North Coast Electric Company

On September 30, 2008 the Energy Star Solid-State Lighting (SSL) program went into effect starting with a standard for LED Luminaires.

This past December, after a long and arduous process of analysis, the Department of Energy has published the final Energy Star criteria for LED replacement lamps. Given the somewhat Wild Wild West experience with LED lamp supply we've been experiencing this is welcome news! Unfortunately, due to testing requirements, it will be August before the first official Energy Star LED lamp list is published but at least now we see the proverbial LED light at the end of the tunnel.

Between the Lighting Facts Label Program, Caliper testing and the new Energy Star standards LED lamps we can look forward to a concrete set of guidelines to help us identify the products that will perform up to our expectations.

The criteria will include standards for:

Lumen Maintenance

Color Quality

Energy Efficiency

Light output

Lamp life

As an Energy Star Partner, North Coast Electric is committed to upholding high standards of performance for the products we recommend to our customers. This new Energy Star criteria for LED lamps will be a great help in screening the flood of new LED products being brought to market.

As always I would welcome your feedback on how we can help you with selecting and promoting energy efficient products.

Tom Woltjer, Energy Solutions Manager

twoltjer@ncelec.com