SemiLEDs Corporation (NASDAQ: LEDS), a leading developer and manufacturer of LED chips and LEDponents, today announced that its UV LED chips are capable of emitting radiation at a wavelength of 390-420 nm with 40% external quantum efficiencies (EQE – a LED’s ability to convert electrons into photons) at 350 mA (up to 500 mW output power*, typical 3.3V forward voltage).

“Our patented structure and metal alloy substrate allow us to produce and supply to the industrial curing market UV LEDs that are capable of operating at high current with high output power density,” says Dr. Chuong Tran, COO and President of SemiLEDs.� “We are proud to be able to advance the UV LED technology for the curing industry and to provide cost-effective solutions to our customers thanks to our proprietary MvpLED technology.”.��

SemiLEDs UV LED products are available in wavelengths ranging from 365nm-420nm, in chip sizes of 1.07mm x 1.07mm and 0.3mm x 0.3mm, and are immediately available for sampling and order.� For more information on SemiLEDs’ UV LEDs or other MvpLEDTM products, please visit semileds or contact sales@semileds.

About SemiLEDs
SemiLEDs Corporation develops and manufactures LED chips and LEDponents primarily for general lighting applications, including street lights andmercial, industrial and residential lighting. SemiLEDs sells blue, green and ultraviolet (UV) LED chips under the MvpLED brand.

Elemental LED, A San Francisco Bay Area based LED lighting company, announced yesterday that it is now a partner in the United States Green Building Council’s Affinity Program. This program gives members of the USGBC Northern California chapter discounts at several green businesses throughout California.

Elemental LED launched the partnership with a special 1-month 25% discount to USGBC members. After the first month, Elemental LED will provide an ongoing discount of 20% off the company’s LED lighting products, as well as special deals to new members.

USGBC members include professionals from the fields of architecture, design, construction, engineering, government and real estate who are invested in building environmentally sustainable communities. Elemental LED will be gaining access to a large group of potential customers whose goals of decreasing energy use are similarly aligned. USGBC is in the process of improving benefits in an effort to attract new members.

“We are excited to be a partner in the USGBC Affinity Program. We hope to educate more green architects, contractors and building professionals on the energy and cost-saving benefits of installing LED lighting,” says Elemental LED Marketing Manager Charlotte Dick.

LED light bulbs, lamps and fixtures typically use 90% less energy than incandescent equivalents, and 50% less than fluorescent replacements. LEDs are typically rated to last 50,000 hours, which is 35 times longer than an incandescent equivalent, and 3 to 4 times as long as a fluorescent. Elemental LED products all hold RoHS certification, which guarantees that no environmentally harmful components were used in manufacturing. Fluorescent bulbs and tubes contain mercury, a highly toxic material.

The USGBC has over 35 chapters nation wide. The Northern California Chapter includes over 1,300 members. A complete list of Affinity Partners and member benefits can be viewed on the USGBC Northern California Chapter website.

Recently, Avago Technologies has released two series ofpact LEDs including ASMT-FJ70 and ASMT-FG70 devices that reduce space requirements for designing auto-focus auxiliary flash functionality into digital cameras.

The ASMT-Fx70 LEDs are available in a tiny, environmentally-friendly 3.6 (L) by 3.2 (W) by 3.4 (H) mm surface-mount package that helps meet market demand for thinner digital cameras.

The ASMT-FJ70 devices use AlInGaP material technology and feature a 12 degree viewing angle, while the ASMT-FG70 devices use InGaN material technology and provide a 14 degree viewing angle.

The ASMT-FJ70 devices are orange and the ASMT-FG70 devices are claimed to be the industry’s first green auxiliary flash LEDs in this size range.

The two modulese in a lead-free and RoHS 6pliant package and will be shipped in tape and reel to facilitate pick and place manufacturing. The operating temperature range is -40� to +85� C.

A top 10 list of women leaders in biofuel just came out and of those, including four are based in the SF Bay Area.  Energy has been a predominantly male dominated industry, however when it comes to eco-friendly technology, women are carving out their own piece of the biofuel pie.

Below are the women leading the Bay Area biotech industry.  The bios are from Lisa Ann Pinkerton’s blog post about influential women in cleantech:

-Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones, CEO and Co-Founder, LiveFuels – San Carlos, CA

Lissa Morgenthalter-Jones leads strategic planning and corporate development for the LiveFuels, a company with the goal of developing the most efficient and scalable algae-based biofuel process. Since 1990, she has also specialized in biotechnology investing since 1990. After learning about turning algae and animal waste into fuel, she started her own clean energy venture capital fund in 2004. She raised $10 million from the Quercus Trust and individual investors in May 2007.  To date, her company has established pilot operations across the U.S., generated extensive intellectual property, and is well on its way to producing an economically feasible and sustainable algal fuel.

-Virginia Klausmeier, CEO, Sylvatex – San Francisco, CA

Quite possibly the youngest CEO in the biofuel/Green chemistry industry, Virginia Klausmeier has spent the past five years developing the Sylvatex fuel technology with her late father, Dr. William Klausmeier. Sylvatex is currently commercializing a proprietary renewable fuel for the US diesel and biodiesel markets. The company has won numerous awards at industry conferences and venture funding competitions, including Silicon Valley LAUNCH and PortTechLA, as well as funding and support through San Francisco’s Greenstart accelerator program. Virginia earned her B.S in Chemistry and Physiology and M.S. in Biomechanics at the University of Oregon and has is also active in San Francisco’s BioDiesel Task force and Biodiesel Coop.

-Pamela R. Contag, Ph.D, microbiologist, Founder of Xenogen Corp & Cobalt Biofuels – Mountain View, CA

Cobalt Technologies, located in Mountain View, CA, is leading the transportation industry for cleaner, more efficient renewable fuels. It is a venture-backed company that produces biobutanol from renewable feedstock. Xenogen Corp, located in Alameda, CA,  was founded in 1998, and is a leader in the field of biophotonic imaging. Pamela R. Contag, Ph.D., is a microbiologist who has been called a “serial entrepreneur,” having founded two biotech and two biofuel startups.  She is the founder of Xenogen Corp. and Cobalt Biofuels, Inc. She is also the founder and CEO of Cygnet Biofuels and ConcentRX, Inc., a biotechnology company developing a unique cancer therapy.  She founded Xenogen Corporation with two colleagues while at Stanford University, where they invented in vivo biophotonic imaging. Pamela has filed a patent on a process she developed that utilizes algae to produce polysaccharides that can be easily converted to alcohol fuels or to biolipids, and then to biodiesel. She was also named one of the “Top 25 Women in Small Business” by Fortune Magazine.

-Dr. Claire Kinlaw, Lead Product Development, TerViva BioEnergy – Oakland, CA

Claire is an MBA-trained scientist and currently Project Lead for TerViva BioEnergy, a startup commercializing the high oil seed tree pongamia in the US as a feedstock for biodiesel refining.  Pongamia pinnata is a nitrogen fixing tree native to India that grows on marginal soils. TerVia is working to commercialize this tree as a renewable source of diesel fuel, planting across the southern USA on pasturelands and other lands not used for food production. Claire leads the R&D effort to improve the underlying asset, the tree for even greater, more predictable oil production and good growth characteristics in US locations. Prior to joining TerViva in 2010, Claire developed commercial strategies for biotechnology startups and small businesses, negotiated and managed research and business agreements, directed the USDA Institute of Forest Genetics, and led life science research projects with molecular genetics and genomic science focus. Claire holds an MBA from UC Berkeley, a PhD in biochemistry from Rice University, and a BA in chemistry from the University of Virginia.

It is fairly common knowledge for the eco-friendly people living in the San Francisco Bay Area that the combustion of fossil fuels, in order to fuel our economy, is not sustainable.  New eco-friendly technologies are necessary if we want to not only build a new green economy, but also thrive without sacrificing the environment.

We need everyone to pitch in and help in this effort and there is room for everyone.  If we left it only to the men, we would only be leveraging half of our intellect and human resources.  Despite the great progress women have made, opportunities to advance professionally are still given more to men.  It is great to see these women break through the glass ceiling in an effort to green our planet.  Thanks ladies. You Rock!

Thanks totheinnovationdiaries.com for the photo.

Philips has announced to sell its LEDs which are recognized as the sole winner (so far) of the US Department of Energy’s “L Prize”petition for 60 W incandescent bulbsmercially from February.

According to the DOE, 60 W incandescents are important because they are the mostmon household bulb in the US, with nearly a billion of them thought to be in use. And while it has qualified more than 400 LED lamps under its Energy Star program so far, the vast majority of these are relatively low-brightness and directional.

At the DOE webinar, Philips Lighting’s Todd Manegold outlined that despite the high cost of the technology, in manymon applications it would still offer a very short payback period. In those estimations, the price of the LED bulb is set at $50 – a hundred times that of a conventional incandescent bulb. But with the Philips replacement only consuming 10 W, energy consumption is cut by 83%.

CE Pro, a leading audio/visual trade publication for the lighting and performance industry, recently named LED lighting as a top trend for 2012. I can’t say I’m surprised, as it seems that LED fixtures—from color-changing LED installations to puck lights and LED wall lights—have become essential business and artistic tools for nearly every industry.

CE Pro claims the reason for this continued upswing in LED popularity is two-fold: ambiance and energy savings.  In terms of efficiency, CE Pro says,  “The ROI on LED bulbs is well chronicled, and the return is becoming increasingly attractive as prices continue to drop.”

ROI is an important factor for any business owner, and Jim Sweeny, founder of ROI-tracking firm Eco-Tronics, says “he can demonstrate a two-year ROI on LED replacement for most commercial facilities – in an environment that usually requires a five-year payback on such outlays,” according to CE Pro.

And, as we all well know by know, LED technology is so versatile, it makes designing any artistic lighting scheme much easier than before. For that reason, “Manufacturers of colored LED fixtures and controllers were seen in record numbers at the CEDIA Expo in September 2011,” says CE Pro.

And finally, thanks to the incandescent ban that went into effect this year, consumers are finding it much easier understand the information presented to them on lighting fixture labels. “On Jan. 1, 2012, new FTC-mandated labeling for LED lights went into effect. The new labels allow consumers to gauge a bulb’s brightness, longevity and efficiency.”

“Wattage was traditionally the best way to make your buying decisions when it came to selecting light bulbs in the past,” explains Martha Delgado, product-marketing manager for Bulbrite. “However, now that more efficient bulbs can produce similar light levels while consuming less energy, the old theory that ‘The higher the wattage, the brighter the lamp’ isn’t true anymore,” she says

Thanks to Info Barrel for the image and CE Pro for the quotes and graphic

By Scott Patterson

The requirement and impact on the consumer side:

The phase out of incandescent light bulbs begins on the January of 2012, the new standards require all light bulbs to be at least 25 percent more efficient whether it is domestically manufactured or imported. On the package it should label clearly its brightness and explain it life expectancy, energy efficiency and annual operating cost. The efficiency standards will only begin to take its effect on 100 watt incandescent light bulbs on January 1 and will gradually make its effect onto 75 watt and 60 watt on January 13 and 14 respectively. Retailers are allowed to sell their remainder incandescent light bulbs as long as they are not manufactured or imported after the regulation being imposed.

The old incandescent light bulbs, the original Thomas Edison light bulbs, are inefficient and waste reportedly up to 95 percent of its energy as heat. This is also why it gets hot and can be hazardous on touch. The congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007, which requires the new bulbs to be at least 25 percent more efficient in terms of electricity cost per lumen of light produced.

Sufficient light bulbs cost more, but can save your electricity bill in the long run. A typical 75 watt traditional incandescent light bulb priced at less than 1 dollar cost about $12.50 annually to use. A 75 watt equivalent LED light bulb (use only 17 watt) priced from $25 to $40 and cost about $3 annually to use and are typically warranted to have a lifespan longer than 20 years.

Information on the color temperature of these new light bulbs is specified on its packaging in temperature scale unit using kelvin. Lower number on the Kelvin scale meaning the light is warmer and yellowish while higher the number means the light is cooler and bluish, a traditional incandescent light bulb with a tint of yellow is measured on a Kelvin scale to approximately 2,700 to 3,000 k.

Lumen is also a specification that one should pay attention to when ites to choosing new bulbs. Different from the traditional specification of wattage required, lumen measure a bulb’s brightness. An old 100 watt incandescent light bulb produces about 1,600 lumens, and a 40 watt incandescent light bulb produce approximately 450 lumens, needless to say the higher the lumen the brighter the light produced.

The Energy Efficiency Act

The Energy Efficiency Act marks the end of incandescent light bulbs. Gradually incandescent light bulbs will disappear from our grocery, convenient stores. In fact, the more popular variety of light bulbs, the 40 and 60 watt light bulbs will have couple more years before being affected by the new efficiency standards. Law makers in the United States are trying to push its nation toward a more energy independent and secure country.

With the new Energy Efficiency Act in effect, however, most of specialty lights will not be affected, that being said to including twinkle lights and more. “What consumer needs to get out of this new implemented policy is to understand the viable light alternatives” said a LEDinsdie representative. These options are high-efficiency incandescent bulbs, CFL pact florescent) bulbs and LED (Light emitting-diodes) bulbs.

This is a change in customer behavior, for the first time customer need to think about how to purchase the right light bulb for their specific lighting purpose.

Energy efficient incandescent bulb, also known as halogen bulbs, these improved bulbs are about 28 percent more efficient than the traditional incandescent light bulbs, just efficient enough to pass the new regulation. However, they cost much less at purchase, a pack cost around $5 at your local stores. These improved new incandescent light bulbs also look almost identical to the traditional mushroom-like Thomas Edison Light bulbs. Some customers tend to be more accepting of this option.

CFL light bulbs, on the other hand, are about 75 percent more efficient than the traditional incandescent light bulbs, and can last up to 10 years on average. CFL light bulbs are inparison more expensive the traditional incandescent light bulbs, but their prices are dropping fast. According to a recent survey conducted by LEDinside, CFL sales mainly suffered from its light appearance and bulb shapes, delay in response when switch on.

CFL lighting manufactures are arguing that these issues are being improved with newer CFL light bulb models. One last concern that has been exaggerated by the media is the trace amount of mercury containing inside of each CFL light bulb. It is true that the amount of mercury contains in a CFL is less than that of an old-fashioned thermometer. “The amount of mercury containing inside a CFL light bulb is in fact less than the amount resides inside a deep sea Tuna fish” Said Ed Crawford, CEO of Philips Lighting.

Still the CFL light bulbs require special recycling, some retailer are trained and prepared to do the recycling for CFL light bulbs. Some cleaning up tip on how to handle a broken CFL light bulb can be find on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) website: epa.gov/cfl/ cflcleanup.html.�

LED light bulbs can be 85 percent more efficient and last up to 25 years

LED light bulbs can be 85 percent more efficient and last up to 25 years. LED is also the most expensive alternative of these three options at purchase. An Energy Star qualified LED light bulb can cost ranged from $25 to $40 each. But this front cost can bepensated with the money saved on electricity bill in the future toe, not to say that the LED light bulb might even outlive the home where you installed these new lights. LED light bulbse in a variety of shape and sizes and are extremely sufficient for directional lighting.

According to LEDinside, LED light sources are by far the well-received light source. They have a dimmable feature, are mercury-free and energy-efficient, and have a life span of up-to 25 years. LED light bulbs are the light of future.

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Yep, you read it correctly. Scientists from UC San Diego have figured out how to make bacteria glow. The Los Angeles Times is calling it a “living LED screen” made up of “biopixels,” AKA fluorescent, flashing E. coli bacteria. It began in 2008 when lead researcher biology and bioengineering professor Jeff Hasty published a paper stating that his team had figured out how to fit a tiny biological clock into a single bacteria cell that would tell it when to emit a flashing, glowing light.

Then, the team discovered in 2010 how to get several bacteria to blink their lights in unison. The most recent discovery found that using a special vapor, different bacteria colonies could communicate with each other and therefore send signals over long distances. (“Long” in the bacteria world is 1 centimeter, by the way.) This allowed the bacteria in different colonies to blink on and off at the same time. According to The LA Times, “It’s all on a very micro scale right now. So far, the scientists have made screens — or chips — of two sizes. The larger chip contains about 13,000 colonies, or biopixels, (50 to 60 million bacterial cells) and is about the size of a paper clip. The smaller chip (pictured above) contains about 2.5 million cells — or 500 colonies — and is about a 10th of the size of the larger chip.”

And just what are the applications for living, bacteria-laced lighting, one might wonder? Well, let’s just say you shouldn’t plan on having any LED wall lights or LED puck lights crawling with microscopic bugs any time soon. Turns out bacteria can detect low levels of certain poisonous substances, like arsenic. “So if you are in Bangladesh and you want to know if there is arsenic in your water, you could use a sensor made out of these chips,” Hasty said. “That’s more the direction we are headed.”

Thanks to The LA Times for the quotes and image.

No matter what your new year’s resolutions may be, there’s one thing we should all make a priority in 2012: sustainable living. And thanks to its new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle Blue2, Hyundai is making that a lot easier (if you’re in the market for a new car, that is). The Blue 2, which was unveiled at the Seoul Motor Show earlier this year, can achieve around 82 MPG thanks also to its low-rolling-resistance tires and uses beautiful aerodynamic form, which reduces drag and increases efficiency. And speaking of the car’s aesthetic, it’s pretty snazzy, no? The interior features LED light panels on both the front dash and in the rear, which display the car’s status. 2012 is sure to be a great year for all, and rolling down the street in a slick car like this one, complete with LED ribbon technology inside and out, would be a great way to start it off.

Image via Autoblog

First gallium-nitride LED chips on silicon in pilot stage

Researchers at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors have succeeded in manufacturing high-performance prototypes of blue and white LEDs, in which the light-emitting gallium-nitride layers are grown on silicon wafers with a diameter of 150 millimeters. The silicon replaces the sapphiremonly used until now without a loss in quality. Already in the pilot stage, the new LED chips are to be tested under practical conditions, meaning that the first LEDs on silicon from OSRAM Opto Semiconductors could hit the market in just two years.

“Our investments in years of research are paying off, because we have succeeded in optimizing the quality of the gallium-nitride layers on the silicon substrates to the point where efficiency and brightness have reachedpetitive market levels. Stress tests we've already conducted demonstrate the high quality and durability of the LEDs, two of our traditional hallmarks,” says Dr. Peter Stauss, project manager at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors. Thepany has acquiredprehensive expertise over the last 30 years in the process of artificial crystal growth (epitaxy), the foundation for this milestone in the development of new manufacturing technologies. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research funds these activities as part of its “GaNonSi” project network.

Advantages of silicon
This is a pioneering development for several reasons. On account of its widespread use in the semiconductor industry, the availability of large wafer diameters and its very good thermal properties, silicon is an attractive and low-cost option for the lighting markets of the future. Quality and performance data on the fabricated LED silicon chips match those of sapphire-based chips: the blue UX:3 chips in the standard Golden Dragon Plus housing achieve a record brightness of 634 mW at 3.15 volts, equivalent to 58 percent efficiency. These are outstanding values for 1 mm� chips at 350 mA. Inbination with a conventional phosphor converter in a standard housing – in other words as white LEDs – these prototypes correspond to 140 lm at 350 mA with an efficiency of 127 lm/W at 4500 K.

“For these LEDs to be widely established in lighting, theponents must get significantly cheaper while maintaining the same level of quality and performance,” Stauss emphasizes. “We are developing new methods along the entire technology chain for this purpose, from chip technology to production processes and housing technology.” Mathematically speaking, it is already possible today to fabricate over 17,000 LED chips of one square millimeter in size on a 150 millimeter wafer (6 inch). Larger silicon wafers could increase productivity even more; researchers have already demonstrated the first structures on 200 millimeter substrates (about 8 inches).

The activities of OSRAM Opto Semiconductors are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of its “GaNonSi” project network.

Diagram: OSRAM

The process diagram shows the production of a UX:3 chip on a silicon wafer.

Photo: OSRAM

OSRAM high-performance LED chips based on InGaN technology today are fabricated on wafers with a diameter of 6 inches.