Backlighting and general illumination are two major application fields of LEDs, with the former already adopted by the global leading providers of relevant products, while the latter holds significant business potential, though its development has not reached maturity. LEDinside recently interviewed James Liang, CEO of the lighting specialist, Aeon Lighting Tech (ALT), and invited him to analyze the possible development of the LED lighting market in 2010, based on his expertise in High Power LEDs.

PolyBrite International announced today that the installation of Borealis LED streetlights has saved the City of Naperville up to 60% in energy usage for each of the four months of usage. The City of Naperville has been monitoring Borealis LED streetlights since June and they will continue to do so until January 2010. 

Albeo Technologies Inc. announced a milestone in Solid-State Lighting; the award winning C-Series LED fixture with Cree's XLamp® XP-G R3 LEDs (Albeo part number LS-E143-011C0-RPG) surpassed 89 lumens per watt efficacy with an output of 3074 lumens tested to LM-79 standards by a CALiPER accredited independent testing facility. Efficacy can vary depending on configuration options. Test report number ITL63217 is available for download at www.albeotech.com.

China 60th National Day has just come to a spectacular end. The Tiananmen Square in Beijing was beautified by a lot of LED displays with abundant color and uniform brightness expressing the congratulations to the National Birthday. Some of these LED displays were provided by Beijing Leyard Co. and GULX Tech Co. Macroblock also shines in the ceremony with constant current LED drivers adopted in these LED displays.

The World Usability Day (WUD) project will make 1,000 LED spot/bulbs available for free via their website www.worldusabilityday.org. "Assume the following math: 1,000 bulbs can replace all of the light bulbs in 20 medium-sized houses," said Brian Sullivan, the usability principal at the Sabre Human Factors Center in San Francisco, CA, and co-chair of World Usability Day. "The LED bulbs are easily three times more efficient than standard bulbs. So that is the equivalent of lighting 100 houses," said Brian Sullivan, co-chair of World Usability Day.

Scientists at the Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy in Denmark have developed an inexpensive way to integrate solar cells, LEDs, and ultrathin lithium batteries to create a lamp that can produce reading-quality light. The lamp's polymer solar cells and circuitry are printed onto large flexible plastic films, and the LEDs, flat batteries, and diodes are mounted using silver epoxy. After being encapsulated in a second sheet of film, the sheets are rolled up and snapped together at the corners with metal fasteners.

Cree, Inc.  announced yesterday (Nov. 9) an agreement to purchase a 592,000-square-foot facility in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. The facility will be Cree’s first chip-production facility outside of North America and is targeted to also house future components manufacturing expansion.

Grote Industries recently introduced the first commercially available versions of its new LightForm flexible LED lighting film technology during a press conference at the 2009 SEMA Show.

TC Interconnect Holdings Limited, one of the top 10 Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturers in Hong Kong and China, announced that the group's subsidiary, TC Orient Energy Management ContractCorp. TC Orient entered into a preliminary exclusive distributorship agreement with a major lighting system wholesaler and distributor, Nicenough (China) Limited to distribute its 3gLED light bulbs in Hong Kong.

Orca Green Marine Technology Corporation (OGM) celebrated its seven years in business by emphasizing its commitment to the environment and the marine industry through its "Orca Green LED Lite EcoPac" initiative.

Neo-Neon Holdings Ltd, a China-based decorative light manufacturer founded with Taiwanese capital, plans to raise US$63 million by issuing Taiwan Depositary Receipts (TDR) before the end of 2009, said its underwriter Fubon Securities Co recently.

GE Lighting recently announced that its latest Immersion™ LED Refrigerated Display Lighting RV30 Series is now available across Europe for environmentally responsible retailing.

Aeon Lighting Technology (ALT) recently announced the launch of a new LED lighting product series, including seven indoor lighting products of AC MR16, AC BR, MR16 25°, LED T8, and MR16 based globes. According to ALT, one of the highlights of the products is the company’s exclusive dimmable technology which has been integrated in to the new series of MR16’s and PAR 30 and 38’s.

SemiLEDs today announced the introduction of its new I-core™ (IC) LED, an innovative new chip that will be featured in SemiLEDs’ ultra high bright LED product portfolio. The IC™ is the first product released in the I-core™ series of LEDs from SemiLEDs which are designed to provide further improvements in brightness, reliability and overall efficiency.

LEDnovation, Inc. today introduced two new LED bulbs for the North American Market. The company claims that the LED bulbs are the industry’s first and highest brightness 60W and 75W incandescent A19 equivalent replacement bulbs. 

Merck KGaA recently announced that it has launched a project called "New materials for OLEDs from solutions" (NEMO) together with renowned partners from industry and science. The objective of this project, which is being co-funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is to develop innovative, soluble materials for use in large-area organic light-emitting diode (OLED) components for devices such as televisions, electronic traffic signs or lighting systems.

Before November 30, 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will release a more detailed proposal outlining anticipated Energy Star program enhancements for 2010, according to a letter from EPA to Energy Star stakeholders. These program enhancements will include a proposed method of integrating various elements of the Energy Star lighting program.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Thursday announced that it has developed a high-flux LED prototype with a feel-good effect in its laboratory. OSRAM claims that the prototype offers three important properties essential for general illumination applications, namely a color temperature of 3000 K, a color rendering index of 82 and an efficiency of 104lm/W.

  The global security company Lockheed Martin is upgrading its Lake Underhill Facility in Orlando, Florida with solar-powered streetlights from Carmanah Technologies. In addition to providing significant savings on installation and wiring, the stand-alone lighting alternative is expected to return significant energy savings during the next 20 years. 

 Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild has reached a settlement with Mitsubishi Corp. regarding her assertion that the company and dozens of other major electronics manufacturers in Asia and Europe violated her patents for producing LEDs and laser diodes in products, such as video players that are used for Sony's Blu-ray format, Motorola Razr phones and Hitachi camcorders, backlighting for computers, as well as street lighting and optical storage of information. 

The solar-optoelectronics and LED industries have been identified as two rising-star sectors for priority development in Taiwan, with the annual production value of the two industries expected to reach NT$1 trillion (US$330 billion) by 2015, officials said Wednesday.

To address the inflexibility of integrated LED luminaires now used in commercial and consumer settings, GE Consumer & Industrial yesterday (Nov.4) announced a small puck-shaped LED module that gives lighting designers and end-users the ability to easily upgrade LED lighting.

Cree, Inc. Wednesday announced that it has been selected to provide energy-efficient LED lighting to Walmart for new stores and renovations. Walmart plans to install Cree LRP-38 LED light bulbs in 650 stores during the first year, replacing ceramic metal halide in the produce and electronics departments. Cree’s industry-leading LR6 recessed LED downlights are also being used in new construction applications.

NXP Semiconductors today announced three major developments in its portfolio of mains connected LED driver solutions: the success of its SSL2101 LED driver IC in matching LED lifetimes in an accelerated lifetime test; the introducti

Fans of the popular TLC show American Chopper will witness a first when they tune in this Thursday, November 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The Orange County Choppers (OCC) crew -- founder Paul Sr., -- forges new territory with the creation of their first electric-powered chopper. Another first is the use throughout the bike of LED lighting for head, tail and signal lighting. Supplied by OSRAM SYLVANIA, the lighting array includes the first OEM installation of OSRAM SYLVANIA LEDs in a motorcycle head lighting application.

OBDUCAT, a manufacturer of lithography solutions based on nanoimprint lithography and electron beam lithography, has been invited to participate in the EU funded SMASH project, the purpose of which is to establish new materials and process technologies for production of white LED-light sources for the general lighting market.  

Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN), a provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, RFIC, Semiconductor, and Optical industries, Tuesday reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2009.

AIXTRON AG announced that Changelight Co., Ltd., ordered an AIXTRON Planetary Reactor system for the production of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) LED. The Changelight order is for an AIX 2600G3 system in the 49x2-inch wafer configuration. The tool was delivered in the third quarter 2009 to the company’s state-of-the-art new facilities in Xiamen (Xiang An) Torch Industry Park of Fujian Province, China.

The City of Los Angeles is working with Carmanah Technologies (TSX: CMH) to illuminate off grid locations with solar power. As part of a green streetlight program, the City is replacing high pressure sodium lighting fixtures with hardwired LED streetlights such as the LEDway(TM) luminaire from BetaLED(R) -- and lighting nearby bus stops with solar powered EverGEN(TM) lights from Carmanah.

Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Private Limited will spend 284.7 billion won ($242 million) to acquire a 12 percent stake in S. Korean’s Seoul Semiconductor and a 9 percent stake in affiliate Seoul Optodevice, according to an article on Reuters.