International commercial LED lighting qualification program reaches landmark milestone within three and a half years of launching
Lexington, MA, July 11, 2013 – The international commercial LED lighting qualification program, DesignLights Consortium® (DLC) marked its biggest milestone yet last month when it listed its 25,000th high efficiency lighting product on its Qualified Products List (QPL). The DLC QPL is a leading resource that distinguishes quality, high efficiency LED products for the commercial sector. Today, the QPL sets the bar for efficiency program incentives across the U.S. and into Canada while informing manufacturer product development.
Launched in October 2009 and managed by Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), the DLC QPL (www.designlights.org) provides a central place for manufacturers to submit products for qualification and for utilities and energy efficiency program administrators to distinguish high performing products for use in their incentive programs. The DLC QPL is supported by 66 member companies and organizations located throughout the U.S. and Canada. With the exponential growth of the Solid State Lighting industry each year, the DLC continues to see tremendous growth in the number of products applying for placement on the QPL.
“Reaching the 25,000-product mark emphasizes the need to aid consumers in deciding among the myriad choices they have when designing lighting systems,” said Jon Linn, Commercial Programs Manager at NEEP. “When the DLC QPL project was started, NEEP expected to see products from among a dozen or so of the most active fixture manufacturers. Today, the QPl lists 370 participating manufacturers. We constantly see familiar names and new ones, large and small, coming up with novel solutions to design and configure high efficiency lighting. “Considering that the QPL listed only 1,000 products two years ago, that makes the growth in the products list even more exciting,” Linn added.
The DLC QPL covers a wide range of products for use in many of the most common commercial applications. The list now contains about 20,000 outdoor products and 5,000 indoor products. “This shows that the market now offers a wide variety of choices to meet the needs of customers, designers, and builders alike, through LED lighting,” says Linn.
“In the last year we have seen the DLC QPL grow into a resource that truly sets the bar for energy efficiency and quality in the commercial LED sector for manufacturers and energy efficiency programs alike,” said John Puc, director of Energy Efficiency Strategies at NEEP. “The QPL lists products under 32 product categories which will soon be extended, as our team is working hard to release new specifications for additional categories. The QPL is a prime example of how NEEP’s regional efforts to promote energy efficiency can be adapted nationally.”
Building on this progress will be the theme of the second annual DesignLights Consortium® Stakeholder Meeting, to be held July 22-25 at the Hyatt Magnificent Mile in Chicago, IL. Professionals from across the solid-state lighting industry nationwide will be in attendance to share perspectives; to identify important technical, program, and policy issues; and to set in motion solutions to identified issues.
To find out more about the DLC Qualified Products List, review listing criteria, and apply online visit http://www.designlights.org.
To find out more about the DesignLights Consortium® Stakeholder Meeting, please visit http://www.dlcmeeting.org.
ABOUT NEEP
NEEP was founded in 1996 as a non-profit whose mission is to serve the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to accelerate energy efficiency in the building sector through public policy, program strategies and education. Our vision is that the region will fully embrace energy efficiency as a cornerstone of sustainable energy policy to help achieve a cleaner environment and a more reliable and affordable energy system. For more information, visit www.neep.org.
ABOUT DESIGNLIGHTS CONSORTIUM
The DesignLights Consortium® (DLC) is a project of Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), a regional non-profit founded in 1996 whose mission is to serve the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to accelerate energy efficiency in the building sector through public policy, program strategies and education. The DLC promotes quality, performance and energy efficient commercial sector lighting solutions through collaboration among its federal, regional, state, utility, and energy efficiency program members; luminaire manufacturers; lighting designers and other industry stakeholders throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Over its 14 year history the DLC program has driven the lighting market towards innovation by providing information, education, tools and technical expertise for cutting edge technologies. Since 2010, the DLC has administered the Qualified Products List (QPL), a leading resource that distinguishes quality, high efficiency LED products for the commercial sector. Today, the QPL sets the bar for efficiency program incentives across the U.S. and into Canada while informing manufacturer product development.
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