2010 World Expo will be held from 1 May to 31 October next year in Shanghai, China. Sun Valley is one of a six giant funnel-shaped canopies that are currently springing up in preparation for the event. Not just a pretty sight, the LED towers will also collect rain water and act as massive sun collectors that filter daylight to the causeway and levels below.

Renaissance Lighting, an innovator in the development of LED downlight fixtures, introduced its new solía™ brand high-efficiency all-white solid-state downlighting at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Phoenix, AZ.  

LEDnovation, Inc. introduces a new LED lighting product, the white A19 LED bulb for the North American Market, and the company claims the bulb is with the world’s highest efficiency state-of-the-art design.

Applied LED lighting technology specialist Dialight Plc. today announced that an agreement has been signed with a second major US telecom tower operator, for its LED white strobe technology. The commitment from the operator is to use Dialight’s unique LED technology for all new towers, all light replacements and repairs. Initial shipments have already commenced and the agreement will continue through at least the end of 2010.

LED fixture manufacturer Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. announced that it formed a partnership with Solar Electric Power Co., a maker of solar electric lighting, to provide outdoor lighting that uses no electricity. The companies expect to produce thousands of solar-powered LED lighting fixtures under the new agreement.

PolyBrite International announced today that the installation of Borealis LED streetlights has saved the City of Naperville up to 60% in energy usage for each of the four months of usage. The City of Naperville has been monitoring Borealis LED streetlights since June and they will continue to do so until January 2010. 

Albeo Technologies Inc. announced a milestone in Solid-State Lighting; the award winning C-Series LED fixture with Cree's XLamp® XP-G R3 LEDs (Albeo part number LS-E143-011C0-RPG) surpassed 89 lumens per watt efficacy with an output of 3074 lumens tested to LM-79 standards by a CALiPER accredited independent testing facility. Efficacy can vary depending on configuration options. Test report number ITL63217 is available for download at www.albeotech.com.

The World Usability Day (WUD) project will make 1,000 LED spot/bulbs available for free via their website www.worldusabilityday.org. "Assume the following math: 1,000 bulbs can replace all of the light bulbs in 20 medium-sized houses," said Brian Sullivan, the usability principal at the Sabre Human Factors Center in San Francisco, CA, and co-chair of World Usability Day. "The LED bulbs are easily three times more efficient than standard bulbs. So that is the equivalent of lighting 100 houses," said Brian Sullivan, co-chair of World Usability Day.

Scientists at the Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy in Denmark have developed an inexpensive way to integrate solar cells, LEDs, and ultrathin lithium batteries to create a lamp that can produce reading-quality light. The lamp's polymer solar cells and circuitry are printed onto large flexible plastic films, and the LEDs, flat batteries, and diodes are mounted using silver epoxy. After being encapsulated in a second sheet of film, the sheets are rolled up and snapped together at the corners with metal fasteners.

Cree, Inc.  announced yesterday (Nov. 9) an agreement to purchase a 592,000-square-foot facility in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. The facility will be Cree’s first chip-production facility outside of North America and is targeted to also house future components manufacturing expansion.

Grote Industries recently introduced the first commercially available versions of its new LightForm flexible LED lighting film technology during a press conference at the 2009 SEMA Show.

Neo-Neon Holdings Ltd, a China-based decorative light manufacturer founded with Taiwanese capital, plans to raise US$63 million by issuing Taiwan Depositary Receipts (TDR) before the end of 2009, said its underwriter Fubon Securities Co recently.

GE Lighting recently announced that its latest Immersion™ LED Refrigerated Display Lighting RV30 Series is now available across Europe for environmentally responsible retailing.

Aeon Lighting Technology (ALT) recently announced the launch of a new LED lighting product series, including seven indoor lighting products of AC MR16, AC BR, MR16 25°, LED T8, and MR16 based globes. According to ALT, one of the highlights of the products is the company’s exclusive dimmable technology which has been integrated in to the new series of MR16’s and PAR 30 and 38’s.

LEDnovation, Inc. today introduced two new LED bulbs for the North American Market. The company claims that the LED bulbs are the industry’s first and highest brightness 60W and 75W incandescent A19 equivalent replacement bulbs. 

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Thursday announced that it has developed a high-flux LED prototype with a feel-good effect in its laboratory. OSRAM claims that the prototype offers three important properties essential for general illumination applications, namely a color temperature of 3000 K, a color rendering index of 82 and an efficiency of 104lm/W.

  The global security company Lockheed Martin is upgrading its Lake Underhill Facility in Orlando, Florida with solar-powered streetlights from Carmanah Technologies. In addition to providing significant savings on installation and wiring, the stand-alone lighting alternative is expected to return significant energy savings during the next 20 years. 

To address the inflexibility of integrated LED luminaires now used in commercial and consumer settings, GE Consumer & Industrial yesterday (Nov.4) announced a small puck-shaped LED module that gives lighting designers and end-users the ability to easily upgrade LED lighting.

Cree, Inc. Wednesday announced that it has been selected to provide energy-efficient LED lighting to Walmart for new stores and renovations. Walmart plans to install Cree LRP-38 LED light bulbs in 650 stores during the first year, replacing ceramic metal halide in the produce and electronics departments. Cree’s industry-leading LR6 recessed LED downlights are also being used in new construction applications.

Fans of the popular TLC show American Chopper will witness a first when they tune in this Thursday, November 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The Orange County Choppers (OCC) crew -- founder Paul Sr., -- forges new territory with the creation of their first electric-powered chopper. Another first is the use throughout the bike of LED lighting for head, tail and signal lighting. Supplied by OSRAM SYLVANIA, the lighting array includes the first OEM installation of OSRAM SYLVANIA LEDs in a motorcycle head lighting application.

OBDUCAT, a manufacturer of lithography solutions based on nanoimprint lithography and electron beam lithography, has been invited to participate in the EU funded SMASH project, the purpose of which is to establish new materials and process technologies for production of white LED-light sources for the general lighting market.  

The City of Los Angeles is working with Carmanah Technologies (TSX: CMH) to illuminate off grid locations with solar power. As part of a green streetlight program, the City is replacing high pressure sodium lighting fixtures with hardwired LED streetlights such as the LEDway(TM) luminaire from BetaLED(R) -- and lighting nearby bus stops with solar powered EverGEN(TM) lights from Carmanah.

Sol, Inc. a provider of solar powered LED outdoor lighting, has announced the introduction of its next generation solar light intelligence. aiSUN™ operates as the brain, heart and nervous system of a solar light, making them brighter, more efficient and less complex.

Albeo Technologies Inc., a LED lighting manufacturer, announces the retrofit of a Dole cold storage warehouse with Albeo's award winning C-Series solid-state high bay. Dole, the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, replaced 400W metal halide fixtures with Albeo C-Series High Bay fixtures. Light levels nearly doubled in the cold storage warehouse with the fixtures mounted at 28 feet and temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

OSRAM SYLVANIA debuted its expanded line of professional LED solutions, including Traxon LED Systems from SYLVANIA. Hosted by newly appointed President and CEO Rick Leaman, the event showcased the superior style and function of SYLVANIA LED systems to the lighting design community.  

Burton Medical Products, Inc. has developed a revolutionary diagnostic and examination light, the AIM LED, by combining the smart and versatile design of their existing AIM lights with the efficiency and longevity of an LED light source.

The Department of Energy recently announced $151 million funding for 37 ambitious research projects to pursue breakthroughs that could fundamentally change the way we use and produce energy. One of the selected projects includes the development of low cost crystals for LED lighting.

Rohm Co Ltd introduced its new E26 LED light bulb prototypes at Green Device 2009 held from Oct 28 to 30 in Japan.

Today, at the annual Cree (Nasdaq:CREE) shareholder meeting, Cree Chairman and CEO Chuck Swoboda demonstrated an A-lamp LED light bulb with the highest lumen output and efficacy reported in the industry. The bulb produces 969 lumens at an impressive 102 lumens per watt, which is the light output equivalent to a 65-watt incandescent bulb, yet it uses only 9.5 watts.

Philips’ has supplied Yorkshire based GHD, the market leading manufacturer of styling irons, with an LED lighting solution for their recently opened prestigious offices in the centre of Leeds.