DoE Offers $11 Million for LED Manufacturing, R&D

The US Department of Energy is making up to $11 million in new funding available to support research, development, and commercialization of solid-state lighting (SSL) manufacturing technologies.

The DoE will select up to six projects to accelerate the development of light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) products that can significantly reduce energy costs for residences and businesses.

SSL technologies like LEDs and OLEDs are about ten times more energy efficient than conventional incandescent lighting and can last up to 25 times longer. The projects selected to receive funding will help reduce the cost of SSL products and expand technological expertise in SSL manufacturing and deployment.

The funding is open to applications in the following areas:

• LED Luminaire/Module Manufacturing
• LED Test and Inspection Equipment
• OLED Deposition Equipment
• OLED Materials Manufacturing.

In other energy efficient lighting news, iLumi Solutions says it will begin, in spring 2013, to offer a series of Bluetooth-enabled LED light bulbs, which are controlled wirelessly from a mobile app for iOS and Android.

Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth 4.0) are inside every iLumi, as well as a processor, memory and real-time clock, giving users the following features and capabilities:

• Millions of color and brightness combinations are available.
• iLumis can turn on or off, dim or brighten, or run programs at set dates and times based on scheduling preferences.
• With proximity and geo-location recognition, iLumis can turn on and off as they tell detect the presence of people.
• iLumis can synchronize to music or create effects like light strobes, fire or flickering candlelight.
• iLumis can provide alerts, ranging from weather and temperature, to incoming calls, emails and social media messages, to stock price movements and news.
• With Bluetooth there are no routers or master/slave dependencies.
• Multiple iLumis communicate with each other to create a dynamic wireless mesh network that supports up to 100 bulbs.