March 31, 2009
NORTHBROOK, Ill., March 31, 2009 -- Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), a world leader in product safety testing and certification services, announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Luminaire Testing Laboratory, Inc. (LTL), an independent source of photometric test reports for the lighting industry. The partnership positions UL as the first NRTL to provide Energy Star testing of LED products.
"This is a major milestone for UL and the lighting industry. Now that LEDs are becoming more mainstream, the need to verify the energy efficiencies of new technologies is important to our customers globally," said Alberto Uggetti, UL's global lighting industry general manager. "Together with LTL, UL is now positioned to become a market leader in compliance and has the ability to provide its customers a larger offering of testing services with a new, expanded portfolio."
UL, through this partnership, will be able to test the energy efficiency of LED lighting products through the Department of Energy-sponsored LED Energy Star program, of which LTL has been an integral part since its inception. This new testing procedure is in addition to the safety testing and standards development at the core of UL's 115-year-old business. LTL brings 20 years of experience and knowledge to the table that is integral as the team sets out to refine and develop services around North American energy efficiency requirements.
"We are excited to share our experience with UL and help the company enhance its capabilities in the global lighting industry," stated Mike Grather, LTL president."With the strength of the UL brand and LTL's testing capabilities, we can build a strong platform of lighting performance services for luminaires and light sources, including LED, incandescent, fluorescent and HID technologies."
The partnership aims to extend UL's service portfolio in the near future to cover all energy efficiency requirements in North America, including DOE and EPA Energy Star services for the United States, NRCan and Energy Star services for Canada, future NEMA premium programs in United States, and CEC California Title 20 and Title 24.
This partnership is also an example of how UL is moving into the environmental space. Earlier this year, UL launched UL Environment, a new company which will verify claims on environmental products, such as LED lights, and will test and certify environmental products for compliance with sustainability standards.