The First Prize Winner of city.people.light Award 2013 is Rietburg, Germany; there are some excellent cities which also did great lighting masterplans and were rewarded prizes. In the second article of the city.people.light award series, we are offering you a glance on these exceptional cities.

The LED industry has been stuck in a oversupply situation for the past few years but 2014 will finally see the first light to equilibrium. The supply shortage situation is expected to reemerge in 2014 brought on by rising LED lighting demands, stable backlight demand, and limited production capacity expansion by LED chip manufacturers, according to a recent report from UBS. Long term orders from OEMs for large lighting manufacturers Philips and Osram will benefit non-Chinese LED chip manufacturers.

Nichia Corp. of Japan announced that it has filed a new complaint in its multinational patent infringement dispute against Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd.of Taiwan. In an amended complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on November 22, Nichia accuses Everlight, Everlight’s subsidiaries Everlight Americas, Inc. (“Everlight Americas”) and Zenaro Lighting, Inc. (“Zenaro”), and Zenaro’s distributor Zitroz LLC of infringing four Nichia patents regarding light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”).  

Osram, one of the two globally leading light manufacturers today announced the appointment of Terry O’Neal as Chief Executive Officer of Osram’s Solutions Business Unit and Traxon Technologies Ltd. He succeeds Mike Mastroyiannis, who is leaving the company on November 30, “Terry is an excellent choice to lead Osram’s solution business“, stated Peter Laier, Osram’s Chief Technology Officer and executive board member responsible for the company’s general lighting business.

Cree, Inc. announced the appointment of Norbert Hiller as Executive Vice President Lighting, effective immediately. Hiller brings more than two decades of commercial and operational LED lighting leadership to his new role. Hiller has served as Cree’s Executive Vice President LEDs since October 2011.

GE’s Immersion™ RV60 LED lighting system offers grocery and convenience store owners the next generation of energy-efficient refrigerated display lighting to help lower energy costs while enhancing the visual appeal of merchandise.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published NEMA BL 3-2013 Dimming Ballast Energy Performance. This standard provides a methodology for applying existing test methods for program start ballasts to fluorescent dimming ballasts. It also provides a method to calculate ballast luminous efficiency (BLE) for fluorescent dimming ballasts.

CRS Electronics Inc. is pleased to announce closing of a $1 million loan financing from CJL Holding Inc., a corporation related to Mr. Chang Jiang Wu, the Company's Executive Chairman. The loan is evidenced by a non-interest bearing unsecured promissory note repayable on or about December 31, 2013 through the issuance of 5 million common shares of CRS at an issue price of $0.20 per share.

Lighting Science® announced it ranked No. 204 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. Lighting Science grew 512% over the past five years and has established itself as the leader in health and wellness lighting technology and solutions.

Haberdashery, a United Kingdom-based design agency, recently announced the launch of Laserpod 2, one of its newest cool Kickstarter projects. Laserpod 2 is a 100-percent safe, battery-powered laser light sculpture that produces interestingly shaped beam-splitting optics.

The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston, Massachusetts, USA is one of the widest cable-stayed bridges in the world. Named for both the local civil rights activist Leonard P. Zakim and the American colonists who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the ten-lane bridge spans the Charles River and carries over 200,000 cars each day to and from major interstates on the north side of the city. At night, lit with bright blue light, the Zakim Bridge is an instantly recognizable feature of the city skyline. In an interview with The Boston Globe, bridge architect Miguel Rosales said: “the bridge is supposed to have the feel of a regal entry to Boston, the towers bathed in blue, the cables highlighted in gleaming white."

Although 4Q is traditionally a low season for the LED industry, Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Everlight has benefitted from rising lighting demand. Europe and U.S. Christmas holiday sales opportunities will increase lighting industry performance, said Everlight chairman Yeh Yin-fu.

Created in 2003 by Philips and LUCI (Lighting Urban Community International), the city.people.light is an annual award that is attempting to rehumanize the urban environment through light. It also rewarding cities that are exploring ways to maximize energy efficiency, improve sustainability and livability. The 2013 Awards has been conferred to the following cities: Rietberg, Germany, Seoul, South Korea, Geneva, Switzerland, Zhengzhou, China, and Wuppertal, Germany.

Recently, the EU’s Rapid Alert System for non-food dangerous products issued a warning on LED lights manufactured in China. Latvia was the EU member state that reported the issue. The warning reported Chinese LED lights can create high magnetic fields and potentially cause Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) interference. This violates the EU directive 2004/108/ EC which regulates EMC and also does not meet another related standard the EN55015.

As the LED industry enters the traditionally low 4Q season, Taiwanese manufacturer Lextar LED backlight and lighting business eased, with utilization rates reduced to 60-70 percent. Order visibility is around one month and less than one month for the company’s lighting business.

Following the rise in the automotive electronics market, Excellence Opto. Inc. (EOI) is trying to make a mark for itself in the automotive LED lighting market.

Philips Lighting blogger Monique Cosineau talks to Canadian designer David Sasaki about his Light Fall design, which clinched second place at the 2013 CLU Foundation Contest. Below is the interview posted on Philips Lighting blog:

Rishang LED, the leading manufacturer of LED lighting modules and components in the world and renowned lighting brand, will be launching its wide range of products for the Malaysian market. LED or Light-Emitting Diode lights have been one of the fastest growing technologies in the world especially through its known benefits which offer better cost savings in utility bills like electricity.

Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. has added to its series of STAR LED heat sinks designed for convection cooling of high heat flux LEDs. Each of the 32 heat sinks provides enhanced heat transfer for effective LED cooling without fans or blowers.

PhotonStar customers will have the option of ordering many of the company’s high performance LED lighting products with a prewired Lutron Ecosystem driver, straight from the factory.

There are many applications including restaurant lighting, high-end retail lighting, and hospitality lighting where color-changing RGB LED and white LED light can be used to create unique lighting environments.

This week chubby TV developments have emerged on the radar screen. The TV is expected to become mainstream model in 2014, and to cope with ongoing price wars LED packagers are making swift changes in the packages used. Mid power LED sector is also seeing increased competition from EMC, PCTand Flip chips. The Chinese LED industry is facing tough challenges, whether it from corrupt government officials, or serious copycat issues in the decorative luminaire industry. Nichia and Everlight also enter a new round of patent wars in the U.S. this week. For more details please see below:

With the LED lighting market booming and  LEDs in backlight spec changes, the mid power spec market had taken center stage within the LED industry this year, already surpassing the high power market in initial output value. LED drivers with EMC lead frames can reach 1-2W power output which can supply the mid power and mid/high power LED market. LED package manufacturers are expanding EMC production capacity. After improvements to PCT lead frame materials, LED package manufacturers plan to introduce PCT products into the mid power market. Flip-chip products are also making their way  in the 2014 mid power market.

China’s LED luminaire market faces serious copying issues, Chinese-language China Building Materials quoted a man in charge of a famous luminaire store in China. Some small enterprises dumping of fake LED luminares on the market has interfered with normal luminaire prices, according to the article. Small manufacturers are highly capable of imitating large brands; do not require R&D design fees or costs; and can quickly produce these replicated luminaires. It is difficult to differentiate these products from appearance alone.

Everlight responds to Nichia's amendment complaint concerning the U.S. patent litigation.

NSF I-Corps saw promise in the work of a team of about a dozen ASU engineering doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to make a significant advance in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology.

Toshiba Corporation flipped the switch on the new "Centennial Holiday Light Show" in New York City's Grand Central Terminal on November 21. The colorful animated display can be seen on the monumental windows above the Terminal's west balcony through December 26, 2013. Click here for the full press release.

Hubbell Lighting announced its latest innovation to quickly and simply upgrade HID lighting—Sterner Lighting's Executive RT21 LED and Retrofit Power Door Upgrade Kit. The LED luminaire is bred from the popular Executive RT family that blends traditional rectangular styling with sophisticated engineering making it the perfect solution for area and site lighting in business parks and campuses.

Dow Corning, a global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, introduced new Dow Corning® MS-2002 Moldable White Reflector Silicone at Strategies in Light Europe 2013. This highly reflective white material extends the excellent photo-thermal stability and high-moldability that typifies Dow Corning's award-winning optical-grade Moldable Silicone family to the reflective elements of LED lamp and luminaire applications. 

Author: CC Hwang, Art Director of BeLight.com There is a Chinese proverb expresses: "Anyone who has been to Silver Cave would never short of money" and Silver Cave is a national AAAA scenic spot in Guilin, China. 20 years ago, I had been here once when I didn’t possess any knowledge about lighting. I remembered that I couldn’t appreciate the beautiful karst landscape at all as the over-colorful lighting kept distracting me. There were several scenic areas in the Silver Cave and each was assigned with different name and story according to its shape and people’s imagination. I was totally overwhelmed by the overly-elaborated stories and the overly-lit colorful stones.