The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and the International Association of Lighting Designers sponsor the NGL. It was launched in 2008 to promote excellence in the design of energy‐efficient LED luminaires for general illumination in commercial lighting applications. Such design competitions are a key part of its national strategy to accelerate solid-state lighting technology advances from laboratory to marketplace. The DOE has stated that solid-state lighting, which includes both LED and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technologies, has the potential to save Americans $30 billion per year in energy costs by 2030.
The purpose of this competition is to help lighting designers discover LED lighting products that are specification worthy. This year an expert panel of 11 lighting experts judged these products on lighting quality (including color, illuminance, light distribution, and glare), appearance, serviceability, efficacy, value, and dimming. The judges were selected from various areas of the residential lighting community including lighting technology, lighting sales, energy efficiency, lighting design and communications.