We have all seen the nutrition labels on many of the foods we eat.  It gives us a break down of what is in it and the nutritional value and portion sizes of the food with in. Seems like the Department of Energy, (DOE) really likes the design and the layout of the Nutrition labels and has adapted the layout for Lighting and LED products. There seems to be more then meets the eye.

A recent “Postings from Jim Brodrick,” a popular e-mail update on the solid-state lighting market that’s published regularly by the head man at the DOE Solid State Lighting program, said more than 150 manufacturers, 40 retailers, and another 40 lighting designers and energy efficiency organizations have all taken the Lighting Facts pledge. The list of the 160 LED products that qualify to use the Lighting Facts label is up on the website.

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. But reports have surfaced, including one in LEDs magazine, on misuse of the label, and Brodrick said in a New York Times report that DOE has identified at least 25 cases of misuse.

So while the Lighting or LED labels are a great idea to inform consumers of what the product does, the labels might not be quite right or ready for main stream use.