LED Quality Control Center's (LQCC in Shenzhen China) evaluation of 250 LED bulbs and fixtures from 29 leading factories indicates that LEDs offer compelling payback periods when compared to conventional incandescent and halogen lighting solutions. However, only in the State of Hawaii are LEDs competitive as replacements for compact fluorescent, metal halide, and linear fluorescent lights. Then why does the US lag behind the European countries in adopting LED Technology? Two reasons, one is the long return on investment (ROI) and this is driven by the cost of electricity. The other is the quality of LED products leaving Mainland China.
While LEDs can save substantial energy and maintenance costs over the course of their lifetime, the investment case associated with their adoption is often difficult to discern among the maze of general lighting reports, marketing materials, and strong competition from conventional lighting solutions. The information and independence that municipalities, institutions, and real estate stakeholders need is often so illusive that a large municipality asked LQCC to determine the scenarios—spanning a range of vendors, products, applications, and endmarkets— under which it made financial sense to move ahead with LED implementation.
As lighting accounts for approximately 16% of the municipality’
The LQCC praises High Tech Lights LLC ( http://www.hightechlights.com ) based in Honolulu Hawaii for holding their manufacturers to a higher standard. High Tech Lights is producing their own line of LED Luminaries that exceed requirements by both Under Writers Laboratories (UL™) and Energy Star. High Tech Lights new line is called EFL™ short for Environmentally Friendly Lighting. Their standards extend past the safety requirements of UL™ and efficiency standards set by Energy Star.
High Tech Lights CEO Tony Jones travels to his factories and inspects the quality of workmanship, cleanliness as well as the working conditions within their factories. "We already know that LEDs can last up to ten years. But the LED chip is only one component of Solid State Lighting (SSL)" said Tony Jones. "There are lookalike copycats of EFLs ™ bulbs and they have been spotted at half the cost." That savings comes at a cost. Bulbs sold with CREE chips did not have CREEs at all, outdated drivers that have been known to cause fires and even using tissue paper to separate the driver from the case. Many of the websites of LED factories are not factories at all. They are electronic traders buying surplus products from factories and marking them up as little as $1US. If they sell 500 pieces. That is more money than the average worker makes in a month. The problem is they are not the factory. They bought their products AS-IS and cannot honor their claims of 5 a year warranty. Since LED light bulbs hit the market. We have not found a legitimate factory offering more than 3 year warranties. The problem with these cheap copies is they are failing after only a few months and this is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of buyers who say LEDs are not ready yet" Said Tony. "The last thing we want is a school burning down because someone was trying to save a buck." Tony said. Buyers be warned! There are SSL companies with wild claims and warranties far above the norm. The reality is they are just promising the world to close the deal.
At the LQCC we verify each certification by a factory. Often we find that CE, UL RoHs and FCC certifications are forged by the factory. Part of what we do for companies like High Tech Lights is weed out these bad apples. We build a list of factories that set their standards above the norm in China.
High Tech Lights has just completed the approval for Energy Star Partner Program. After March 10, 2010 The US Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Star will announce the new SSL standards label. High Tech Lights has been working with both agencies in the processes necessary to achieve a standard for SSLs. Every High Tech Lights EFL™ Branded SSL must pass the strict testing approved by the DOE to have the brand EFL™ short for Environmentally Friendly Lighting™ and the Lighting Facts label. High Tech Lights is committed to testing products and reporting performance results according to industry standards. For lighting buyers, designers, and energy efficiency programs, the Lighting Facts label provides information essential to evaluating products and identifying the best options.
How do you know if the LED products you buy will perform as promised?
Without the Lighting Facts™ label, you don’t.
You can find the highest quality LED lighting products on the market using the Lighting Facts label to compare products and manufacturer claims.
Lighting Facts is brought to you by Solid-State Lighting Quality Advocates, a program of the U.S. Department of Energy designed to help assure that LED products you find on the market meet your expectations. These products include LED products for everyday lighting purposes. They do not include indicator applications such as flashlights, nightlights and holiday lighting.
As a testament to quality, participating manufacturers like High Tech Lights voluntarily pledge to report accurate and consistent product performance results. Those results appear on the Light Facts label, which those manufacturers must include on product packaging or in product literature. Retailers and other industry buyers can then make informed purchasing decisions for their lighting inventory. LEDs are ready just do your research.
