Alterlume

04/29/2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGyFsMCsQNE

"Ahh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adapted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man. By then, it was nothing to me but blinding!" -Bane

04/24/2013

There's a new light at the end of the energy efficiency tunnel.

This light is AlterLume’s TruFit™ lamp: a self-ballasted, easy to install twist-in replacement for street and area light bulbs.

AlterLume is a clean-tech start up based in San Jose, California. We specialize in high-brightness LED lamps, designed to twist directly into existing outdoor Street and Area lighting fixtures.

There are 391 Million outdoor light fixtures worldwide; 198 million are in the US. By just changing the original bulb to a TruFit lamp, a fixture realizes up to 80% energy savings depending on the wattage.

As you probably already know, municipalities and private enterprises everywhere are converting outdoor lights to LED for energy cost savings. However, this energy conservation process is encumbered by the high costs associated with LED conversion, complicated installation, disposal of old fixtures and architectural impacts to name a few. AlterLume provides a simple and cost effective solution for the end user, bridging the gap across LED conversion.

Performance without the pain; and conversion without complications. That is the TruFit advantage.


Calculate your Energy Savings:

http://alterlume.com.mytempweb.com/calc2.aspx

Review our products and solutions here:

http://alterlume.com.mytempweb.com/tech.htm

04/17/2013

AlterLume is featured on Google Alerts!

04/16/2013

AlterLume is featured on SBWire! http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/clean-tech-start-up-alterlume-inc-launches-kickstarter-campaign-for-led-streetlights-238157.htm

AlterLume is a clean-tech start up based in San Jose, California. They specialize in high-brightness LED lamps, designed to twist directly into existing outdoor Street and Area lighting fixtures.

04/15/2013

AlterLume is featured on Clean Tech Daily! http://paper.li/blackwellmark/1306202187

Cleantech Daily, by Mark Blackwell : Latest news and updates in the cleantech venture space.

04/12/2013

As the DesignLights ™ Consortium (DLC) gears up for the 2012 Stakeholder Meeting October 28-31 in Atlanta, GA, we had a chance to sit down with the meeting keynote speaker, Dr. James Brodrick, lighting program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy, Building Technologies Program, to talk about hi...

04/09/2013

We launched a Kickstarter! Check out our video: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1758689598/alterlume-led-streetlights-just-change-the-bulb

Our mission is to provide the highest quality, easiest to install, twist-in LED lamp replacement for street and area lighting.

04/06/2013

Starry skies are a vanishing treasure because light pollution is washing away our view of the cosmos. It not only threatens astronomy, it disrupts wildlife, ...

04/06/2013

Alan E. Salzman of VantagePoint Capital Partners on the waves of change coming in light bulbs.

04/06/2013

INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY WEEK: APRIL 5-11

International Dark Sky Week, created in 2003 by high-school student Jennifer Barlow, is a key component of Global Astronomy Month. The International Dark-Sky Association aims to spread awareness to the issues around light pollution as well as provide solutions to mitigate it.

In 2001, “The First World Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness” reported two-thirds of the U.S. population and more than 50% of the European population had already lost the ability to see the Milky Way with the naked eye (http://bit.ly/16BdS69). The report also showed that 63% of the world population and 99% of the population of the European Union and the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) lived in regions where the night sky is brighter than the threshold for light-polluted status set by the International Astronomical Union. In 1994, an earthquake knocked out the power in Los Angeles. Many residents called local emergency centres reporting a strange “giant, silvery cloud” in the dark sky. That giant, silvery cloud was the Milky Way, which many residents had just seen for the first time.

Light pollution can also affect human health. Light photons need to impact the retina for biologic effects to occur. Nuisance light becomes a health hazard when there is a lot of artificial light at night, in cities like Manhattan or Las Vegas. This is because there is more opportunity for the retina to be exposed to photons that might disrupt circadian rhythm. The circadian clock is a 24-hour day/night cycle, which affects physiologic processes in most organisms. There is a large amount of epidemiologic evidence that indicates a consistent association between exposure to indoor artificial nighttime light and health problems such as breast cancer (http://1.usa.gov/Z6g8Nw). This association does not prove that artificial light causes the problem, however laboratory studies have shown exposure to light during the night disrupts circadian and neuroendocrine physiology, which then accelerates tumour growth (http://bit.ly/10iQWpU).

Flora and fauna are also affected by light pollution. Prolonged exposure to artificial light has been shown to affect trees from adjusting to seasonal variations, which then affects wildlife that depend on trees for their natural habitat (http://bit.ly/12pmnyF). Research on wildlife species has shown that light pollution can alter behaviours, foraging areas, and breeding cycles.

One dramatic example of this is sea turtles. Many species of sea turtles lay their eggs on beaches, and the females of the species return to the same beaches to nest. When these beaches are brightly lit at night, these lights can disorient the females who then wander onto nearby roadways and get struck by vehicles (http://bit.ly/Y2h4lG). Sea turtle hatchlings typically head toward the sea by orienting away from the dark silhouette of the landward horizon. With bright artificial lights on the beach, these hatchlings become disoriented and navigate toward the artificial light source, never finding the sea.

The image used shows the Bortle Dark Sky Scale, created by John E. Bortle and published here: http://bit.ly/ZhsAzY, http://bit.ly/10B6mV5. It is a guide for amateur astronomers and is a nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky's and stars' brightness of a particular location. Class 1 represents the darkest skies available on Earth while Class 9 shows inner-city skies

Reducing light pollution is not just about being able to see the night sky much more effectively. It is also about saving money, energy and reducing greenhouse gases while protecting the environment, wildlife, and improving human health. This is not to say that artificial lighting is bad; it is when artificial lighting becomes inefficient, annoying, and unnecessary that it is known as light pollution. To aid in minimising light pollution, you can shield outdoor lighting, or at least angle it downward and use light only when needed. Motion detectors and timers are also useful. Use only the amount of illumination you need and try reducing lamp wattage.

Stay tuned on The Universe for Dark Sky Week: we'll be showcasing various Night Sky photographers and their issues with light pollution, as well as talking about Dark Sky Reserves.

-TEL

For more information on light pollution: http://www.darksky.org/education/99-quick-reference-materials

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2627884/
http://journals.lww.com/epidem/Abstract/2005/03000/Circadian_Disruption_and_Breast_Cancer__From.16.aspx
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/dec2005/niehs-19.htm
http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/328/3/689.full.pdf
http://www.urbanwildlands.org/Resources/ECANLProgram.pdf
http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/BortleDarkSkyScale.pdf
Image is a screenshot of the Light Pollution Simulation / Bortle Scale from http://stellarium.org/

04/06/2013

For more information on International Dark Sky week, please head over to our astrophysics page The Universe, where we will be covering it in depth.

In the mean time, here are a few links that will be helpful if you wish to explore the issue of light pollution:
http://www.darksky.org/education/99-quick-reference-materials
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2627884/
http://journals.lww.com/epidem/Abstract/2005/03000/Circadian_Disruption_and_Breast_Cancer__From.16.aspx
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/dec2005/niehs-19.htm
http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/328/3/689.full.pdf
http://www.urbanwildlands.org/Resources/ECANLProgram.pdf
http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/BortleDarkSkyScale.pdf

All credit for this amazing work goes to Thierry Cohen. See more of his images at www.thierrycohen.com. Feel entirely free to reproduce and repost this image with no credit to IFLS, but please include a link to Cohen's website.

04/06/2013