create a range of scenes, as well as animated displays.

IMEC announces the launch of a new industrial affiliation program (IIAP) that will focus on the development of GaN technology for both power conversion and solid state lighting applications. An important goal of the program is to lower GaN technology cost by using large-diameter GaN-on-Si and hence by leveraging on the Si scale of economics.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors showcases LED solutions for indoor and outdoor lighting at Russia’s leading LED conference. OSRAM  emphasises the importance of the Russian LED market by becoming a premium sponsor of the LED FORUM MOSCOW, Russia’s leading expert conference on LEDs in lighting technologies. This year’s LED FORUM MOSCOW takes place at the Expocentre Moscow on November 11th and 12th, 2009. The programme was extended in response to the rising interest in LED applications.

Company Helps the Major Women’s handbag Manufacturer Go Green with LED Cabinet Solutions

Van Wagner Communications recently chose Daktronics Inc. to design and manufacture a new, light emitting diode (LED) display as a component of a spectacular new sign for its client, DB Climate Change Advisors, an institutional and alternatives climate change business of Deutsche Asset Management, a business division of Deutsche Bank AG. The curved LED display functions as the world's first scientifically valid, real-time carbon counter.

A massive Anolis architectural LED lighting installation has been completed by A.C. Special Projects Ltd. at London's iconic Somerset House venue. This was designed by Patrick Woodroffe, who was commissioned by Somerset House's director Gwyn Miles.

New developments in gallium nitride (GaN) LEDs could lead to a revolution in lighting for the home and office in five years, says a leading UK materials scientist, Professor Colin Humphreys of Cambridge University.