With incandescent bulbs heading for the recycling bin of history, Fairfield County is becoming home to a fast-proliferating collection of LED lighting suppliers and dealers ”“ some of which are offering financing packages to help cover the upfront cost of installing the pricey fixtures.
Light-emitting diodes are computer chips dosed to produce illumination, and have fast found favor in settings such as casinos and restaurants due to accompanying software systems that allow venues to create differing lighting effects.
Incandescent light bulbs produce 15 lumens for each watt of power they consume; by comparison, a Durham, N.C. company called Cree produces LEDs approaching 150 lumens, in line with U.S. Department of Energy goals for next year.
Nick Holonyak Jr. is credited with producing the first practical LED in 1962 while working for General Electric Co.; he is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2008, Holonyak was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, a class that included the inventors of photovoltaic cells, the remote control, and Styrofoam.
Of course Fairfield-based General Electric Co. remains a giant in the industry ”“ a company truck is currently on a national tour showing off its various LED lighting systems, with visits scheduled for New York City, Boston and Hartford in October.
Hubbell Inc., which relocated its world headquarters last year from Orange to Shelton, sells a wide range of indoor and outdoor LED lighting fixtures.
And in Stamford, Solais Lighting Inc. is manufacturing replacement units for halogen lights used in track or floodlight settings; the company”™s chief technology officer Steve Johnson was head of the lighting research group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy lab in California.
Making the local rounds are a small group of dedicated LED dealers, some of which are offering financing packages to help defray upfront costs of installations.
Under the brand name USA LED Lighting Solutions, a Southbury company called Tiger Technologies is offering an LED purchase financing plan through Webster Financial Corp. For installations exceeding $120,000, Stamford-based Pinnacle LED Lighting Solutions offers free installation and bulb service in exchange for customers paying 65 percent of their monthly energy savings, with an option to opt out at any point and buy the lighting system outright. And in Greenwich, Tri-State LED Inc. opened its doors offering design and installation services.
The Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund offers LED rebates through Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating Co.
Bulbs will pay for themselves in one to three years and last at least 10 years before needing replacement due to loss of efficiency over time, according to Alan Steen, an independent agent in Stamford who represents USA LED.
He said the company recently undertook a $7,500 job at a restaurant, which has since realized $420 in monthly savings on its electricity bill ”“ representing a payoff in about 18 months.
Steen said the most difficult element of selling LED bulbs is overcoming distrust for a new technology few understand.
Still, residential LED lighting could grow at a 44 percent compound annual clip globally through 2014, according to Strategies Unlimited, a Mountain View, Calif.-based market research company that studies the industry. Strategies Unlimited attributes the growth to rapid improvements in performance and price of high brightness LED packages, heightened awareness and government funding for energy efficiency programs as well as the phasing out of incandescent bulbs.
