Randy Iwasaki, Director, California Department of Transportation, holds a small efficient Light Emitting Plasma™ bulb from LUXIM while discussing the benefits it can provide to Caltrans and the State of California. Mr. Iwasaki spoke at the opening of the Innovative Mobility Showcase held this past weekend during the AASHTO conference, where the new portable light tower system using LUXIM LiFi™ lamps was first displayed. [Left to Right: Randy Iwasaki; Geoff Brown, LUXIM’S vice president of sales].

PALM DESERT, Calif., Oct. 27, 2009 — In a move that brings powerful new technology to mobile lighting, LUXIM teamed with Sandia National Labs, The Boeing Company, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and others to develop a new Mobile Lighting Platform featuring LUXIM’s Light Emitting Plasma™ (LEP™) technology. First announced by Sandia early last week, the platform was showcased this past weekend at a conference in Palm Desert hosted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

US Senator Barbara Boxer joined industry experts at the conference. The collaborative effort could substantially reduce the power consumption and extend the life of “Mobile Lighting Units”—small, portable, high-illumination lighting systems that are used by highway construction crews, airport maintenance personnel and even film crews.

Traditionally, mobile lighting units were powered by diesel fuel generators that spew carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide (nitrogen oxides produced during combustion) and soot, making them less than ideal for the environment. Before LUXIM’s LEP technology, mobile lighting units typically consumed 4.4 Kilowatts. The LEP system, designed by Stray-Light Optical, only consumes about 2.3 Kilowatts. Because LEP uses approximately half the energy of standard systems, it can be powered by a fuel cell. This makes it a zero-emission electric power source.

Conventional diesel units tend to be very loud. Fatalities occur because workers are unable to hear oncoming cars due to the noise of the generator. In contrast, a fuel cell running on pure hydrogen is very quiet.

LUXIM’S vice president of sales, Geoff Brown, explained, “With a fixture efficiency of 83 lumens per watt, Light Emitting Plasma is a natural fit for this high-illumination application.” Brown listed the advantages: 50 percent energy savings, 50,000 hours life, exceptional color quality and the ability to direct light to the work plane, which reduces the glare that can be hazardous to motorists.

If the hydrogen is generated from non-fossil fuel sources, it is estimated that each deployed fuel-cell-based mobile light would eliminate the burning of nearly 900 gallons of diesel fuel per year. This could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about nine metric tons per unit annually. In addition, emission of nitrogen oxide and soot would essentially be eliminated by using a hydrogen-powered fuel cell.

The three-day conference hosted more than 800 attendees.

LUXIM is the world leader in Light Emitting Plasma technology, having shipped more than 50,000 products under its LiFi™ brand. These products are used in applications as varied as projection display, medical instruments and entertainment lighting. In each application the technology has brought dramatic improvements in efficiency, life and color quality. LUXIM is now bringing the benefits of Light Emitting Plasma technology to the area lighting market with the goal of playing a meaningful role in reducing the planet’s energy consumption and abating climate change.