Starbucks Goes LEDs

Illumination Lighting is undergoing a revolution change On Dec. 31, the hugely popular and highly inefficient Edison incandescent lamp turns 130 years old. The next day it's 2010, and Australia will move to phase them out. The EU, the U.S. and other nations will follow over the next few years

Recently Wal-Mart had proceeded a deal with Cree to use their HB LED lighting solution for their 6,500 stores.

Next time, when you are in a Starbucks, make sure to look up at the ceiling and check out the lights.

Coffee behemoth Starbucks will replace conventional lights with LED bulbs in 8,000 stores by March 2010.

The switch from incandescent lamps and other vacuum-and-chemical lights to solid state lighting is expected to reduce energy consumption in a store by 7 percent. Starbucks overall has a goal of reducing energy consumption by 25 percent by the end of 2010.

You just don't get that Starbucks mood lighting out of a box. 1,000 outlets in the U.S. have already been retrofitted with LEDs.

Those LED lights come from General Electric, which tweaked one of its existing designs to meet the aesthetic and design criteria of Starbucks.

While the bulbs still cost far more than conventional bulbs, the price is coming down. Panasonic, Sharp, Philips, Osram and Lemnis Lighting all have 60-watt equivalents that cost around $40. The commercial market will likely adopt LEDs first – the lower maintenance and replacement costs lead to a quicker payback.

Consumers generally don't hire people to change their bulbs so the economic argument is tougher.

Still, LED-makers like GE and Osram are experimenting with ways to these enhance lights – Osram has one coming for consumers that can splash muted colors into a room – to boost the shelf appeal.

Potentially, LEDs can also cut air conditioning bills because the light itself doesn't generate heat. The fridges in the supermarket will be benefited if they are fitted with LED.
Hong Kong, yet still promoting the CFL lighting by our Executive Officer… a bit not feeling uncomfortable as we are lag behind other countries, not US, EU, even Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and China.

Not even go in par with our motherland China! China is doing a lot of afford in promoting the use of LED… In Singapore, Taiwan and China. Almost 90% traffic light is LEDs, whereas in Hong Kong…. I can tell you, we are the loyal Customer for Edison incandescent lamps, we are all 100% Incandescent lamps…. Is it Sarcastic!

Feverip