Energy Focus, Inc. yesterday announced that it has been awarded a $0.5 million SBIR extension grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and produce solid state lighting fixtures for general use on Navy ships. The new fixtures will replace 50 and 110 Watt water tight incandescent fixtures now in use. With the addition of these new fixtures Energy Focus, Inc.

Porlier Outdoor Advertising Co., located in the western suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., has installed two digital billboards manufactured by Watchfire Digital Outdoor. The 19mm 14’x48’ billboards are located in heavily traveled, highly visible locations in St. Charles County, a bedroom community of St. Louis.

Marktech LED Lighting has released its new EnergyLED PAR20 LED bulb. The bulb uses just 4.6 watts to generate up to 300 lumens of light, a 50% improvement in lumen output compared to the previous generation. With a 50º beam angle and E26 base, this UL approved family of LED bulbs is currently available in two white color temperatures, 2800k and 6000k cool white.

Philips Lighting Electronics has announced the introduction of its new ActiLume(tm) Color System which provides dynamic and static color effects using both fluorescent and solid state lighting technologies.

Orb Optronix has recently been named an Integration Member of Future Lighting Solutions’ Network. This provides Future Lighting Solutions’ customers access to Orb Optronix’ LED product development services, LED measurement lab and LED measurement products.

In an effort to further support its growing client list, Fusion Optix has expanded into the adjoining space of its new facility in Woburn, MA. The move gives Fusion Optix 60% more space for engineering, product development, and quality control.

Carmanah Technologies announced that the company and Dr. David Green today closed on an agreement whereby Dr. Green, through his holding company, has purchased Carmanah's LED edge-lit signs business, Carmanah Signs Inc. ("CSI"). This transaction is aligned with Carmanah's business strategy to focus on strategic solar lighting and technology markets. As part of the transaction, Dr.

Cooper Lighting, a division of Cooper Industries, Ltd., has introduced a new outdoor lighting fixture — the McGraw-Edison Generation LED Post Top Luminaire.

Sony will likely delay the launch of its new ultrathin organic light emitting diode (OLED) television, according to a report by Wall Street Journal. Once on track for the end of 2009, the larger Sony OLED TV is only slated to launch in 2010 at the earliest, because mass producing the new displays would exacerbate losses at its TV division. Its losses are blamed partly on decline in TV business due to sagging global economy.

Philips Lumileds today announced Alvin Tse, a fifteen-year veteran of the lighting industry, has joined the company as its Vice President of Sales in Asia Pacific. Mr. Tse will lead its growing team of technical, marketing and sales professionals in the region which is widely expected to be among the fastest growing for solid-state lighting adoption.

As part of its commitment to the growing LED (light-emitting diode) lighting market, Bayer MaterialScience LLC has introduced a new grade of polycarbonate resin to its already extensive portfolio. The new grade, Makrolon® LED2243, was developed as a UV-stabilized, high-light transmission addition to Bayer MaterialScience’s existing materials for LED applications.

Edison Opto Corporation is a Taipei, Taiwan based global leading high power LED manufacturer. The company offers a comprehensive product line ranging from 1 Watt to 100 Watt, single-chip to multi-chip, and high flux to high CRI. The diversified product offering will answer to even the most challenging fixture designs.

OSRAM has recently introduced its new Parathom Classic LED lamp. With an average service life of 25,000 hours, the new product requires just 8 Watts to achieve the same light output as incandescent lamps, i.e. 80 percent less energy. All told, every lamp will save almost EUR 200 in electricity, as well as more than 400 kg of CO2 emissions, according to the company. The LED lamp will be commercially available as of August.

Mixing luminescence phosphor with silicone and dispensing it on a blue light emitting chip is a common LED package method in producing white light. The quality of white light depends heavily on the uniformity of phosphor on the blue die. Often times, when coupling secondary lens on white LED, it will reveal yellow circling. Such yellowing greatly shadows the quality of white light.

Foxconn International Holdings Ltd., a company in which Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. holds a controlling stake, will invest US$500 million to build a LED factory in Jinan, Shandong, according to Jinan government and a local newspaper.

Philips Wednesday announced that JB Lighting Lichtanlagen GmbH took a license under Philips’ LED Luminaires and Retrofit Bulbs license program. JB Lighting Lichtanlagen GmbH is a Germany-based supplier of theatrical & entertainment lighting. Through the license, JB Lighting obtains access to basic driver and control technologies for LED luminaires and retrofit bulbs.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors today announced a major breakthrough in the laboratory with its direct emitting green indium-gallium-nitride laser. It achieves an optical output of 50 mW and emits light in true green with a wavelength of 515 nm. Compared with semiconductor lasers based on current technology that operate with frequency doubling, direct emitting green lasers are more compact, offer greater temperature stability, are easier to control and have higher modulation capability, according to the company.

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

Celsia Technologies has been chosen by Taiwanese based United Innovation to cool the company's 9-, 11-, and 13-watt LED spotlights. Each of these spotlights includes a combination of United's unique multi-chip LED package along with Celsia's patented NanoSpreader vapor chamber.

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.

Cree, Inc. yesterday reported its 4Q09 revenue and forecast better-than-expected first-quarter results. The company scored record revenue of $148.1 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, representing a 9% increase compared to revenue of $135.9 million reported for the fourth fiscal quarter last year and a 13% increase compared to the fiscal third quarter of 2009. And for fiscal year 2009, the company reported revenue of $567.3 million, which represents a 15% increase compared to revenue of $493.3 million for fiscal 2008.

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.

Inventronics announced today that another six of its new lighting driver families have now been approved to the UL 8750 safety standard. This new standard, specifically written for solid state lighting applications, incorporates requirements from a broad array of standards each of which have some applicability to the LED lighting industry.

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.

FEIT ELECTRIC, a U.S.-based manufacturer and supplier of energy-efficient light bulbs, announced its general purpose line of new Performance LED light bulbs available in several popular reflector sizes, plus a household "A19" shape.

Under increasing demands for LED backlights for LCD TV and notebook computers, the board of directors at Epistar Corp. recently approved to issue 110-135 million units of global depository receipt (GDR) to raise some NT$10 billion (US$303 million at US$1:NT$33) to build up inventories of materials for the blooming market, according to Taiwan Economic News. Some industry watchers believe Epistar would use the GDR offering to attract foreign shareholders.

Lighting Science Group Corporation (LSG) recently announced that Arizona State University (ASU) has taken another step in its commitment to 'going green' by retrofitting six parking structures on the Tempe campus with new light emitting-diode (LED) fixtures. Changing the existing fixtures to Lighting Science's LED low bay solution will afford ASU with an annual savings of up to $127,000 in energy and maintenance costs for the six structures that were retrofit.