DOE Considering Changes to LED Lighting Facts, Merging its Database with CALiPER

Aug. 10, 2012
The U.S. Department of Energy's solid-state lighting (SSL) group has been fine-tuning its LED Lighting Facts program

The U.S. Department of Energy’s solid-state lighting (SSL) group has been fine-tuning its LED Lighting Facts program, which provides lighting manufacturers with a standardized graphic that specifies performance characteristics of LED products to show how LEDs compare with traditional lighting products.

The group is changing some of the data available on the LED Lighting Facts label and has considered additional steps to require retesting of the products, but it has decided to delay some of those new rules to find a way to avoid piling yet another costly testing requirement on solid-state lighting (SSL) manufacturers:

“During the SSL Market Introduction Workshop in Pittsburgh last month, the DOE discussed other changes in the LED Lighting Facts program, including a requirement for retesting any products that change after one year, and for the program to occasionally sample and test products for quality assurance. Manufacturers would bear the costs for such testing.

“However, in response to concerns about the increasing burden of product testing that some SSL programs require, DOE is considering alternatives that would reduce the need for additional testing while protecting the reliability of product data in LED Lighting Facts.”

The DOE also said the LED Lighting Facts program will be combined with its CALiPER program for testing SSL performance. The two programs will maintain their separate identities and functions, but their databases will be combined.