Cree, Inc. has the most lighting-class LEDs meeting the stringent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ENERGY STAR® performance criteria, offering fixture manufacturers a significant benefit when designing with XLamp® XR-E, XP-E or MC-E white LEDs.

The DOE’s “ENERGY STAR Manufacturer’s Guide for Qualifying Solid-State Lighting Luminaires” requires that LED fixture manufacturers seeking ENERGY STAR Category A approval test their luminaires for a minimum of 6,000 hours (approximately nine months) to demonstrate the product’s long-term lumen maintenance. In lieu of performing this lengthy and costly testing, the DOE will accept an LED manufacturer’s lumen maintenance data if the LEDs are tested to the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) approved method for “Measuring Lumen Maintenance of LED Light Sources,” LM-80-08.

The DOE accepts Cree’s IES LM-80 test data for the Cree XLamp XR-E, XP-E and MC-E LEDs. This LM-80 test data can be submitted by luminaire manufacturers (along with the appropriate LM-79 optical and electrical data) to the DOE for ENERGY STAR approval of both 25,000-hour residential and 35,000-hour commercial lighting products.

“Cree has the broadest family of lighting-class LEDs accepted by the DOE for use in ENERGY STAR products,” said Paul Thieken, Cree director of marketing, LED components. “Our customers can avoid expensive and prolonged fixture testing by designing-in XLamp XR-E, XP-E or MC-E LEDs. Cree XLamp LEDs were also the first to be binned to ANSI C78.377A chromaticity back in 2007 and feature excellent white-point stability—further simplifying the design of LED fixtures to meet ENERGY STAR requirements.”