Editor’s Note: This article by IEEE Member Frank Shinneman is the first in a series of six special features the IEEE is preparing for Greenbang.
Perhaps the most fundamental technology developed by man was his control of fire, and with it, the availability of light. Hundreds of thousands of years later, we’re looking forward to solid state LED lighting that promises to help to “save the planet,” reduce heat and last for decades while providing pleasing illumination.
As with most new technology, the LED lighting roll-out is taking longer than hoped, with price points still uncompetitive, choices limited and many quality issues unresolved. The pricing transition from a consumable to an investment is difficult and only a few common light shapes and intensities are available on the market. Most troubling is the number of offerings, many of which don’t meet any of their own specifications and few of which meet all specifications.
However, from 1 September of this year, the EU is phasing out the use of high-energy light bulbs in households as part of a package of measures to significantly reduce the energy consumed by electrical devices. The time is right for LED lighting to come to the fore.
An important distinction in LED lighting is that between socket-compatible retrofit bulbs (a bulb is the glass ball holding hot wires and gas that we refer to as a light. Industrially, it is called a lamp, which covers all types of light sources) and built-in fixtures. Here is a status report on the development and benefits of each for home and commercial use:
RETROFIT LAMPS
Retrofit lamps are lights which fit into existing sockets so conventional bulbs can be replaced. Energy usage of retrofit LED lamps is a third or less than that of conventional incandescent bulbs or about the same as the currently popular Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). Features of today’s retrofit LEDs include:
Lower energy costs: Retrofit lamps are designed to last for 34 years and will generally pay for themselves in five to six years, based upon an average use of four hours per day. The remaining 28 years of their claimed lifetime would save an average consumer around $15 per year per lamp (assuming a 50- to 60-watt incandescent equivalent). For commercial use (12 hours/day), the payback on electricity alone is around two years, with the lamps themselves lasting another 10 years.
Lower maintenance: Pay the price and they should last longer than you’ll keep your house, eliminating the need to change burnt-out bulbs. LEDs should last 20-50 times longer than incandescents and three to six times longer than CFLs. For commercial users, lower maintenance represents the single largest source of cost savings, with the payback in as little as 60 days. Be aware, however, that no retrofit LED light has been in existence — let alone run — for 10 years yet, so the lifetime and quality (colour, intensity, etc.) are only calculated, not tested.
Quality of light: LEDs are far superior to CFLs in colour, consistency, instant-on, lifetime and lack of flicker. Being solid state, they are also exceptionally durable, so no more broken bulbs. The one present limitation of LED replacement lamps is their intensity. Because bulbs were designed to retain heat, it is difficult to remove heat from them. Above the equivalent of a 50-watt incandescent lamp, LED lamps in this shape cannot dissipate enough heat to operate correctly. Improvements will come slowly. Retrofitted fixtures (built-in LEDs), however, can be designed to solve this limitation and can give more light than is generally wanted (or legal) in most applications.
Dimming: Unlike CFLs, LEDs are fundamentally dimmable. Unlike incandescents, the choice of dimmer will determine how smooth and how dim a lamp can go. In a few cases, a dimmer can cause flickering. Unlike incandescent bulbs, LEDs won’t provide the rosy candlelight glow when dimmed but will maintain whatever shade is obtained at full intensity.
Low-temperature operation: LED lamp temperatures are low enough to touch without being burned, although their lifetime, intensity, efficiency and colour are very sensitive to high temperature so most models need to have good air circulation. This means most can’t be used in sealed cans or insulated ceilings. On the other hand, unlike fluorescents, they are not sensitive to winter freezing temperatures.
Mercury-free: Absolutely true. No toxics are released when the lamps burn out and are landfilled. By comparison, each CFL disposed in a landfill adds a person’s one-year-maximum-dose of mercury to the world.
Replacement formats: “Screw-in” (A-Lamp) LED retrofit lamps are available in intensities of up 900 lumens, or the equivalent of about a 50-watt incandescent. MR-16 replacements are available only up to the equivalent of 30-watt halogens. While fluorescent tube replacements are being demonstrated, their appearance is still jarring unless well hidden behind a diffuser or cove. The difference between the electrical feed and shape for fluorescent tubes and that of LEDs makes tube replacements much less attractive than other formats.
LED replacement lamps are hitting the consumer and commercial markets. Home centre offerings are very price sensitive and therefore tend to have the lowest quality. As in any other product, recognised brand names are likely to have invested more in product testing and quality. However, many recognisable brands are selling products actually made by other makers, so there are discounts to be found for commercial volume users who can identify and work directly with the source.
REPLACEMENT FIXTURES
Replacement fixtures have built-in LED light sources and all the benefits of LED retrofit lamps. However, because there is no socket, they can’t be changed back to another type of light if problems occur. Unit prices are higher, but the payback is faster and the intensity of light can be as high as desired (see “Quality of Light” above).
Compared to replacement lamps, LED fixtures are designed for LEDs and are therefore more reliable and can produce very high levels of illumination. The average consumer, however, won’t be installing an entire fixture so these are typically commercial products. All major lighting fixture-makers now have LED offerings, whether designed in-house or outsourced. Ceiling “troffers” of 2 X 2 or 2 X 4 size are very limited but recessed cans and sconces are widely available and competitively priced.
Light bulbs are one of the last vestiges of consistency in product design and performance, surpassed only by water faucets. Many potential customers are delaying purchase of LEDs fearing buyer’s remorse when the next improved model arrives with a lower price and better performance. If one considers how many working computers, phones and mp3 players are obsolete in drawers and closets, this should not be a fear. If the LED lamp provides the desired light and the existing lamp has died, a good quality LED will easily pay for itself and give great quality light.
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Scientists at Imperial College London this week launched a study that equipped pedestrians, cyclists, buses and cars with mobile wireless sensors as part of a demonstration of new ways of measuring air quality.
The study aims to show transport authority and industry representatives how small mobile sensors could improve how air quality in urban areas is monitored and managed.
“There is a lot that we do not know about air quality in our cities and towns because the current generation of large stationary sensors don’t provide enough information,” said project director John Polak, from the college’s Centre for Transport Studies. “We envisage a future where hundreds and thousands of mobile sensors are deployed across the country, to improve the way we monitor, measure and manage pollution in our urban areas.”
Scientists deployed three new types of sensors in this week’s demonstration, measuring multiple types of traffic emissions and noise pollution. The team received data from 100 sensors deployed in South Kensington, Leicester, Gateshead and Cambridge to test how they operate from different locations.
The new sensor technology means researchers can now measure and model air quality in unprecedented detail to improve their understanding about pollution hot spots and analyse the factors such as bad urban design that contribute to poor air quality. The scientists will also model pollution clouds in 3-D, by attaching sensors to traffic lights and street lamps. They aim to understand how pollution forms, lingers and dissipates in high emission zones.
The researchers hope this will lead to insights about whether, for example, poor signalling is causing traffic congestion which contributes to reduced air quality in the area.
The scientists will deploy sensors that will measure up to five traffic pollutants simultaneously including nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxides. Researchers have equipped the sensors with ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy technology, which uses ultraviolet light to detect pollutants in the atmosphere. This means researchers can take air quality measurements at five-second intervals, which is fast enough to allow deployment on moving cars and buses. These sensors were attached to vehicles driving around South Kensington.
Another type of sensor was attached to pedestrians and cyclists to measure the pollution they were exposed to as they moved around. These sensors are small enough to fit into a pocket and can detect car pollutants and other contaminants including carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke. The sensors utilise the wearer’s mobile phone to transmit data which enables the wearer to monitor pollution levels around them.
In addition, the team installed sensors to analyse the link between traffic congestion and levels of pollution in targeted locations such as pedestrian crossings, traffic intersections, industrial areas and motorways. These sensors measure noise and air pollutants and use ultrasound technology, where high frequency sound is bounced off cars, to count traffic driving past. They are located at South Kensington, Gateshead and Leicester.
The air quality measurements and the location of each mobile sensor will be tracked on Google maps.
The Mobile Environmental Sensing System Across Grid Environments (MESSAGE) initiative is led by Imperial College London and brings together international specialist research groups in the fields of e-science, transport, sensors and communications technologies from the Universities of Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle and Southampton.
The three-year project is jointly funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Department for Transport.
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Bruker BioSpin’s ELEXSYS™ E780 system incorporates a unique superconducting magnet that can be ramped up to 12 Tesla, and when combined with new EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) probe technology for optimum sensitivity, can measure even large samples up to 5 millimetres.
The system to be installed at the Helmholtz-Zentrum in Berlin is valued at more than $2.2 million (US), and was supported by the recent German stimulus package “Konjunkturpaket.” It represents the start of a new research collaboration project between Bruker and the Helmholtz-Zentrum on EPR probe development for electrical detection.
“This novel and unique commercial E780 system greatly expands the range of applications in very high-field EPR,” said Dieter Schmalbein, managing director of Bruker BioSpin.
“With this new instrument we will be able to identify important details about the structure of defects in thin-film silicon solar cells,” added Klaus Lips from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, the coordinator of the German research network EPR-Solar.
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Artificial leaves and nano-forests that can efficiently harvest the sun’s light energy might sound like a pipe dream, but an international team of researchers say they’ve achieved the first step toward that goal.
The team modified chlorophyll from an alga to resemble the extremely efficient light antennae of bacteria, and then was then able to determine the structure of these light antennae. The research findings will be published next week in the online Early Edition of the PNAS journal.
In theory, artificial “forests” at a nano scale and pavements laced with pigment molecules that collect sunlight could harvest the sun’s energy and easily convert it into clean power. Before this can happen, however, scientists must first develop artificial photosynthesis systems that work both quickly and efficiently.
Two things are needed to generate fuel from sunlight: an antenna that harvests light, and a light-driven catalyst. The article in PNAS is about the first of these: the antenna.
The fastest light harvesters are found in nature: in green leaves, algae and bacteria. The light antennae of bacteria — chlorosomes — are the fastest of all. They have to be capable of harvesting minimal quantities of light particles in highly unfavourable light conditions, such as deep in the sea. These chlorosomes are made up of chlorophyll molecules.
A team led by University of Leiden researcher Huub de Groot modified chlorophylls from the alga Spirulina to resemble the pigments of bacteria. The group then studied the structure of these semi-synthetic light antennae.
“We already knew that the light antennae in bacteria form a structure rather like the annual rings of a tree trunk,” said De Groot. “The molecules in these semi-synthetic antennae seem to stack in a different way; they are flat. But this, too, is one of four ways we had thought in advance were possible.”
The researchers still have to determine how the light antennae of modified Spirulina chlorophylls work in practice.
“This is a completely new approach in this field,” said De Groot.
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The firm has invested around €4 million not only in the new facility but also in advanced technical equipment for checking the safety, quality and energy efficiency of photovoltaic modules and solar collectors. The company now runs five test centres for solar systems on three continents.
Some 70 per cent of all solar module manufacturers worldwide have their products tested in these laboratories to obtain international market licences.
“The use of solar energy is becoming increasingly important and we want to do our bit too,” said Ing. Bruno O. Braun, CEO of the TÜV Rheinland Group. “As the number of manufacturers and users increases, so too does the importance of independent quality, safety and efficiency testing. We are investing directly in the future of sustainable energy usage as well as promoting transparency and reliability on the market.”
The TÜV Rheinland Group first started laboratory-scale technical testing of solar components in 1995.
At 1,800 square metres, the new test centre in Cologne is three times bigger than the previous one, which could no longer meet the requirements of a rapidly growing market for solar energy. In fact, the world’s largest facility for testing solar modules is located at TÜV Rheinland PTL in the US.
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ReVolt, which has developed a rechargeable zinc-air battery, was selected as one of the winners from a pool of more than 300 applicants. The top firms were recognised during the Cleantech Summit in Geneva last week.
“This summit is about what our society needs to address the climate change issue: collaboration,” said Bernard Vogel, president of Cleantech Summit 2009. “We are facilitating the collaboration between entrepreneurs and investors, start-ups and established companies, energy generators and energy users; and between business and politics.”
ReVolt’s rechargeable battery technology provides a high-energy storage system for consumer and industrial market applications that is environmentally safe, reusable and recyclable.
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A new type of robot dubbed a “cargo-screening ferret” under development could one day make it easier to detect drugs, weapons, explosives and illegal immigrants concealed in cargo containers.
Designed for use at seaports and airports, the device is being developed at the University of Sheffield with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The “ferret” will be the world’s first cargo-screening device able to pinpoint all kinds of illicit substances and the first designed to operate inside standard freight containers. It will be equipped with a suite of sensors that are more comprehensive and more sensitive than any currently employed in conventional cargo scanners.
Recent advances in both laser and fibre optic technology now make it possible to detect tiny particles of different substances. The EPSRC-funded project team is developing sensors that incorporate these technologies and are small enough to be carried on the 30-centimetre-long robot, enabling it to detect the specific “fingerprints” of illegal substances at much lower concentrations than currently detectable.
When placed inside a steel freight container, the ferret will attach itself magnetically to the top, then automatically move around and seek out contraband, sending a steady stream of information back to its controller.
Current cargo-screening methods rely on a variety of different methods, including sniffer dogs and external scanners for detecting explosives and drugs, and carbon dioxide probes and heartbeat monitors to detect a human presence.
Cargo scanners currently in use at seaports and airports generate information only on the shape and density of objects or substances. The ferret, however, will be able to provide information on what they actually consist of as well.
“It’s essential we develop something which is simple to operate and which border agents can have total confidence in,” said Tony Dodd, who is leading the project. “The ferret will be able to drop small probes down through the cargo and so pinpoint exactly where contraband is concealed.”
Working prototypes of the cargo-screening ferret could be ready for testing within two years, with potential deployment within around five years.
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Called the Power Predictor, the device forecasts how long it takes to recover the costs of installing renewable energy equipment. It also recommends the most cost-effective form of renewable energy and the most appropriate equipment manufacturers.
“For most people, micro power generation is a step into the unknown,” said Toby Hammond, inventor of the Power Predictor and managing director of Better Generation. “No one should spend thousands of pounds on renewable energy equipment without knowing the payback time based on the amount of energy they could generate at their premises.”
The Power Predictor takes the guesswork out of micro generation because it is based on site-specific data that shows just how much can really be saved rather than on modelled data, which is considered by many to be highly inaccurate.
The Power Predictor will sell for £99.95 with trade prices available on application.
The device was borne out of growing interest in the generation of alternative renewable energy as a means of reducing CO2 emissions. Until now, there has been no single device capable of measuring how much solar and wind
energy a particular site can generate, as well as providing a report reviewing the most suitable products available, how to buy them, what the payback time will be and what carbon savings can be achieved.
As a result, many people in the past have bought expensive equipment only to find it has not been as efficient as
expected or that an alternative product should have been used. Better Generation says the Power Predictor will remove this obstacle and act as an enabling technology to help encourage the take up of renewable energy on a mass scale both in the UK and abroad.
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IBM is working with Uppsala University and the Swedish Institute of Space Physics to create a Stream Computing project that can analyse massive amounts of data in real time to better understand potentially damaging “space weather.
By using IBM InfoSphere Streams to capture data from sensors that track high frequency radio waves, endless amounts of data can be captured and analysed on the fly. Over the next year, this project is expected to perform analytics on at least 6 gigabytes per second or 21,600 gigabytes per hour — the equivalent of all the Web pages on the Internet.
Scientists sample high frequency radio emissions from space to study and forecast “space weather,” which is driven by plasma eruptions from the sun. Upon reaching the Earth, such radiation can adversely affect energy transmission over power lines, communications via radio and TV signals, airline and space travel, and satellites.
With the recent advent of new sensor technology and antannae arrays, scientists have begun collecting more information than they’ve been able to intelligently analyse. However, IBM InfoSphere Streams, new software derived from IBM Research project System S, makes an entirely new level of analytics possible by being able to process large volumes of data in real time.
“IBM InfoSphere Streams is opening up a whole new way of doing science, not only in this area, but any area of e-science where you have lots of data coming in from external sources and sensors, streaming at such high data rates you can’t handle it with conventional technology,” said Bo Thidé, head of research at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and director of LOIS Space Center. “It has helped create a paradigm shift in the area of online observation of the Earth, space, sun and atmosphere.”
Sunspot activity, electromagnetic storms and other types of solar activity can impact communications signals. As critical infrastructure such as power grids and telecommunications networks become more digitally aware, instrumented and interconnected, it is increasingly important to understand how these can be affected by influences such as electromagnetic interference or other changes in the atmosphere.
Researchers at Uppsala University and the Swedish Institute of Space Physics worked with the LOIS Space Center facility in Sweden to develop a new type of tri-axial antenna that streams three-dimensional radio data from space, extracting a magnitude more physical information than any other type of antennae array before. Since researchers need to measure signals from space over large time spans, the raw data generated by even one antenna quickly becomes too large to handle or store.
“We’ve embarked upon an entirely new way of observing radio signals using digital sensors that produce enormous amounts of data,” Thidé said. “With this type of research, you have to be able to analyse as much data as possible on the fly. There is no way to even consider storing it. InfoSphere Streams is playing a pivotal role in this project. Without it, we could not possibly receive this volume of signals and handle them at such a high data rate because until now, there was not a structured, stable way of analysing it.”
IBM’s technology addresses this problem by analysing and filtering the data the moment it streams in, helping researchers identify the critical fraction of a per cent that is meaningful, while the rest is filtered out as noise. Using a visualisation package, scientists can perform queries on the data stream to look closely at interesting events, allowing them not only to forecast, but to “nowcast” events just a few hours away. This will help predict, for example, if a magnetic storm on the sun will reach the earth in 18 to 24 hours.
The ultimate goal of the project at Uppsala University with InfoSphere Streams is to model and predict the behaviour of the uppermost part of our atmosphere and its reaction to events in surrounding space and on the sun. This work could have lasting impact for future science experiments in space and on earth. With a unique ability to predict how plasma clouds travel in space, new efforts can be made to minimise damage caused by energy bursts or make changes to sensitive satellites, power grids or communications systems.
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Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire are taking robots out of the laboratory and bringing them into a house in Hatfield to develop them as personal companions.
The “robot house” will be open to the media on 27 May and will be launched to the public in early June.
Kerstin Dautenhahn and her team at the University’s School of Computer Science plan to use the house to showcase the work they are doing to advance the relationship between robots and humans. Their research is part of the European project LIREC, which stands for “Living with Robots and Interactive Companions.”
Different robots with mechanical and/or humanoid features will be featured at the house. The research team will also explain how they are investigating how people can interact with robots of different appearances and behaviour, and how a robotic “mind” can migrate to other robots or computer devices.
The team will also discuss how interactive and more “toy-like” robots can be used to enhance remote human-to-human communication via the Internet.
The aim of this research is to develop companion robots that can not only serve as useful assistants in the home but that also behave in a manner that is socially acceptable and comfortable to its users.
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Editor’s Note: This article by IEEE Member Frank Shinneman is the first in a series of six special features the IEEE is preparing for Greenbang.
This technology story is brought to you in association with Kyocera
The next time you see a pedestrian or cyclist crossing the road, you might also be looking at 
Bruker BioSpin will provide the world’s 
Artificial leaves and nano-forests that can 
Germany-based TÜV Rheinland has opened what it says is the world’s 
Switzerland’s ReVolt Technology has made the Cleantech Summit 2009’s top 24 list of 
A new type of robot dubbed a 
A simple and inexpensive device has just been launched that 
IBM is working with Uppsala University and the Swedish Institute of Space Physics to create a Stream Computing project that can analyse massive amounts of data in real time to better understand 
Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire are