Congratulations, Edge Lighting! 2012 NGL “Best in Class”

 Last month, Next Generation Luminaires (NGL) held an awards ceremony for the winners of its 2012 Outdoor Design Competition. Congratulations to Edge Lighting for earning the highly sought-after “Best in Class” trophy for its TV LED and Dial LED wall sconces.

Congratulations to Edge Lighting for a stellar performance in the 2012 Next Generation Luminaires Outdoor Competition.

Co-created by the US Department of Energy (DOE), the annual NGL competition recognizes design and production excellence in high quality, white-light LED light fixtures available on the commercial market. Judged based on quality of light (color, consistency, distribution, and brightness), serviceability, energy efficiency, value, innovation and controllability, the winning products represent innovative, energy-efficient lighting at its finest.

Of the 176 LED products submitted to the NGL 2012 Outdoor Competition, 37 received awards as “Recognized” winners. At the judges’ discretion, only five of the 37 winning products merited the “Best in Class” distinction, reserved only for those products standing head and shoulders above the rest. Edge’s TV LED and Dial LED were two of the five.

One of three lighting manufacturers to clinch this title, Edge Lighting was the only company to earn “Best in Class” for more than one product.

 Past Wins for PureEdge Lighting

Since 2009, a total of seven Edge Lighting products have earned NGL awards, including “Best in Class” for TV LED and Dial LED wall sconces, as well as four “Recognized Winner” award in previous competitions. Edge Lighting’s sister company, Pure Lighting, also earned an award in 2009 for its stunning Stratus Wall Grazer.

2009 – Stratus Wall Grazer – Pure Lighting

– Nautilus LED – Edge Lighting

2010 – Taos LED, Sun3 LED, and Port LED – Edge Lighting

2012 Indoor Competition– Soft Line Indirect LED – Edge Lighting

*There was no competition held in 2011

 

About NGL

Created in 2008 to “recognize and promote excellence” in LED lighting fixture design, the NGL Design Competition is organized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) and the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD).

At the time, LEDs had only recently made the commercial leap from cheap flashlights with blinding bluish light to practical, beautiful and energy efficient white-light fixtures. Those who recognized LED lighting’s huge potential (lighting industry professionals, environmentalists, etc) decided that it was time to recognize those who were turning that potential into reality.

About PureEdge Lighting

Edge Lighting and its sister company, Pure Lighting, are divisions of Chicago-based PureEdge Lighting.

Form follows function at Edge Lighting, solving basic lighting problems with technical finesse while incorporating the essential elements of contemporary, yet timeless design. Edge Lighting develops and manufactures specification grade, energy efficient fixtures that exhibit superior craftsmanship and aesthetics, while utilizing the latest in engineering technologies.

Pure Lighting combines minimalist design with state-of-the-art technology to produce innovative lighting that seamlessly blends into drywall or plaster ceilings. The revolutionary collection features “Truly Trimless” recessed fixtures, advanced LED RGB technology and concealed lighting components that provide a clean, glare-free internal look ideal for commercial or residential applications.

LED Lighting Basics and The Lighting Facts Label

In the last two months, Lightology has partnered with top LED manufacturers, Edge Lighting, Pure Lighting and Philips Lightolier to teach Chicago’s architects and designers all about LEDs through educational seminars at our downtown Chicago showroom. Through these presentations, we’ve collected 5 helpful tips on LEDs that anyone can use to make sure they purchase the right LED for any project!

1)    Look for the Lighting Facts Label

Sponsored by the Department of Energy, the Lighting Facts Label is the ‘nutrition facts label’ for LEDs, providing a quick summary of product performance data.

By introducing transparency to the lighting supply chain, the label guards against exaggerated claims and helps ensure a satisfactory experience for lighting buyers.

Luminaire manufacturers who take the pledge agree to use the label to disclose performance results in five areas—lumens, efficacy, watts, correlated color temperature (CCT), and color rendering index (CRI)—as measured by the industry standard for testing photometric performance, IES LM-79-2008.

2)    Color (Correlated Color Temperature)

Students Visit the Color Temperature Wall, which shows all the different colors of light, at the Lightology Showroom

Color Temperature measures light color.

• “Cool” colors have higher Kelvin temperatures (3600–5500 K).
• “Warm” colors have lower color temperatures (2700–3500 K).

These colors are charted on the Kelvin scale for you to use when choosing a light source. Many LEDs are developed with a color temperature of 2700K, which is the same as a standard incandescent, or 3000K, which matches the color of Halogen light.

It is important to match the color temperature in all light sources when designing a space, otherwise the differences might be quite noticeable.

3)   Quality (Color Rendering Index)

This picture shows that the colors on the tissue box look better under LEDs with a higher CRI. All three tissue boxes are lit under the same Color Temperature, only the CRI is different.

CRI measures color accuracy, or more specifically, it is the effect of the lamp’s light spectrum on the color appearance of objects.

Based on a scale from 1-100 (100 being the best), a low CRI LED will make colors in fabrics, paint and people look duller, less vibrant. It’s a great idea to place color samples from your project underneath LEDs with differing CRIs to help determine which LED looks best.

Typically, a CRI in the mid-70s and up is acceptable for commercial applications. For residential applications, A CRI of 80 or above is preferable.

4)    Lumens, Watts and Lumens per Watt

This chart shows the comparison in efficacy between an incandescent, fluorescent and LED light source.

Lumens measures light output. The higher the number, the more light is emitted.

Watts are ONLY a measurement of the energy required to light the product. The lower the wattage, the less energy used.

Lumens per Watt is a way to measure efficiency, similar to the Miles Per Gallon you get in your car. The higher this number is, the more efficient your product is.

5)    Thermal Management

The Scope LED Head uses aluminum as a heatsink to pull heat away from the LED, making sure it maintains the 50,000 hour lifespan.

Heat plays a major factor in the lifespan of an LED. LEDs are a condensed point source that gets very hot, so an aluminum heatsink is necessary to dissipate the heat over a larger surface and keep the junction (where the LED meets the circuit board) temperature below 80°C.

Running an LED just a few degrees too warm can shorten the lifespan of an LED up to 50%! A good rule of thumb is in an open air environment, the LED needs 2.5 square inches of heatsink for every 1 watt.

Use Edge Lighting’s Scope LED as an example. At 9 watts, the scope needs 22 sq. inches of heatsink. The cylindrical fixture is 2.24”W x 4”H. You use the formula below to determine the square inches of the aluminum fixture (the heatsink).

Width x π x Height

2.24 x 3.14 x 4 = 28 square inches

The Scope LED fixture exceeds the required amount of heatsink to guarantee LED lifespan. Keep in mind that enclosed fixtures, like recessed LEDs can require around 15 square inches per 1 watt, so the heatsinks on these fixtures will be much larger, but still hidden from view.

Download a PDF of our Lamp Comparison Chart to see some of the basic differences between lighting options available to you.