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Does lighting limit opportunities or create them?
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Posted by Tate Dwinnell |
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12:00:44 pm on February 3, 2010
At
a recent rally in New Hampshire, Barack Obama specifically mentioned
LED lighting and described a company that could help to slash the cost
of LED lighting. I did a little research and discovered the company he
was referring to is privately held Arc Energy
LLC of Nashua, NH. Its founder, Kedar Gupta is no stranger to
cleantech success, having founded GT Solar (SOLR) with just $1000 and
cashing out a few years ago.
“That is why jobs will be our number one focus in 2010. And
we’re going to start where most new jobs do – with small businesses.
These are the companies that begin in basements and garages when an
entrepreneur takes a chance on his dream, or a worker decides it’s time
she became her own boss. They’re companies like ARC Energy, which I
visited earlier today. These folks are hard at work on a new
manufacturing process for ultra-efficient LED lights that will make
them affordable for ordinary people. The technology they’ve created is
the only of its kind in the world. They’re this little business in a
condo out on Amherst Street, and they have the potential to
revolutionize an industry. Right here in Nashua.
Small businesses like ARC Energy have created roughly 65
percent of all new jobs over the past decade and a half. And I think we
should make it easier for them to open their doors, expand their
operations, and hire more workers. That’s why I’ve proposed a new tax
credit for more than one million small businesses that hire new workers
or raise wages – and a tax incentive for all businesses to invest in
new plants and equipment. And while we’re at it, we should eliminate
all capital gains taxes on small business investment, so these folks
can get the capital they need to grow and create jobs.”
I had to do some digging to locate ARC Energy’s web site
and eventually had to call them to find it. Considering both the
products and news pages say “we are in stealth mode”, it’s clear the
company wants to operate under the radar for now.. but the visit by
Obama has certainly put them on the map now!
According to the about page, ARC Energy LLC (or Advanced
Renewable Energy Company) was founded in 2007 to develop automated
sapphire crystal growth and processing equipment to significantly
reduce the cost to manufacture LED lighting. The company was initially
funded by its founder Kedar Gupta, but is now receiving funding from
venture capital firm General Catalyst and Citizens Bank.
While GreenStocksCentral.com focuses on publicly traded green
companies, it will be interesting to follow the progression of ARC
Energy and perhaps one day I’ll be writing about their IPO.
While
the demand expansion for LED lighting is probably the worst kept secret
in the tech investing world today, for some reason it was being
virtually ignored at the start of 2009. Of course, for long- term Next
Inning readers, that was good news – it allowed us to buy shares of
sector leader Cree (CREE) in the mid-teens before the rest of the world caught on.
When it comes to the lighting markets, it’s important to understand
the divisions. The market where I think Cree is and will remain the
leader is what is called “high power.”
Revenue growth for LED Lamps was, to say the least, uninspiring for
nearly a dozen years leading up to 2002. However, beginning in 2002,
mobile products began to incorporate larger displays and, with these,
the demand for LED backlighting grew quickly. These tiny LEDs were not
Cree’s strongest suit, but the company enjoyed some modest benefits.
From there, the next leg up started in 2007 and was driven by high
brightness applications like scoreboards and other outdoor displays.
Cree competed well in those markets as it has more recently in the LED
backlight market for LCD TVs (those TV’s advertised as LED are really
LCD with LED backlight versus CCFL backlight).
However, the real story for Cree is what is known as the “high
power” market, which includes ambient and task lighting applications
that are currently dominated by various types of incandescent and
fluorescent lights. High power LEDs are rapidly gaining ground here,
but it will take literally years for them to get beyond a rounding
error in the scope of the aggregate market. In these markets there are
only three viable competitors and Cree is the clear leader.
You can find a number of good reports on Cree on the Next Inning site
by using our search engine to look for the ticker symbol Cree. The
short story here is that while we are only beginning to scratch the
surface for LED demand, investors with an interest in Cree should be
patient and accumulate carefully on weakness.
In a new special report entitled 10 Tech Trends for 2010,
NextInning.com highlights ten technology trends that investors will
need to know about this year, as well gives opinions on several key
tech stocks, including ones that are its favorites for the new year.
For access to the free report,
examining each pick’s business activities, strengths, weaknesses,
latest earnings report, and much more, visit NextInning.com.
We are preparing for our biggest expo yet!
So big, we are moving to the PPA Event Center by Mile High Stadium! Join us as more than two dozen manufacturers are represented in our tradeshow-style format.
We
start the evening with a presentation on LED technology by Jim
Anderson, Director of Strategic Markeing for Philips Solid State
Lighting Solutions. Jim will cover the potential of SSL, current and
emerging applications, initiatives encouraging SSL, technical
considerations when choosing an LED system, and a standards update on
the technology! With over 20 years of experience in the lighting
industry, both at Philips Lighting and LED start-up companies, Jim
Anderson is currently the Director of Strategic Marketing for Philips
Solid Sate Lighting Solutions (formerly Color Kinetics) in Burlington,
MA. Over his career, Jim has held various positions in technology
management, operations management and Marketing, and changed his focus
to LED lighting 5 years ago.
