Consumers must have confidence that the product they are buying is well designed and performs to their expectations. The SSL Quality Advocates program and the Lighting Facts label were jointly developed by DOE and the Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance (NGLIA) as a foundation for successful commercialization of solid-state lighting. The SSL Quality Advocates program showcases LED luminaire manufacturers who commit to testing products and reporting performance results according to industry standards, and gives lighting buyers, designers, and energy efficiency programs the essential information to evaluate and select products for their specific projects and for promotion to clients and consumers.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), SSL Quality Advocates is a voluntary pledge program to assure that LED lighting is represented accurately as it reaches the market. SSL Quality Advocates pledge to use the Lighting FactsCM label to document the performance of products they manufacture, sell, distribute, or promote, based on industry-standard testing. Similar to a nutrition label, the Lighting Facts Label provides a quick summary of product performance data. Luminaire manufacturers who take the SSL Quality Advocates pledge agree to use the label to disclose performance results in five areas — lumens, efficacy, watts, correlated color temperature (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI) — as measured by the new industry standard for testing photometric performance, IES LM-79-2008.
EcoFit Lighting has accepted the SSL Quality Advocates pledge, and Lighting Facts Labels are provided on all of the EcoFit products shipping boxes and specification sheets. An example of EcoFit’s label is provided below.