Blog

Background

Twenty-five years ago, ENERGY STAR® launched as a voluntary program managed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “promote energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."  Today, ENERGY STAR boasts 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases reduced and $362 billion dollars saved in energy bills to date.

“The past is a candle at great distance: too close to let you quit, too far to comfort you.” This quote from Amy Bloom’s novel “Away” represents the current battle taking place in the ancient city of Rome, Italy. A fight that is based on the transformation of the city’s street lights from high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps to light emitting diode (LED) technology.

The new Bridgelux Vesta™ Series of LED lighting components will be available for ordering this summer.  This new family is based on products for tunable white applications.  “Tunable white” is a pretty trendy topic in the lighting industry these days, and for most, its meaning is becoming clearer.  But, let’s spend a bit of time to define what we here at Bridgelux are talking about when we say “tunable white,” and what we think its important attributes are.

BACKGROUND

In June 2016, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted guidance on high intensity street lights, specifically focusing on LEDs and blue light technology.

Based on interview with Dr. Brian Cumpston, VP of Product Development at Bridgelux and Phil Elizondo, VP of Quality and Reliability at Bridgelux.

Some companies will make a Chip On Board (COB) array product or other light sources using a Bridgelux chip or die.  These COBs are not considered Bridgelux products because they are not  made by Bridgelux.

Here are some helpful hints that you can use to ensure you have purchased a genuine Bridgelux Vero® Series (seventh generation), V Series™ (seventh generation) or H Series™ COB array from your supplier*:

“Love of beauty is taste.  The creation of beauty is art.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beauty

What defines beauty?  What makes you feel beautiful?

Seeing ourselves as beautiful is an intimate process where we evaluate what we see based on variables that we’ve personally defined.   This may include physical variables such as makeup, skin tone, or even our choice in clothing.

So what does this have to do with lighting?

Illumination Engineering Society’s (IES) TM-30-15 the most recently developed method of evaluating color rendition, is garnering a lot of attention in the lighting community. TM-30-15 seeks to supplant CRI as the industry standard for measuring color rendition. We at Bridgelux have observed significant interest in TM-30-15 among our customers. This blog answers some of the common questions we hear from them.

What is TM-30-15?

TM-30-15 is a method of evaluating color rendition.  It comprises three primary components:

Quality of Light

"We are all born as wonderful detectors of light, intuitively seeing differences in color and brightness. Lighting professionals know that people respond emotionally to light and color, and use its consistency to draw us in and capture our attention."

At Bridgelux, we’re proud of the attention we give to the quality of light from our products.  We are often asked to explain why color matters and how perceivable color or light changes can make or break a lighting project. 

There's More Than Vineyards in Livermore