Lighting

This group's mission is to stimulate, facilitate and accelerate the development and application of high-efficiency lighting in partnership with public utilities, manufacturers, customers, builders, designers, researchers, scholars and government agencies.

Activities

• Research and development
• Demonstration
• Outreach and education

• Constant collaboration with industry partners
• With an aim of selling products
• Seeking accessible opportunities
• FMatching technologies to applications
• Finding the best options for end-users

• Photoluminescent (PL) phosphors for LEDs and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL)
• Cathodoluminescent phosphors (CL): efficiency and reliability (in conjunction with CLTC, California Lighting Technology Center)
• Converting energy from an electron beam to the emission of light
• Deterioration of phosphor efficacy due to heating
• Loss of efficacy due to overcharging phosphors
• Capturing the electron beam for non-luminescent materials
• Non-radiative recombination processes in phosphors
• Losses due to poor screening techniques
• Losses due to non-optimal phosphor activator content

• Coordination and architectural planning
• Cooperation with the Department of Electronic Control Systems
• Window design and strategic placement. Bi-level lighting

• Small-scale: points of use, residential, retrofitting
• Large-scale: civil and/or government buildings, new proposals or retrofitting of existing facilities, assessment of payback time

• Identify the main factors that affect the application of energy-efficient lighting, such as:
  • Lack of knowledge, by builders and residential users, of the benefits of using energy-efficient solutions for lighting.
  • Lack of awareness of the esthetic and technological advances made in recent years: limited array of good-quality luminaires.
  • Identify the perceptions and barriers that make end-users hesitant to use energy-efficient lighting.
  • Develop appealing mitigation strategies for end-users.

In short, what does the IREC Lighting Group offer?

Research

• Thrust Areas: basic and applied research
• In collaboration with international partners
• Onsite and field experiments

Education

• Courses on hot topics and workshops
• Master, doctoral and postdoctoral studies in conjunction with universities
• Professional sojourns for staff from affiliated organizations

Development

• Co-funded projects with affiliates
• Generation and protection of intellectual property

Partnerships

• Assistance and support with affiliates

Communication

• Forums, workshops, onsite training sessions, strategic planning.