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LED Lighting Makes Food Look More Appetizing

The next time you shop for groceries, take a closer look at your fruits and vegetables. Hold them up and you may be surprised at their dazzling appearance. Grocers are now discovering a secret that jewelers and actors have known for years: lighting matters.

New kinds of LED lighting technology are invading retail stores with a dual purpose: saving energy and luring shoppers. And as old-style incandescent bulbs are being phased out by the U.S. government, the race for a replacement is on between LEDs and compact fluorescents.

Seattle Saving with LED-based Street Lights

LED street lights in the city of Seattle, Washington USA, are already saving $300,000 a year, according to city representatives. And the Seattle City Light utility is working to install thousands more, City Council-member Bruce Harrell and City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco said.

The city has previously indicated that it plans to deploy up to 10,000 addition LED street light fixtures. In early 2011, the city pre-qualified LED fixtures after a formal submission and review process managed by Seattle City Light, the city's municipal utility. All interested manufacturers meeting minimum requirements were invited to submit LED fixtures for testing and evaluation.

The city chose 70-Watt LED-based street lights from BetaLED and Leotek Electronics as a result of the evaluation conducted by Lighting Design Lab, contracted by Seattle City Light to perform the analysis. The city is seeking bids from qualified vendors of the 70-Watt street lights from BetaLED and Leotek for the upcoming installation of 10,000 additional street lights. BetaLED is a division of Ruud Lighting of Racine, Wisconsin, and Leotek Electronics is also a U.S. company. It is headquartered in Milpitas, California.

The city plans to have a total of 41,000 lights installed, by the end of 2014 for a total expected savings of $2.4 million a year.