New York City’s Central Park Completes LED Lighting Installation to Lower Energy Usage, Reduce Maintenance and Improve Area Lighting

DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) recently completed the installation of nearly 1,600 LED luminaires that light walkways and grassy areas in Central Park. The new luminaires from Spring City Electrical feature Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) XLamp^® XP-G LEDs in each fixture and were produced using an advanced light engine from Heatron. DOT officials estimate the new LED lighting will reduce energy usage by 62 percent and deliver annual maintenance savings of nearly $30,000 compared to metal halide lighting.

“Located in the heart of Manhattan, Central Park presented a unique lighting challenge”

The NYC DOT initiated the project in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) GATEWAY demonstration program to improve the park environment for local citizens and visitors and to significantly lower energy and maintenance expenses for the city. “Located in the heart of Manhattan, Central Park presented a unique lighting challenge,” said James Brodrick, DOE Lighting Program Manager. “For walkways in general, it’s important to measure both horizontal and vertical illuminance. The former to monitor available light for paths and to determine how much is distributed onto the adjacent grass and the latter to determine whether the illumination is sufficient to identify approaching pedestrians.”

Addressing the challenge head-on, Spring City Electrical joined forces with Heatron and Cree to deliver the new fixtures. The luminaires, which Spring City projects to have an estimated 75,000-hour lifespan, are being placed on existing 9-ft tall cast iron posts and are spaced about 80 ft apart along the paved walking trail.

“Spring City’s engineering capabilities and old world craftsmanship are well represented in the Central Park LED installation,” said Chris Rosfelder, vice president sales and marketing, Spring City Electrical. “We are very pleased with the performance of Cree’s XP-G LEDs in our luminaire systems. Cree LEDs are consistently among the highest performing LEDs in the industry. And Heatron is really the glue that brings us all together – their OEM leadership enables us to leverage the best LED technology in the industry.”

About Spring City

Spring City, an industry leader of decorative LED Luminaires and cast lampposts, maintains a large design library and advanced data processing providing you full submittal drawings and specifications in minimum time. With Spring City, you can choose from the country's widest range of traditional styles or create your own custom designs. Spring City can maintain tight project timing and stringent quality control over every single step of your job, from initial preparation all the way to final finishing. For more information, please visit www.springcity.com

About Heatron

Heatron, Inc., a leader in LED lighting integration, helps OEMs reduce costs, speed time to market and ensure superior quality and performance, by leveraging the engineering disciplines of optical, electrical and mechanical design, with expertise in thermal management. Heatron offers various levels of integration ranging from design and manufacture of component level LED light engines to turnkey lighting solutions designed for a range of uses including indoor and outdoor lighting, healthcare, transportation, entertainment and industrial applications.

For more information about Heatron, Inc. its products and representatives visit www.heatron.com.

About DOE’s GATEWAY Demonstration Program

The U.S. Department of Energy’s GATEWAY demonstration program features high-performance LED lighting products in real-world applications. The results of DOE demonstrations provide potential buyers with data on product performance and cost effectiveness as well as critical hands-on technology experience before they make large scale purchases. To learn more, visit www.ssl.energy.gov/gatewaydemos.html.

About Cree

Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, mercury-free LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications.

Cree's product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. Cree products are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, electronic signs and signals, power supplies and solar inverters.

For additional product and company information, please refer to www.cree.com. To learn more about the LED Lighting Revolution, please visit www.creeledrevolution.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the risk that actual savings will vary from expectations; customer acceptance of LED products; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render Cree’s products obsolete; and other factors discussed in Cree’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 24, 2012, and subsequent filings.

Cree^® and XLamp^® are registered trademarks of Cree, Inc.