LED Nobel Prize 2014. LEDs.

Have met more than my fair share of Nobel Physics Laureates. Much saddens to think of the great minds and hearts who have passed on.

Have written about LED technolgy (toys and practical) before. Enjoy telling story of my friend, Kyle, showing me one of the first blue LEDs (via Cree) at Cornell pre-2000. 

Missed writing about 2014 Physics Nobel Prize for LEDs. Have family near Nagoya in Okazaki. Wonder if should stop by sometime?

LEDs are more important and ubiquitous than one might imagine.

LEDs go hand in hand with the stories around solar photovoltaic production, advanced storage systems, and better efficiency (especially insulation).

LED Lighting Roundup - and Real LED Lamps

Roundup by Greentech’s Doug Widney
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/The-Top-Ten-LED-Lighting-Developments-of-2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lamp
Not a week goes by without an interesting gem at Greentech.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/

Here are some LED lamps which are within the margins of USB (and by transference 802.3af). Note they have a 120VAC adapter and can be converted (with some wiring work).

IKEA Jansjo white desk work light
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90214233/

Target Room Essentials 074-14-0009 black desk work light
http://www.target.com/p/room-essentials-led-table-lamp-black/-/A-13557999
Picture on web is not quite a match to what is in store.

Wiring work to retrofit with USB connector and use cable and USB 1A wall adapter like
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&p_id=8857

Puzzle: Why do LED lamps (in the 5W range) not simply use USB power connector format and include a USB wall adapter for region? USB would be cheaper and easier for everyone in supply chain.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/07/24/028230/usb-30-100w-power-standard-seeks-to-end-proprietary-chargers

Energy 2013 - Big (Unexciting) Things

Big (but unexciting?) energy related things for new year.
Solar and renewable/alternative energy get better all the time.
But perhaps it is about using energy better?

Cherry picking energy related items from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emerging_technologies
whilst taking the position/measure that each needs to be available now or soon at local retail. Will follow-up with brief entry on each.

• LED lighting
• Advanced insulation (and thermal surveys)
• Batteries and energy storage

More forward looking and service oriented...

• Energy surveys 
• Longterm or broad analysis (continuous and big data)
• Sensors (motes) everywhere to fire the data engine
• Better behavioural research

LED Holiday Lights

Relative merits of LED holiday lights by Katherine Tweed at Greentech.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/should-clark-griswold-switched-to-led-christmas-lights1

Comments:

Look for the warm white LED holiday lights sets - a bit less efficient, but they give a better feel.

Buy light sets for next year after the season is over. The post-holiday sales can beat year-to-year price drops by as much as three-to-one. But this is as valid for incandescent sets as for LED sets.

Probably should consider a life cycle analysis. A holiday light set (any type) recovered for reuse (craigslist?) might have better cradle-to-grave economics.

This brings up the “coffee cup life cycle analysis”
http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=28765
You can search for and see endless debate and nuances. But one good conceptual summation, after materials, washing, kilns and so forth, is…

If you reuse a mug (or whatever) which was headed for waste stream, conservation is served. It is not clear cut. Older cars and air conditioners may be better off recycled. And market economics may not be well served by reuse.

Power over Ethernet for Lighting - LEDs

Have ongoing work interest in 802.3af and 802.3at Power over Ethernet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet
for non-classical applications (not VOIP – voice, video). Mostly interested in sensors, actuators and protocol/serial conversions via 802.3af. Communications drives these applications.

What if we drove further and looked at how far 10W could get one in a real physical application with an eye to communications. Lock strikes, dampers, valves, keypads and small displays get into this realm. What if the deliverable was literally power? What could be useful at 10W? The answer is that LED lighting technology is now practical at this level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lamp
http://albertputnam.blogspot.com/2012/10/led-lighting-update.html

Scenario for LED lighting:
-Space (house/suite) wired for Cat5e or Cat6. (as-built or retrofit).
-802.3af managed gigabit switches installed (for use with VOIP as starter) like Dlink DGS-1210-10P.
-Unused sockets get 802.3af LED lamps (prototype – Trendnet TPE-112GS – with a 5W USB desk lamp).
-Local and (intelligent switch) managed control of the LED lights.
-UPS backup of 802.3af injection, and thus lights, where needed.

This involves only safe low voltage wiring. International acceptance/use/deploy possible.

Build 5-10W LED lamp with RJ45 connector and module like Silvertel Ag9600/Ag9700 series or similar (Ag9605? Ag9603?). Interesting if one could get 802.3af direct to LED driver (current) circuit.

LED Lighting - Update

Posted on LED lighting in last few days of 2011.
http://albertputnam.blogspot.com/2011/12/led-lighting.html
Here is a nice roundup article from Greentech Media, Jeff St. John.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/LED-Roundup-Redwood-Systems-Lumenergi-IKEA-and-the-GSA

Smart lighting comes up... and always seems to go down the wireless path. Why not think about where the power comes from differently? What if power came with your communications? LEDs need much less power, and what if you had a standard way of delivering low power via the network?

Presto: 802.3af and 802.3at Power over Ethernet (PoE).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet

Will discuss more about PoE and LEDs in subsequent posts.

Dreamliner 787 Japan

Made trip to Japan to and from Boston via JAL Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner

Great to be able to get on at Boston and go directly to Japan. Increased cabin pressure, humidity and temperature made the trip much more comfortable than on earlier aircraft. Dreamliner was not as big as was expecting, but should have realized the size from the roughly 250 seats. Wing dynamics are interesting to watch as they bend up when in flight. Those sitting in the center will not be able to see the wing tips out the windows during flight.

JAL service was great as always. Personnel were extremely polite, helpful and accommodating. It is a refreshing change from what one finds on North American airlines.

The dimmable windows were interesting, but actually somewhat irritating because it seemed that one in a hundred were malfunctioning. That may not seem bad at first glance, but in full sunlight when passengers are trying to sleep it meant glaring beams of light from varoius locations in the aircraft. Was not really possible to tell if the windows were broken, or that passengers beside the windows were dense or obstinate, or what was going on. Manual shades mean manual actions (either social or technical) can be taken to address such issues.

LED colored "mood" lighting was interesting, but did not seem to add much to the flight experience. And seemed like the crew was eager to play with the feature - like bringing the lights up midway through the "nap" section of the flight to offfer snacks. Seemed past long-haul flights siuch snacks were served in dimness/dakrness to avoid disturbing the general somnolence.

Dreamliner looked and felt new. From the seat base up it presented as modern as any aircraft. But the struts and structures (and wiring and such) below seat level seemed oddly like a throwback to pre 1990's aircraft.

The JEN/Magic entertainment system has more fetaures and function and options than ever.
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inflight/inter/jen/magic5/

Lots of movies and games, and even ebooks. Touch screen worked well, but unclear how robust that will be in longterm. BUT handheld controllers have gotten even smaller, and are hard for the age-vision challenged to use. Also, the three main buttons - light, attendant cancel, and attendant call - seemed to be in prime spots for being constantly bumped into, or available to small fingers to play with.

LED Lighting

What technology has been revolutionary in the past quarter century? Many ways of looking at this. Even defining "technology" and "revolutionary" might be debatable.

LED lighting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lamp
(and even CFL when well implemented)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp
are amazing.

LED bulbs are available at Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart. Such technology at retail here and now is amazing.

Even simple holiday lights are amazing. Can get at CVS a string of 60 warm white lights (string handles heat and light distribution) that consume about 4W (total) and put out about 400 lumens (total - like a 40W bulb). They twinkle a bit, but not a major annoyance. Thinking of supplementing lighting in basement and attic with LED strings.

"The Future of Light Is the LED"
By Dan Koeppel August 19, 2011 12:53 pm Wired September 2011
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/08/ff_lightbulbs/all/1

Article Points:
Brett Sharenow, CFO, Switch demos LED bulb. New regulations on light bulb efficiency upcoming. 100/60 watt race. Haitz law: x20 light /10 cost per decade. CFL problems. The L Prize (short for Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize). LED history. Heat transfer (new idea) via fluid. History of Switch. Developments by others.

Sidebar: battle of bulbs (6) including:
+ Philips Ambientled - The first commercially available 60-watt-equivalent LED.
+ Switch60 Warm White