Solutions for LED Lights: Cost Comparisons Archives

EPD: Environmental Product Declaration overview

By Carolyn on August 18, 2009 6:20 AM

An EPD is a standardized (ISO 14025/TR) and LCA based tool to communicate the environmental performance of a product or system, and is applicable worldwide for all interested companies and organizations.

A declaration is based on a Life Cycle Assessment. It includes information about the environmental impacts associated with a product or service, such as raw material acquisition, energy use and efficiency, content of materials and chemical substances, emissions to air, soil and water and waste generation. It also includes product and company information.

Certified EPDs are open for all products and services. There is no evaluation of the environmental information since no predetermined environmental performance levels are set. Instead it builds on well-structured and quantitative data certified by an independent third part

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) presents quantified environmental data for products or systems based on information from a LCA conducted according to the ISO-standards for LCA. EPD is voluntarily developed information and the purpose is to provide quality-assured and comparable information regarding environmental performance of products.

The information presented in this section is based on the framework developed by the Swedish Environmental Management Council.

This system is the most internationally recognized of its kind. Certified EPDs can be found and downloaded from the web site link above.

Documents for EPD Calculation

Two documents control how the calculations and data collection behind an EPD should be conducted and what information the EPD must contain;

Requirements for the EPD system (MSR) The MSR contains general requirements for all EPDs

Product specific requirements (PSR) The PSR contains more detailed requirements for each product group.

EPDs are:

Objective, due to the requirement that scientifically accepted and valid methods are used for life cycle assessment (LCA)

Non-selective and neutral, due to the absence of valuations and predetermined environmental performance levels that must be met

Flexible, since the contents of an EPD can be amended as necessary and as required by the company/organisation after due external review and verification

Using EPD Certifications

For those using the information, EPDs can be used as a source information for factual-based and comparable environmental information about the environmental performance of products and services along the supply chain and for end-products. Specific attributes of EPDs are:

Comparable, since the information in the declarations is collected and calculated based on common harmonized calculation rules.

Credible, due to the requirements for inspection, review, approval and follow-up by an independent verifier.

Continuously up-dated, through the requirements concerning routines for documentation and follow-up procedures

ISO 14025:2006

ISO 14025:2006 establishes the principles and specifies the procedures for developing Type III environmental declaration programmes and Type III environmental declarations. It specifically establishes the use of the ISO 14040 series of standards in the development of Type III environmental declaration programmes and Type III environmental declarations.

ISO 14025:2006 establishes principles for the use of environmental information, in addition to those given in ISO 14020:2000

Type III environmental declarations as described in ISO 14025:2006 are primarily intended for use in business-to-business communication, but their use in business-to-consumer communication under certain conditions is not precluded.

LED lights face new competition from new generation incandescent lightbulbs

By Carolyn on July 6, 2009 9:41 AM

The incandescent bulb is turning into a case study of the way government mandates can spur innovation.

Despite a decade of campaigns by the government and utilities to persuade people to switch to energy-saving compact fluorescents, incandescent bulbs still occupy an estimated 90 percent of household sockets in the United States. Aside from the aesthetic and practical objections to fluorescents, old-style incandescents have the advantage of being remarkably cheap.

"There's a massive misperception that incandescents are going away quickly," said Chris Calwell, a researcher with Ecos Consulting who studies the bulb market. "There have been more incandescent innovations in the last three years than in the last two decades."

The first bulbs to emerge from this push, Philips Lighting's Halogena Energy Savers, are expensive compared with older incandescents. They sell for $5 apiece and more, compared with as little as $ .25 for standard bulbs.

But they are also 30% more efficient than older bulbs. Philips says that a 70-watt Halogena Energy Saver gives off the same amount of light as a traditional 100-watt bulb and lasts about three times as long, eventually paying for itself.

The line, for now sold exclusively at Home Depot and on Amazon.com, is not as efficient as compact fluorescent light bulbs, which can use 75 percent less energy than old-style bulbs. But the Energy Saver line is finding favor with consumers who dislike the light from fluorescent bulbs or are bothered by such factors as their slow start-up time and mercury content.

"Due to the 2007 federal energy bill that phases out inefficient incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012, we are finally seeing a race" to develop more efficient ones, said Noah Horowitz, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Some of the leading work is under way at a company called Deposition Sciences here in Santa Rosa. Its technology is a key component of the new Philips bulb line.

The big three lighting companies -- General Electric, Osram Sylvania and Philips -- are all working on the technology, as is Auer Lighting of Germany and Toshiba of Japan.

A third technology, bulbs using light-emitting diodes, promises remarkable gains in efficiency but is still expensive. Prices can exceed $100 for a single LED bulb, and results from a government testing program indicate such bulbs still have performance problems.

That suggests that LEDs -- though widely used in specialized applications like electronic products and, increasingly, street lights -- may not displace incumbent technologies in the home any time soon.

LED Lighting Payback Calculator

By Carolyn on August 15, 2008 11:24 AM

LED lighting options are growing and developing rapidly. Many applications are now cost effective with LED, despite the higher upfront costs. How affordable? Check it out for your own applications with an LED Payback Calculator.

BetaLED is a respected manufacturer of THE EDGE fixtures that contain no mercury or lead. Longer light component life also means less waste. THE EDGE also complies with both Dark Sky (IESNA full cutoff) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHs) regulations. Beta Lighting brings continuous LED innovation to the workplace and their Total Systems Approach allows them to build innovation from the ground up.

To meet today's general lighting standards, Beta Lighting works with top-tier LED suppliers from around the world. Their primary LED partner, Cree of Raleigh, North Carolina, controls all aspects of its LED manufacturing.

It's easy to prove that Beta LED has the EDGE over HID. Adjust the cells to get a quick estimate on how THE EDGE can reduce your energy and maintenance cost.

LED Payback Calculator

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LED Payback Calculator: LED vs. HID

By Carolyn on August 5, 2008 10:19 AM

Adjust the Payback Calculator cells to get a quick estimate on how Kramer Lighting's "THE EDGE" LED lighting products can reduce your energy and maintenance cost.

Functional variables in the LED Payback Calculator include:

HID Fixture type
HID Lamp type
Total HID system Wattage
HID Lamp Rated Life
Number of Fixtures
Cost per kWHr
Days per week
Hours per day
Annual hours of operation
Per Fixture relamp cost

BetaLED Calculator