The last phase of China’s incandescent bulb ban will be effective as of Sept. 30, 2016. China will ban the imports and sales of 15W and above general incandescent bulbs Starting from Oct. 1, 2016, and will make adjustments based on interim evaluation results, reported Yicai Global.

Colorful LEDs can be applied in specialty lighting sectors, such as stage lighting, plant grow lights and landscape lighting markets. Regional markets in China, U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia have especially benefited from emerging applications in the local market and witnessed increased procurements for color LEDs. Demands for different color RGBW LED components have emerged as a result from this trend, and is accelerating in related specialty lighting market applications. The popular LED grow light market has grown to US $575 million in 2016, and LEDinside estimates it will reach US $1.42 billion by 2020. LEDinside has also observed LEDs for stage light market value reached US $500 million, and is projected to further escalate.

iView  and Forth Dimension Displays Limited (ForthDD) have entered into an agreement to develop, manufacture and sell Structured Light Projectors (SLPs). SLPs are a key component of 3D automated in-line optical inspection (3D AOI) equipment which is rapidly replacing 2D AOI in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacture. The ability to use 3D AOI to measure components in all three dimensions, on every PCB in real time, enables companies to improve yields and product quality while reducing wastage and costs.

The Supervisory Board of SUSS MicroTec AG has appointed Dr. Franz Richter (61) as a new member of the management board of SUSS MicroTec AG. His contract will run for a period of three years. Richter accepted the appointment to the management board as of today and he will assume his position as new CEO on September 7, 2016. Richter on the one hand stands for continuity in the strategic orientation of the SUSS MicroTec Group and on the other hand for innovation and technological leadership.

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting, today shared results from over 50 research projects carried out at its GrowWise Center during its first year of operation. This facility at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands aims to develop the blueprint for the city farm of the future and is the largest research facility of its kind with a total growing surface of 234 square meters. The research findings confirm that growth recipes can be successfully used to influence virtually any characteristic of crops, from taste, texture, smell and color to yields, growth speed, blossoming and much more.

The U.S. Department of Energy has recognized The Wendy's® Company and one of its franchisees, Wendco Group, for their partnership in the Better Buildings Challenge and for leadership in energy efficiency. The Wendy's Company has made a commitment to reduce energy consumption in U.S. company-owned restaurants by 20 percent per transaction by 2025.  Wendy's is also the first restaurant company to include franchisees in the Better Buildings Challenge. To date, six franchisees have joined and more than 570 company and franchisee operated restaurants are participating in this program. 

Urban Solar worked with Portland's transportation agency Trimet, as well as Mt. Hood, to illuminate a multi-use pathway from the main college office, and a public right-of-way with a Trimet transit shelter.

World class LED company Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd (www.seoulsemicon.co.kr), announced on September 5 that they are currently mass producing new products with a luminous efficiency of 210lm/W (350mA) called “WICOP”. As a product that is composed of a LED chip and phosphor only, it does not require packaging for wrapping the chip, such as frames and gold wires, etc. Therefore, this is a new concept LED product which does not require equipment or parts which need to be packaged, something that used to be deemed essential for LED manufacturing.

Access Fixtures, a leader in commercial, industrial, and sports LED lighting, announces the launch of three new KOTA LED high bay luminaires in  185w,  240w, and  320w. All three high bay luminaires feature Flip Chip Opto COB LEDs, patented design for thermal management, low weight, and 105+ delivered lumen-per-watt efficacy. The KOTA high bays provide significant value; they offer competitive performance and terrific cost-per-watt value compared to other luminaires.

SCS Lighting Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of SCS Energy Solutions, announces its patent pending for an LED ballistic light lens and housing.

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting, today announced the launch of the latest innovation in its Philips Hue family, a motion sensor which enables you to control your lights through movement in your home. The Philips Hue motion sensor is a simple but versatile way to interact with light without even needing to touch a switch and without need for complex installation. The result is intuitive lighting that follows you.  

Lextar’s revenue in August 2016 rose 13.1% monthly to NT $1.18 billion (US $37.63 million), reported UDN.com.

Opple Lighting and Huawei signed a HiLink Protocol Smart Home Partnership Agreement at the Shanghai Expo Center on Aug. 31, 2016.

Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG are raising R&D investments in developing QLED displays, reported The Korea Times.

About 64% of Indian consumers do not know how to get their hands on government subsidized LED bulbs, a survey by citizen engagement platform LocalCircles revealed.

Philips has unveiled a 55-inch 4K OLED TV at IFA 2016 that it has coined 901F TV, reported the Verge.

Shimane University and a light maker have teamed up to make a protoype LED light worn on the ear to help nurses free up their hands when working in dark rooms, reported Asahi Shinbun.

September 1st 2016, sees Stage 3 of the Energy Related Products Regulation 1194/2012 take effect.

Royal Philips announced the appointment of Sophie Bechu as Chief of Operations and Executive Vice President. Sophie Bechu, who joins Philips as of September 1, 2016 from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), becomes a member of Philips’ Executive Committee and reports directly to Philips CEO Frans van Houten. Sophie Bechu succeeds Pasquale Abruzzese, who left Philips in May of this year for personal reasons.

The widespread replacement of conventional bulbs in street lighting by energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has considerable influence on bats as urban nocturnal hunters. Opportunistic bats lose hunting opportunities whereas light sensitive species benefit. This was shown in a recent study by Christian Voigt and Daniel Lewanzik from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW).

The upconversion of photons allows for a more efficient use of light: Two photons are converted into a single photon having higher energy. Researchers at KIT now showed for the first time that the inner interfaces between surface-mounted metal-organic frameworks (SURMOFs) are suited perfectly for this purpose - they turned green light blue. The result, which is now being published in the Advanced Materialsjournal, opens up new opportunities for optoelectronic applications such as solar cells or LEDs. (DOI: 10.1002/adma.201601718)

Audience members won’t notice anything different about the look of Foellinger Great Hall when they go to a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert or hear the Art of Time Ensemble play Beatles music this fall at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Lumileds today introduced FreshFocus Technology for red meat, marbled meat and fish, LEDs used to show food items in their most appetizing light. FreshFocus Technology is part of the LUXEON Stylist Series, Lumileds transformative line of LEDs designed to provide the perfect lighting environment for fashion retail, fresh food and restaurants.

Mid-power LEDs have become a mainstream product in the LED package sector, showing strong growth in the market over the past few years. The global lighting market scale is estimated to reach US $3.74 billion by 2020, and it is projected mid-power LEDs will comprise the majority stake in the market due to its high reliability and performance, estimated LEDinside. Taiwanese LED package manufacturers have released mid-power LED products including 3030 LED, 5630 LED, and other major LED package products, EVERLIGHT for instance has been shipping large volumes of these products.  In an exclusive interview with LEDinside, Ewing Liu, Technical Marketing Manager at EVERLIGHT, talked about the company’s outlook for mid-power LED market and latest market trend developments.

This week, GE Lighting made an important announcement to its employees regarding its changing market strategy in Asia and Latin America, and the company’s redirecting focus to its more profitable regional markets and products.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that ANSI Accredited Standards Committee C78 reaffirmed ANSI C78.1431American National Standard for Electric Lamps—Slide Projector Lamps, Condensing, Dichroic, Two-inch (51 mm), Integral Reflector, Rim Reference Tungsten-Halogen Lamps with GY 5.3 Bases. This standard consolidates the lamps commonly used for slide projectors into a single standard. The lamps contained in this standard are not to be considered as interchangeable—they will all fit the common socket used for these lamps. 

Osram is putting the G20 Summit in China, which will take place on September 4 and 5 in Hangzhou, in the right light. High-quality lighting solutions from the Munich-based lighting specialist will be in use in the Congress Hall where representatives of the twenty most important industrial and emerging nations will be meeting. They will also be used to illuminate various outdoor areas. Osram has supplied the hosts with several hundred spotlights and spotlight lamps. High, mid and low-power LEDs from Osram Opto Semiconductors are integrated in luminaires from the Chinese manufacturer Roleds. 

Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaNTM LED technology, announced that its LED lamps have been installed at the iconic Spice Room restaurant in Sydney, Australia. Located in the Circular Quay area of Sydney, the Spice Room restaurant’s design is inspired by a rail trackside Indian street scene.

Veeco announced that it has received an order to deliver the 25th GENxplor™ R&D Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) System to Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology based in Haifa, Israel. Introduced in August 2013, the GENxplor system is the number one selling R&D MBE system to universities and research institutions.

Designed as the perfect lighting solution to fit shallow plenums above ceilings in residential and light commercial settings, the new Aether IC Rated downlight from WAC Lighting is engineered with a low profile 3.5-inch LED shallow housing. This housing is ideal for installation into small ceiling spaces inside buildings with complex HVAC ducts and heating/water pipes that are located between the floors.