Nesora LED: The Light That Could Revolution How You See Your Surroundings
Don’t you hate it when you’re trying to get work done around your house and a light goes out? You look up and now have to remember if you have any extras stored. If you don’t have any stored, you now have to go to the store and buy more. It’s an endless cycle of replacing lights that claim to last years, but end up lasting months. That’s where Nesora Light Technologies comes in. They’ve created a new LED light that could change the way we think about lighting our homes and businesses.
Here’s a quick run down of what the Nesora LED has to offer:
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Turn-key solution with concurrently designed LED’s, driver electronics, and thermal management
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Dimming to 5% using standard TRIAC dimmers
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Uniform light distribution
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Designed to last 35,000 hrs at L70 in light fixtures
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UV and Mercury Free
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Patent Pending Technology
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UL safety certified 8750 & 1598c
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FCC-Compliant
- “Damp Location”
SOCIAL UNDERGROUND: Quickly tell us about the Nesora Light for those of us that still use the old fashioned incandescent lights.
Jared Northrup: Our innovation allows people to convert their existing light fixtures or ceiling fan lights into an LED light source… that means you don’t need to change your current decor (and the cost that goes with it), simply because you want to save money on energy bills!
The kit also offers you more choice. If you fall in love with a new light fixture design, but it’s not available in LED, this kit will allow you to make your own conversion to LED and still retain safety/regulatory compliance.
Why LED? the benefits of LED are many… longer lasting (about 40x life of incand), lower energy consumption (80% less than incand), and better light quality, better dimmability, and no mercury (vs. fluorescent). That means changing a light source in 15 years instead of 6 months. Saving on utility bills. Less waste and no haz-mat spills when you break a light bulb.
Why not just go with an LED bulb? Despite the claims, an LED bulb won’t last much longer than a fluorescent bulb since the constrained design limits the life of the LED. Due to its unique design, our light disc will last significantly longer than light bulbs, including LED ones. Also, the light disc will offer much greater light output than a comparable set of LED light bulbs at a similar cost. Lastly, light will be evenly distributed without the “hot spots” typically seen with light bulbs.
SU: What inspired you to create a light that could potentially revolutionize how we light our houses, stores, sports arenas, etc?
Jared Northrup: Helping people reduce energy consumption. Our society faces many problems that stem from our growing demand for energy, from rising energy costs to increased waste. The impact is also felt at the individual level. ED technology is truly a game changer that will have far-reaching positive consequences.
I was drawn to the technology about 8 years ago while I was working for a major lighting manufacturer. I quickly realized that the future of lighting would be LED and wanted to be a part of the emerging trend. It was attractive as a business opportunity and it just felt right on a socially conscious level.
SU: What do you think the impact this will have on companies over a long period of time? For example: if everyone replaces their bulbs with the Nesora, they won’t have to buy new lights for 30+ years. Do you think that could potentially backfire?
Jared Northrup: From a pure business standpoint, you are correct that the repurchase rate stretches significantly. One thing keeping that risk in check is the technology’s velocity of improvement. Call it the Moore’s law of lighting, if you will. We’ve gone from a technology that moved at glacially slow rates of innovation, measured in decades, (incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, etc) to the fast-moving electronics industry, where innovations are measured in weeks.
The performance characteristics continue to change quickly as well as new features being constantly added. For example, sunset dimming (where the color gets warmer as one dims, similar to an incandescent bulb), color changing controlled via smart-app –even smart lighting which can communicate to other devices in the home, such as your HVAC system. These technologies are ready for implementation into the mainstream market.
One of the reasons why we developed the light disc is its modular format, which consequently makes it easy to replace down the road. The user will get a long life from the product, but if they so choose to upgrade to a new model as technology improves it won’t be difficult.
SU: How often do you change cell phones? Is it because the technology lives its full useful life, or because you want the latest cool usability features?
Jared Northrup: To your point though, this technology will have far-reaching implications for lighting companies. Not necessarily all bad. However, lighting companies will be forced to re-evaluate how they do business, from product design to managing inventory obsolescence. Even our standards for measuring light, scientifically speaking, are being forced to change as a direct result of this new technology.<
SU: I have light bulbs that were guaranteed to last 3+ years, but burnt out after about 6 months (one literally just burned out yesterday). How do you make your technology dwarf other lights and make them last so long?
Jared Northrup: This is a great example of what I shared earlier for a prior question. Without getting too scientific, the traditional shape (or form factor, in industry nomenclature) of the light bulb creates some inherent problems with the thermal dissipation of the LEDs. LED’s don’t produce heat the way incandescent bulbs do, but they do produce heat in a small concentrated area. Heat is the enemy of LED life, and if it is not managed properly, it fails prematurely. The traditional bulb shape is not optimal for this heat dissipation so it is difficult to counteract this problem. Also, many light fixtures have tight enclosures with minimal airflow, thereby compounding the problem.
Many of the claims found on LED packaging list theoretical data based on laboratory tests at the LED-level…they don’t take into account how and where the LED’s will be used. The industry is attempting to put more regulations in place, but the issue is a complex one.
Our disc was created to work inside the tight enclosure of a light fixture and set to optimize better heat dissipation. By eliminating the need to conform to the old-style sockets and bulbs, we were able to design a module that works best in this environment, last as long “as advertised”, and provide superior light output.
SU: Do you see this technology as potentially being used beyond the home? (submarines, automobiles, NASA and SpaceX projects, etc)
Jared Northrup: Absolutely. LED technology is being adopted in countless applications, from vehicles to medical treatments.
Earlier, I referenced smart-lighting technology and how it is being adopted. It will change the way we live, work, and play in artificial light environments. We have been involved in projects that utilize bio-adaptive technology to alter the “color” of the light to change throughout the day in an office setting…”cooler” during the day for maximum productivity and “warmer” at the end of the work day to prepare our bodies for sleep later…essentially to mimic natural light to aid our circadian rhythms for providing correct bio-physiological feedback. This science will improve our quality of life beyond just more efficient light. But that’s another story.
Our product is set up for general illumination today, but it will be possible to incorporate this technology not too far down the road as compatibility of the various subcomponents continue to converge.
Related to our specific product, the light disc has been used in applications such as college dorm rooms, utility lights, wall sconces, ceiling fan light kits, torchiere floor lamps, etc.
We are also working on additional uses for the light disc such as marine applications (boat interiors), RV’s, Fire station facilities, Furniture/Office Systems, Photography lighting, churches…the applications are limitless.
SU: What is your long-term goal? I see that you have 6 light disks on your Shop page, do you at some point want these lights sold in big stores like Lowes and Home Depot?
Jared Northrup: While big box retail is certainly one potential area for us, our initial development has been working with facilities managers at educational institutions (universities, high schools, etc), hotel property managers, electrical wholesale companies, and lighting distributors. The products are also available now for retail purchase online through our own webstore as well as retailer Amazon.
For product development, we are focused on expanding the breadth of offering to include additional shapes (square, rectangular) and additional light output levels (higher and lower) to accommodate a wider array of applications.
Our long term trajectory for future product iterations is to incorporate technology improvements as well as some of the benefits of smart-technology enhancements to the device.’
SU: Can these lights — like the LED P20 Module — be inserted into existing light fixtures? My light just went out, could I just screw in a LED P20 and be all set?
Jared Northrup: The p20 is a bit of a different application. it is designed as a module for lighting manufacturers & designers to “bolt on” to their fixture designs. In theory, the product could be modified to add a medium based light socket, but the design is really meant for hardwired fixtures and design/integration at the manufacturing end.
Get to know more about Nesora’s lighting technology over at their website.
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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post,UPROXX,BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: jeff@socialunderground.com