Is LED lighting the right technology for your application? It makes sense to invest in energy efficiency. We'll help you cut through the clutter and misinformation and deliver the facts you need to make informed, smart decisions. Feel free to view or download our whitepapers.
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FTC Lighting Facts Label
New Federal Trade Commission Labels for Light Bulb Packaging On June 18, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), under direction from Congress to re-examine the current labels, announced a final rule that will require the new labels on light bulb packages. This page will be dedicated to providing updated information on the label and will include fact sheets and resources for partner reference.
Lighting Facts has two tools for comparing the performance values of LED and standard lighting technologies for the five characteristics identified on the Lighting Facts label.
December 2011 LED Lighting Facts: Product Snapshot: LED Luminaires The LED market continues to experience rapid growth in product availability and steady improvement in performance for most product categories. Due to the speed of advancements in technology, a new snapshot is published twice a year alternating focus between replacement lamps and luminaires. Each new version has data from additional products, allowing for updated analysis and projections
DOE CALiPER Summary Reports
DOE conducts at least two rounds of CALiPER testing each year. A Summary Report is published following completion of each round which provides analysis of the test results for all products included in that round.
Round 14 Summary Report Report 14 of testing, focusing on LED downlight retrofit units, provides an overview of photometric performance results and compares the results to similar products that use conventional light sources, results from earlier rounds of CALiPER testing, and manufacturer ratings. (26 pages, March 2012)
Round 13 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 13, including LED and benchmark high-bay luminaires, LED wallpack luminaires, and LED and benchmark 2'x2' troffers. (33 pages, October 2011)
Round 12 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 12, including recessed downlights, track lights, A-lamps, SSL replacements for linear fluorescent lamps, and cove lights. (35 pages, June 2011)
Round 11 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 11, including roadway arm-mount and post-top luminaires, linear replacement lamps, high-bay luminaires, and small replacement lamps. (40 pages, October 2010)
Round 10 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 10, including parking structure luminaires, outdoor wallpack luminaires, cove lighting luminaires, and replacement lamps. (36 pages, May 2010)
Round 9 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 9, including recessed downlights, linear replacement lamps, smaller replacement lamps, and a desk lamp. (33 pages, October 2009)
Round 8 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 8, including replacement lamps, downlights and track lights, undercabinet fixtures, and outdoor fixtures. (28 pages, July 2009)
Round 7 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 7, including outdoor area and streetlights, downlights, and replacement lamps. (28 pages, January 2009)
Round 6 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 6, including small replacement lamps (MR16, A-lamps, and candelabra lamps), desk lamps, a downlight, a recessed wall fixture, and two different types of outdoor lighting products. (23 pages, September 2008)
Round 5 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 5, including linear, A-lamp, and MR16 replacement lamps, downlights, desk/task lamps, undercabinet lighting, and outdoor lighting. (29 pages, May 2008)
Round 4 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 4, including T8, MR16, and candelabra replacement lamps, downlights, desk/task lamps, and undercabinet and outdoor lighting. (23 pages, January 2008)
Round 3 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 3, including directional and A-lamp replacement lamps, downlights, task lamps, and outdoor fixtures. (18 pages, October 2007)
Round 2 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 2, including R30 and A-lamp replacement lamps, downlights, desk/task lamps, outdoor wall lighting, and refrigerated display lighting. (14 pages, August 2007)
Round 1 Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in Round 1, including downlights, desk/task lamps, and undercabinet, outdoor area, and surface mount lighting. (13 pages, March 2007)
Pilot Round Summary Report
Report includes test results and analysis for products tested in the Pilot Round of CALiPER testing, including downlights, a task light, and undercabinet lighting. (4 pages, December 2006)
Special Summary Report: Retail Replacement Lamp Testing
Report includes test results and analysis for SSL replacement lamp products—directly available through retail outlets—including A19, candelabra, night light, MR16/PAR16, PAR20, and PAR30 replacement lamps. (13 pages, April 2011)
US Department of Energy: LED Lighting Fact Sheets
The US Department of Energy offers a wealth of resources and downloads on their site. If you can't find what you need here, please visit their Building Technologies Program to search their database.
LED Basics This fact sheet provides general information on LEDs to help retailers, energy efficiency advocates, and consumers make informed buying decisions.
December 2011 LED Lighting Facts: Product Snapshot: LED Luminaires The LED market continues to experience rapid growth in product availability and steady improvement in performance for most product categories. Due to the speed of advancements in technology, a new snapshot is published twice a year alternating focus between replacement lamps and luminaires. Each new version has data from additional products, allowing for updated analysis and projections.
CBEA LED Site (Parking Lot) Lighting Specification CBEA members selected LED parking lot lighting as the first Technology and System Specification Development Project. The specification was first released in 2009 after extensive input from CBEA members, product suppliers, and others. Several CBEA members are currently testing products based on the specification in their parking lots, and others have adopted it across their parking lot portfolio...
CBEA High-Efficiency Parking Structure Lighting Specification A CBEA Project Team first developed and released specifications for high-efficiency fluorescent, induction, and LED lighting in parking structures in 2010. Specification Version 1.1, with updates related to IES TM-21 and anticipated RP-20 requirements, was released on February 15, 2012...
CBEA LED Refrigerated Display Case Lighting Specification CBEA members investigating the use of LED refrigerated display case lighting for retail buildings chose to develop a project-level specification as opposed to a luminaire-level specification...
CBEA High-Efficiency Troffer (2'x4', 2'x2', 1'x4') Lighting Specification In 2011, a CBEA Project Team working to support the market introduction of high-efficiency lighting troffers developed a specification that allowed for high efficiency LED and fluorescent technologies, and addressed the 2′x2′ category of troffer products...
2010 U.S. Lighting Market Characterization
Detailed estimates of the national inventory of installed lamps, their performance characteristics, associated energy use, and lumen production in four sectors: residential buildings, commercial buildings, industrial buildings, and outdoor.
Energy Savings Estimates of Light Emitting Diodes in Niche Lighting Applications Report estimating LED energy savings in 12 markets where LEDs compete or are poised to compete with traditional lighting sources such as incandescent, halogen, high intensity discharge (HID), and certain types of fluorescent. The analysis includes general illumination, outdoor lighting, and consumer electronic display applications. (88 pages, January 2011)
Energy Savings Potential of Solid-State Lighting in General Illumination Applications 2010 to 2030 Report estimating national energy savings that could be realized through the market penetration of energy-efficient solid-state lighting if the technology achieves certain forecasted price and performance objectives. Estimate is based on a model of the U.S. national lighting market - considering various lighting technologies, end-use sectors, and end-use applications within those sectors - and presents input assumptions, the methodology, and the findings of this analysis. (54 pages, February 2010)
DOE: Laboratory Evaluation of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) T8 Replacement Lamp Products This study evaluated three LED products designed to directly replace linear fluorescent lamps (most commonly “T8” lamps) in commercial ambient lighting. These three products were among the “best in class” at the time of the study, as identified by DOE’s CALiPER testing program.1 Many similar products exist in the market and all claim energy savings relative to the targeted incumbent fluorescent systems, but few perform as well as the three selected for this study.
Lighting Facts Performance Scale for Commercial LED Products This Recommended Product Performance Scale is a tool to help evaluate LED products to determine whether they are appropriate for a given application. The Scale compares performance values for the characteristics identified on the Lighting Facts Label to performance values for those same characteristics in standard commercial lighting technologies.
DOE Residential Product Performance Scale
This Residential Product Performance Scale is a tool to help evaluate LED products to determine whether they are appropriate for a given application. The Scale compares performance values for the five characteristics identified on the Lighting Facts Label to performance values for those same characteristics in standard residential lighting technologies.
DOE Lumens, The Forgotten Metric The DOE will team with the lighting industry and its market channels to increase consumer understanding of lumens as a more appropriate measure of light output than watts.
Understanding IES LM-79 & IES LM-80 LEDs require new guidelines and practices for testing. There also needs to be a correlation between how LED manufacturers test their LEDs and how fixture manufacturers test their LED fixtures. In response, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America or IESNA developed LM-79-08 and LM-80-08 for LED fixture and LED device testing
Solid State Lighting LED Manufacturing Roundtable Summary Summary of a meeting of LED experts to develop proposed priority tasks for the Manufacturing R&D initiative, including task descriptions, discussion points, recommendations, and presentation highlights
LED Outdoor Area Lighting Fact Sheet This fact sheet reviews the major design and specification concerns for outdoor area lighting, and discusses the potential for LED luminaires to save energy while providing high quality lighting
Additional LED White Papers
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NLPIP This publication answers some commonly asked questions about lighting systems using light emitting diodes (LEDs). Also helping practitioners understand the differences between LEDs and other conventional light sources and relevant performance characteristics.
Smart Lighting 2012
The NanoMarkets report, "Smart Lighting 2012" provides an analysis of the worldwide smart lighting market and builds on NanoMarkets' extensive six-year experience of analyzing the solid-state lighting industry. The report shows how new value is being created in the lighting market by adding enhanced electronics and intelligent luminaires and how such product strategies will be able to build on the massive trend towards introducing CFLs, LEDs, OLEDs and other forms of energy efficient lighting.
Evaluating LED Manufacturer Claims: The good, the bad and the exaggerated. Healthcare facility managers are getting bombarded with information from LED manufacturers, but many are at a loss as to how to evaluate the product information they receive. Although there are good products available, the challenge lies in the fact many LED manufacturers are making exaggerated performance claims.
Lutron: Controlling LEDs Ten years ago, many people didn’t even know what an LED was. Today, they’re the new hot item on the shelves – and everyone wants to use them. Often, designers do not know how to control LEDs or they have had negative experiences working with them. This white paper will provide a brief overview of what an LED is and how to use LEDs for general illumination applications and the advantages and limitations of doing so. It will also go into detail about why you should consider dimming LEDs and what questions need to be answered in order to dim LEDs properly to meet your expectations. The overall goal of this paper is to make you more comfortable with using LEDs on your projects.
Authors: Amanda Beebe and Ethan Biery, Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.
Konica Minolta: Lighting Technologies, Principle, and Measurement The proper measurement of light is a precise and complex science. This White Paper, authored by Konica Minolta, provides a brief explanation of different lighting principles and technologies, and describes the best and most accurate methods for proper light measurement.
The LED Promised Land
LED lamps will eventually be what we use to replace incandescent bulbs - Compact fluorescent lamps are a temporary but still viable alternative to energy-efficient lighting. Think of CFLs as the bridge that connects our older, less efficient lamp technology to the LED promise land. Increasingly more lamp manufacturers are devoting larger shares of their R&D resources towards developing the LED promise land and less so within that CFL bridge. The lighting industry is clearly banking on LEDs as the final replacements for incandescents.
The reason LEDs have not yet displaced CFLs from the market are twofold: the first generation LED bulbs had a narrow and focused light beam, and the cost of LED technology is still too high. With this said, both CFL and LED technology are viable options today when looking for a replacement for incandescent lamps.
We can't stress enough that this lamp technology market is no different than any other emerging market. There are numerous profiteers in the market spewing forth their too-good-to-be-true claims and misinformation for the sake of the quick sale before the dust settles and the facts surface. The old axiom, "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is", certainly applies here. The U.S. market is flooded with cheap LED products manufactured overseas with inferior components that produce low light levels, that can't possibly live up to their exaggerated energy saving and long life claims. Unfortunately, these cheap imports are being sold on well known web sites and through big box retailers.
Also worth noting are the many so-called "manufacturers" who are in fact resellers and simply repackaging the same inferior products offered through the import channel. And to further add to this confusion, are the more reputable manufacturers that offer a lesser grade LED lamp expressly for the consumer market and a higher grade for the commercial market. As you probably guessed, the commercial grade products come at a higher price point and perform significantly better - but are easily confused with the lower priced consumer grade products. If you're making your decision solely on price, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. The keys here are Lumens and Lumens per Watt Efficacy. This is where the Lighting Facts label comes into play. The Department of Energy (DOE) is an advocate for quality and has established the Lighting Facts program to ensure that the LED products you find on the market meet your expectations for performance. These products include LEDs for everyday lighting purposes, such as table lamps and outdoor light fixtures. They do not include flashlights, nightlights, or holiday lighting.
Participating manufacturers voluntarily pledge to report their products' performance results. Those results appear on the Lighting Facts label, which those manufacturers must include on product packaging or in the product literature. Retailers and other industry buyers can then make informed purchasing decisions for their lighting inventory.
So now we know who the builders and developers are in our LED promise land. We have our low income housing; gorgeous single family homes that were erected overnight with the flaws you would expect from this type of construction and finally we have beautifully designed buildings that are truly the pinnacle of smart design.
With LED lamps, you get what you pay for. A product that costs $10 or $15 is less likely to provide superior light and long life over one that costs $50. Even high-quality LED lamps are in a relatively early stage of development; many major manufacturers are already rolling out their 2nd and 3rd generation LED lamps. As with all technology, in time prices will come down as manufacturing processes gain efficiency and the market drives commodity-like competitiveness. If you're entertaining the idea of LEDs for your commercial facility, look for the lighting facts label, this helps distinguish the manufacturer as quality conscience. Also, as mentioned earlier, make sure you're buying commercial grade lamps. The lower grade consumer products may have a tempting price but you get what you pay for.
You can and should expect long life from quality LED lighting; LED lamps last up to 10 times as long as compact fluorescents, and far longer than typical incandescents.
The expected life of the LED components is a direct function of how hot or cool they operate. The ambient temperature of the environment in which the fixtures operate must also be carefully considered, as it will also impact the overall temperature of the components. Simply stated, LEDs generate a lot of heat and heat shortens lamp life. The term "life expectancy" is defined as the point at which the LED source diminishes to 70% of its initial light output. Conversely, HID sources are rated at mean time to failure (10k - 20k hrs) at which 50% of lamp sources are expected to fail. Most manufacturers are currently claiming 70% lumen maintenance at 50,000 hours of operation, given that the junction temperature is held at or below the published limit (usually 80?C).
It's reasonable to question whether investing in LED lamps, with their comparatively high price are in fact a wise energy saving strategy. Depending on the application, we would answer with a resounding yes. Once you overcome the initial sticker shock, you must push forward and do the math; the numbers will bear out the true bottom line savings:
Incandescent Lamp
LED Lamp
Useful Life
50,000 hours requires 50 replacements
50,000 hours requires no replacement
Wattage
100 Watts
10 Watts
Cost of bulb/lamp
$1
$100*
Energy costs to operate
$500
$54
Total cost of ownership
$550
$154
*Estimated cost of high-end LED lamp. Even at this exaggerated cost, the lifetime savings of the LED makes sense for general lighting applications.
Depending on your rate, the cost of energy is a variable (as are the actual lamp costs) - but the formula is consistent and logical.
When investing in any energy saving measure you need to take into account the total cost of ownership (including the cost saved on energy). This idea of total cost of ownership becomes even more significant when you consider where the lamps are installed and what's presently involved in lamp maintenance replacement. In commercial or industrial environments this may involve the cost of high lift scissor trucks and several man hours. Eliminating maintenance costs and the disruption it causes is a significant benefit, one that has a very real dollar value - that also needs to factor in the total cost of ownership equation.
Are LED lamps the right choice for every application? No, they're not. No single technology is right for every facility or application. The needs of your facility, environmental factors, light levels and budget hurdles should determine the optimal technology path.
In typical warehouse facilities for example, T5 high bay fluorescent fixtures still offer an unbeatable combination of energy efficiency, color rendering, lumen output and budget friendliness. Fluorescent technology will remain a smart energy efficient solution for quite some time. The key is matching the right technology to the particular application. When this is done correctly you achieve that near perfect blend of energy efficiency, luminance and return on investment.
Remember those profiteers mentioned earlier? Beware of any company that is pushing LED lighting as their one-size-fits-all solution. Our Connexion energy team has gone out and corrected some of these expensive mistakes - investments made by unsuspecting facility managers who got sold a bill of goods. Don't shy away from LEDs but do your research first, then partner with a reputable lighting and energy consultant. If you decide then to cross the bridge to the LED promise land you'll have a course mapped out leading you directly to those beautifully designed buildings.
It makes sense to invest in energy efficiency. We'll help you cut through the clutter and misinformation and deliver the facts you need to make informed, smart decisions. Feel free to view or download our whitepapers.
For additional LED help, please visit our 
Frequently Asked Questions: The FTC Lighting Facts Label Updated
DOE conducts at least two rounds of CALiPER testing each year. A Summary Report is published following completion of each round which provides analysis of the test results for all products included in that round. 
