Research

The discussion about LEDs as an energy and environmental cure-all has led to some skepticism about whether LEDs are truly big energy-savers and green when one considers the total lifecycle energy and environmental cost of the product, including manufacturing and transportation. To its credit, DOE took this seriously enough to commission a study. The first [...]

The energy service company (ESCO) market for energy efficiency project installations and services exceeded $5.1 billion in 2011, according to a new report by Pike Research. This market is expected to continue to grow faster than the domestic economy and reach $16 billion in sales by 2020. This Pike Research report describes the continuing evolution [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published the final report from a demonstration conducted at a Walmart Supercenter in Leavenworth, Kansas, to evaluate the use of solid-state lighting (SSL) technology in a commercial parking lot lighting application. This GATEWAY demonstration report provides an overview of project results including lighting performance, economic performance, and potential [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a report detailing the characteristics of the U.S. lighting market by technology and sector. The 2010 U.S. Lighting Market Characterization provides comprehensive and detailed estimates of the national inventory of installed lamps as well as their associated energy use and lumen production. It focuses on four sectors: [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a free report detailing the characteristics of the U.S. lighting market by technology and sector. The 2010 U.S. Lighting Market Characterization provides comprehensive and detailed estimates of the national inventory of installed lamps as well as their associated energy use and lumen production. It focuses on four [...]

The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CEBCS) provides valuable information about the U.S. commercial building stock and its energy consumption. The 2007 CEBCS was canceled due to a bad data collection method (proving cheaper is not always better), and the 2011 CEBCS was suspended due to funding cuts at the Department of Energy. You may [...]

Guest post by Jim Brodrick, Department of Energy Results of the latest round of CALiPER testing were released recently, and as usual they can tell us a thing or two about the current state of solid-state lighting. As you may know, DOE’s CALiPER program supports testing of a wide array of SSL products available for [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy has published the final evaluation report from a retrofit of 32 track lights used to illuminate artwork in the lobby of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) headquarters building. During the demonstration, 12W LED PAR38 lamps replaced 15W and 23W reflector compact fluorescent lamps that were installed in 2001, and comparisons [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has completed Round 13 of product testing through the DOE Solid-State Lighting (SSL) CALiPER program. A Summary Report containing the results is now available for download on the DOE SSL website. Round 13 of product testing included three primary focus areas: LED and benchmark high-bay luminaires; LED wallpack luminaires; [...]