Winners of the third annual Next Generation Luminaires (NGL) awards were announced recently at the Strategies in Light Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers, the competition was launched in 2008 to promote excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED luminaires for general illumination in commercial lighting applications. Solid-state lighting (SSL) has the potential to save Americans $15 billion a year in energy costs by 2030. Advancing SSL is a part of the Obama Administration's efforts to save Americans money by conserving energy and increasing American leadership in energy-efficient building technologies. A panel of 12 judges from the architectural lighting design community evaluated the NGL entries based on performance, appearance, construction and photometric data submitted. The “best-in-class” winners came from four different manufacturers and covered four different areas of lighting: The Lighting Quotient Inc. (West Haven, Conn.). Awarded “best-in-class” for its Linear Concealed LED Luminaire cove lighting fixture. Philips Color Kinetics (Burlington, Mass.). Awarded “best-in-class” for its eW Burst Powercore facade lighting fixture (pictured here) Koncept Technologies Inc. (Monterey Park, Calif.). Awarded “best-in-class” for its Equo LED Desk Lamp task lighting fixture. USAI (New Windsor, N.Y.). Awarded “best-in-class” for its NanoLED recessed accent lighting fixture. This year, 42 commercial LED lighting products were recognized for excellence. Out of 138 entries from 61 companies, 33 were recognized as winners, in addition to the four that were chosen as “best in class.” An additional five products were deemed “notable,” a new category created for those NGL entries that might not yet be considered specifiable but nevertheless have at least one outstanding characteristic deserving of recognition. Winners in the “recognized” category represented a wide range of manufacturers and applications, such as recessed accent lighting, wall washing, industrial lighting, recessed downlighting, decorative pendant and wall lighting, in-grade lighting, street and area lighting, and general illumination. More information on all the winning entries is available at www.ngldc.org
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