By Fritzi Pieper | Thu, January 9, 14
The Solid-State Lighting (SSL) industry is poised to take a leap forward in energy efficiency and performance as Northeast Energy Efficiency (NEEP) updated the DesignLights Consortium®’s (DLC) SSL Qualified Products List (QPL) at the turn of the year. 
Thanks to the 2013 specification revision to the DLC QPL, lighting manufacturers, energy efficiency program administrators, and others in the SSL industry can continue to promote energy efficient lighting technology with the latest most innovative and high-performing products. The newest version of the list had been phased in over the last few months, having allowed products that met the previous requirements to remain on the list until January 1, 2014. At that time, products which did not meet the new requirements were removed from the active QPL and placed on the "Products No Longer Qualified" list. The DLC, a NEEP project, promotes quality, performance, and energy-efficiency in commercial-sector lighting solutions through collaboration among its stakeholders. These are federal, regional, state, utility, and energy efficiency program members throughout the United States and Canada, as well as luminaire manufacturers, lighting testing labs, lighting designers, and other industry advisors. “Every year we go through a specification revision process for all the product categories to keep the list fresh and ahead of industry and technology developments with a focus on increased product performance,” said Jon Linn, NEEP’s Commercial Programs Manager. “This year, we once again raised the bar and even went so far as to no longer benchmark on incumbent technologies. This shows in the number of products that fell off the list. We are confident that, as a result, customers will have access to better performing products.” Through its periodic review of specifications and categories, DLC is able to remain the leading resource in support of energy efficiency programs in the SSL market. In the fast moving SSL market, this list has reflected a large, evolving database of reliable product information for utilities and their customers. This iteration of the technical requirements affected roughly 10,000 products (less than half of the QPL) by over 300 manufacturers. DLC announced the new specifications in April 2013, starting a 270-day countdown to the end of the year. The specification revision lead to many manufacturers responding by improving their products in time to be re-listed before January 1, 2014 and to ensure continuous availability of efficient and quality SSL products to customers.