Jun 16 2009
HID Laboratories, a provider of intelligent high-intensity lighting solutions, today unveiled the lighting industry's first high-efficiency, high-performance smart lighting and control platform. The company's new SmartPod™ Luminaire enables HID lighting solutions that are up to 60 percent more efficient, deliver superior lumen performance, and eliminate the need for building owners and lighting engineers to replace or rewire existing installations. Unlike traditional HID lighting solutions, the new SmartPod incorporates intelligent lighting controls for further reducing energy use in commercial buildings and lighting engineering applications.
In the average warehouse, outdoor venue, commercial building, or industrial facility, lighting accounts for 30 to 60 percent of an owner's energy costs. Lighting system maintenance and retrofits further drain facility management, staff, and equipment resources. With current technology, the market replaces itself on a recurring basis. Analysts project the market for new HID lamps to grow from $4.9 billion in 2007 to $7.4 billion by 2011. Although energy efficiency has become increasingly important, HID lighting has only seen minor innovations in the last 70 years. As a result, the lighting industry has turned to fluorescent technologies, among other solutions, to reduce energy costs. However, fluorescent lighting has significant shortcomings for use in warehouse, commercial, and heavy industry environments.
"Commercial and industrial enterprises, and public-sector agencies can't wait for long-promised new technologies to help them address steadily increasing energy bills and new lighting regulations," said Antonio J. Espinosa, chief executive officer of HID Labs. "Our leading-edge approach to HID lighting delivers significant efficiency and operational savings today, with superb performance and unprecedented control for a wide range of applications."
SmartPod Luminaires deliver 15,000 more mean lumens per lamp than traditional metal halide fixtures used commercially, which reduces the number of lamps needed or allows use of lower-wattage lamps. By using less wattage, HID Labs technology reduces energy consumption by up to 40 percent. Because it is designed to be plug and play, the SmartPod can be easily integrated into existing HID lighting systems to quickly begin reaping energy savings.
Unlike traditional HID lighting, intelligent controls are built into SmartPods, which allow lighting engineers to precisely control lighting through advanced dimming, motion sensing, daylight sensing, and zoning capabilities. Independent endpoint controls can save an additional 15 to 20 percent while supporting deployment of future lighting applications.
With the SmartPod, lamp life is double the average life of metal halide HID lighting and up to 50 percent longer than fluorescents. This longevity reduces replacement and operational costs by extending relamping schedules up to 4,000 hours. And unlike compact fluorescent lamps that contain mercury, SmartPod fixtures contain no hazardous waste.
"A great-looking, customer-friendly store is always an advantage, but we wanted to make a real difference in sustainability," said Joe Perkins, general manager for Pet Extreme, a leading family-owned chain of pet stores, in Woodland, California. "Lighting might not be noticed by our customers, but it is a huge part of the shopping experience and our budget. Adopting the highly efficient, cutting-edge SmartPod HID system makes us one of the first retailers to start building ‘green’ into our lighting."
SmartPod Luminaires are available through leading lighting channels, such as Facilities Solutions Group, TNT Lighting and Solar, and Moss Electric. Commercial customers have already begun to deploy SmartPod systems in warehouses, distribution centers, factories, and retail stores.
"There are promising new lighting technologies on the horizon, but technology such as the SmartPod represents smart innovation on an existing technology," said Susan Preston, general partner at CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund. "With rapid return on investment and significantly improved efficiency, HID Labs SmartPod platforms enable customers to meet their goals today and begin saving immediately.”
HID Labs is funded by investors that include American River Ventures, California Clean Energy Fund, Sempra Energy, Potomac Investment Fund, Greenhouse Capital, and Big Sky Partners.