12-Watt Independence LED Tube Earns Rebates Through DesignLights Consortium® (DLC) Listing

WAYNE, Pa., April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Independence LED, (www.IndependenceLED.com) a leading U.S. manufacturer of the "Best Built LED Tubes," today announced that the DesignLights Consortium® approved its groundbreaking, energy-efficient four-foot 12-Watt LED Tube.

At 2:23 pm on Tuesday, April 9, Charlie Szoradi, CEO of Independence LED, looked up from his laptop and said, "We got DLC." He had just received the approval e-mail, and this benchmark in a 20-year career of energy efficiency including more than $3 million of recent investment in research and development and U.S. manufacturing. Across the conference table, Tyler Simays, one of Independence LED's youngest energy analysts, beamed in response, "Excellent!"

The DLC listing is a historic benchmark in the "American Energy Revolution," because it activates a new generation of technology sales. Most U.S. utility companies use DLC as an outside performance metric to guide LED tube rebate approvals. Now, the Independence LED tube has the ultimate triple play: American-made, lowest energy consumption and rebate ready.  Some utilities offer up to 50 percent in rebates, making this the proverbial Game Changer.

DLC listings are also a powerful vote of confidence for facility managers that continue to see weak product engineering from China. The Independence LED tube has the most advanced patent-pending thermal management with aircraft-grade aluminum deep fin heat sinks and external "independent" drivers.

More than 2.3 billion fluorescent tubes are in American ceilings. So, this 12-watt tipping point brings major change to inefficient 40- and 32-watt fluorescent tubes that have dominated commercial lighting since the 1950s.

The Independence LED tube saves 65 percent over fluorescent tubes and last up to 20 years in common applications like offices, schools and retail stores. The company doubled the sale of its LED tubes each of the past four years and has installations ranging from the Fortune 100 to the U.S. government civilian and military. The DLC submission focused on retrofitting common 2-foot by four-foot ceiling fixtures that typically hold up to four fluorescent tubes, and Independence has already submitted additional configurations for review.

Mr. Szoradi said, "I was always inspired by Edison's quote, 'There's a way to do better ... find it' and now, 100 years later, our team has done it. We have engineered and commercialized the best built LED tube. The annual savings are in the billions."

SOURCE Independence LED