|
|
Ask any lighting designer about their experiences with LED lighting products and you will hear a wide range of responses that aptly reflect the range of product quality on the market today. In the November 2008 issue of LD+A, four lighting designers shared their perspective on the many unknowns related to implementing LED lighting solutions. While the energy savings and environmental benefits are clear, the risks involved make many pause. How can you make meaningful product comparisons between LED products and traditional products? As more and more new LED products emerge on the market, how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?
In early 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), International Association of Lighting Designers and Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) hosted a Lighting Designer Roundtable to discuss these issues and more. At this meeting, there was a great deal of discussion about false claims and misinformation from manufacturers, and participants talked about the need for “more standardized reporting of product performance, standardized cut sheets, a quality stamp.” This feedback was instrumental in guiding the development of a new DOE initiative that launched in December 2008, called Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Quality Advocates.
A MA TTER OF FAC T
Jointly developed by DOE and the Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance (NGLIA), SSL Quality Advocates is a voluntary pledge program to ensure that LED lighting, as it reaches the market, is represented accurately—whether in product labeling, product packaging, product literature, press releases or manufacturer data sheets. The ultimate goal, of course, is to facilitate consumer adoption of this energysaving technology and avoid some of the missteps that plagued market adoption of CFLs.
SSL Quality Advocates is open to all those who manufacture, sell or recommend LED lighting. Central to the initiative is a new, standardized Lighting Facts label that can be affixed on LED products, packaging or literature. This label, like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Nutrition Facts label, provides a quick and simple summary of verifiable product performance data as measured by the new industry standard for testing photometric performance, IESNA LM-79-2008.
 The Lighting Facts label (Figure 1) reports SSL product performance results in five areas—lumens, efficacy, watts, correlated color temperature (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI)—and brings transparency and disclosure to the lighting supply chain in order to guard against misleading and exaggerated claims. Additional metrics related to reliability, product consistency, construction and other parameters may be considered in future editions of the label. These parameters and other recommendations are detailed in the guide Reporting LED Luminaire Product Performance, available at www.lighting-facts.com.
TAKI NG THE PLEDGE
LED luminaire manufacturers who take the pledge agree to follow the guidelines and use the label. Other LED Testing & Application partners—buyers, lighting designers, distributors, retailers, utilities and efficiency organizations—agree to look for and use products that bear the label.
In addition to the “charter advocates” (including members of NGLIA who helped DOE shape this program), DOE has received early indications of support from a wide cross-section of the industry, including manufacturers, national lighting distributors, retailers, energy-efficiency programs, utilities and many others. A distinguished group of quality advocates is jumping on board. To view a current list of SSL Quality Advocates, visit www.lighting- facts.com.
The SSL Quality Advocates program will not only demonstrate that participating manufacturers are industry leaders who support accurate reporting of product performance but will also give lighting professionals the information they need to evaluate and select products. The Lighting Facts label puts them in the driver’s seat and allows them to verify product performance claims with test results based on IESNA LM-79.
Unlike the Energy Star program, where prescribed performance targets must be met in order to qualify products and use the label, the SSL Quality Advocates program does not set any targets. The label simply reports the facts. Luminaire manufacturers who use the label must represent the product performance values reported in actual LM-79 test results. Lighting professionals will need to ask manufacturers for their LM-79 test report to verify the accuracy of the reporting on the label.
The Lighting Facts label provides a helpful starting point for evaluating LED product quality. Some additional questions to ask include:
• Does the luminaire manufacturer use quality components? Ask which LED chip or device supplier they use. There are just a few suppliers who make most of the chips.
• Does the luminaire manufacturer have the IESNA LM-80 test report? The LED device supplier should have provided them with this report, which specifies a standard method for measuring lumen depreciation of LEDs. The report allows calculation of LED lifetime.
• Is the warranty sufficient? If a manufacturer makes claims of very long lifetimes, they need to back those claims with long warranty periods.
•Will the manufacturer provide you with a product sample? Compare it with the incumbent technology and other LED products.
• Has the product been Energy Star-qualified?
Not all products will be eligible for Energy Star initially, but products that are qualified are listed at www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=ssl.pr_residential.
Promoting accurate reporting of LED product performance and highlighting products that perform as claimed is essential to buyer satisfaction and market acceptance. We know from the early days of CFLs that bad experiences can define consumer attitudes for decades. As the SSL Quality Advocates program gains momentum, the leverage of Quality Advocates throughout the lighting supply chain will help to raise the bar and ensure that more new products live up to their performance claims.
|
