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Cree ( CREE ) added a newchip-on-board ( COB ) LED to its industry leading CXA LED array family. TheCXA2 LED arrays utilizes elements of Cree'sSC5 technology platform (introduced last quarter), which enables lighting designers to drastically lower system costs (by up to 60%) in the next generation of industry-leading lighting products.With the new CXA2 LED arrays, lighting manufacturers can achieve the same or better performance with a smaller LED compared to earlier products, enabling them torapidly deliver more innovative solutions for applications such as track, downlight and outdoor lighting.

Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs and LED lighting.Lower LED demand and margin pressure are two keys trends which have impacted Cree's growth prospects in the last few quarters. However, the company continues to see strong growth in its lighting segment, and it does not foresee any change in the trend as the segment still remains a largely untapped opportunity.

The LED lighting market is expected to grow 45% per year through 2019, driven by declining price points and rising interest on the part of the channel in pushing LEDs to consumers. LED lighting isexpected to account for 80% of the entire lighting market by 2020, creating a market that will be as big as $94 billion.

Cree isconfident that it is well positioned to continue to win in LED lighting.The company has a fully integrated vertical business model and is the market leader inboth LEDs and LED lighting products.Product innovation over the last few years has opened new applications and improved LED returns, in turn driving demand for Cree's products. Though the company has made significant progress, growingboth the volume and product base of itslighting business over the last several years, it believes that there is still a lot ofuntapped potential in terms of both revenue and profitability. It has a strong product pipeline and is building good sales momentum for the same.

Though the LED landscape remains highly competitive, Cree believes that its highpower LED technology positions the company for long term success in high performance LED lighting applications. The companyclosed its Lextar investment in Q2 2015 and is working with the team to supply LED chips as well as testing some initial lighting products. The collaboration with Lextar can help Cree expand its presence in the mid-power segment.Though the company is optimistic about its long-term prospects in the LED lighting segment, it admits that it will take time towork through the new products design cycles and current market conditions.

Rising Competition From Bigger Players Can Limit Growth Potential

Osram, Philips and GE are some of Cree's key competitors in the LED market. In terms of revenue, all these players are considerably larger than Cree.Philips and GE have been introducing a number of innovative products into the market at very low prices, although Cree bulbs are still one the cheapest available in the market. The sheer size of GE can help the companyachieve economies of scale if itchooses to create LEDs on a vast scale in the future. GE sells its LED bulbs throughWal-Mart, whichhas a hugenetwork of 11,000 stores spread across 27 countries. In comparison,Cree's retail partner Home Depot has around 2,300 stores.(( Why Investing In Cree Looks Like A Bad Idea , Seeking Alpha, December 3, 2014))

The rising competition can limit Cree's long-term growth potential, and the company clearly needs tofocus on innovation in order to capture the growing market. We expect CREE to continue growing, but project the growth rate to slow down over our review period. Cree is part of an industry that is still at a nascent stage of growth and a continuous focus on bringing new low-cost and more efficient product in the market can help it expand its revenue base in the future.

Our price estimate of $37 for CREE is almost in line with the current market price, and translates into market cap of $4.3 billion. We estimate the company will report revenue and net income of $1.95 billion and $120 million, respectively, for calendar year 2015. For fiscal year 2015 (fiscal year ends in June) we forecast non-GAAP EPS of $1.72.

See Our Complete Analysis for Cree Here

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Cree Adds New LED Arrays To Its Portfolio

Toronto, ON (PRWEB) February 25, 2015

Clear Blue Technologies Inc., the Smart Off-Grid company, announced today their new Illumience Cloud software for the remote management and control of off-grid devices such as outdoor lighting, security, telecom, mobile and environmental systems. With Clear Blues Smart Off-Grid Controller and Illumience, mission critical systems can be powered by the sun and wind while achieving an unprecedented level of performance and reliability and a reduction in maintenance costs of up to 80%.

A growing number of manufacturers are incorporating Clear Blues technology into their products to provide reliable off-grid options, drive down the cost of maintenance and differentiate themselves in the market. Illumience enables these vendors or their customers to remotely control, maintain and service their off-grid systems over the Internet from a computer or smartphone.

Key new features of Illumience include:

Clear Blues remote management and control software is unique in the industry, and delivers the high reliability, performance and cost reductions needed to make off-grid systems a real alternative to electricity-powered devices, said Mark Windrim, Chief Technology Officer of Clear Blue Technologies. The new Illumience software extends our capabilities with predictive intelligence, streamlined administration and control and other features that bring the power of Smart Off-Grid to an ever-growing list of products in the market.

About Clear Blue Technologies

Clear Blue Technologies, the Smart Off-Grid Company, combines green energy systems with the proven advantages of communications and cloud technology to power high performance off-grid lighting, security and mobile solutions. The companys hybrid controller harvests energy from solar panels and wind turbines and is designed to be easily integrated into a variety of products to deliver highly reliable off-grid alternatives. The Illumience cloud-based software provides real time monitoring and control over the Internet from any PC or smartphone, delivering unmatched reliability and performance. Clear Blues Illumient division delivers high performance off-grid lighting systems. Learn more at http://www.clearbluetechnologies.com

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Clear Blue Technologies Announces Illumience Smart Off-Grid Management and Control

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AP Photo/ Bill Gorman In this photo taken Nov. 14, 2014, 71-year old Diana Miller, who agreed to be interviewed by The Associated Press under her middle and married names, talks about her rape by Arkansas parolee Milton Thomas. The elderly widow says that, Thomas who was mowing a nearby lawn, asked for a glass of water and then forced his way in and raped her. He pushed her on her bed with enough force to knock her front teeth loose she said. You realize that youre a parolee, this is going to mean youre going to spend the rest of your days behind bars, she told Thomas. She said he laughed and went back to mowing. Thomas is currently in custody at the North Central Unit at Calico Rock, Arkansas. His trial date is expected to be March 2015.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) On a hot Friday last July, a parolee was mowing a lawn in a small cul-de-sac on the west side of the city when he stopped to ask for a glass of water.

The 70-year-old widow whose yard he was mowing told him to wait on her porch. Instead, she said, he jerked the storm door open, slammed her against the wall, forced her into the bedroom and raped her. The parolee pushed her with such force, she said, that her front teeth were knocked loose.

Then he went back to mowing the lawn.

Milton Thomas, 58, said he's not guilty. His trial is set for March.

Thomas has been in and out of Arkansas prisons since 2008 for nonviolent crimes, including check fraud. After he got out in November 2013, the state predicted he was a low risk to commit another crime, Thomas said, and assigned him the least amount of supervision.

His low-risk prediction would have been calculated based on answers to a lengthy questionnaire, the latest tool among the nation's court systems to try to predict the likelihood that an offender will commit a crime again.

Across the country, states have turned to a data-driven movement to drive down prison populations, reduce recidivism and save billions of dollars. One emerging practice is the use of risk-and-needs assessment tools, which are questionnaires that explore issues beyond criminal history. They are based on surveys of offenders making their way through the justice system.

Supporters cite some research, such as a 1987 Rand Corp. study that said the surveys can be up to 70 percent accurate in predicting the likelihood of repeat offenses, if they are used correctly. Even the Rand study, one of the seminal pieces of research on the subject, was skeptical of the surveys' effectiveness.

It's nearly impossible to measure the surveys' impact on recidivism because they are only part of broader efforts.

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States predict inmates' future crimes

By Mark Jenkins February 25 at 9:55 AM

Blanketed under a few inches of snow, the new rain garden at Tifereth Israel doesnt look like much. Thats partially because the garden borders the side and rear of the Shepherd Park synagogue, not its 16th Street frontage. But its also because the water-loving new plantings havent started to bloom.

Unfortunately, it got put in at the very end of the season. It will be fun to see it burst forth in flower this spring, said Ethan Seidel, the congregations rabbi.

The garden, designed to absorb and filter water that would otherwise go directly to the citys sewer system, is a project of the synagogues environmental committee. Carla Ellern, one of the committees members, said the group has been trying to do a rain garden for a very long time.

Ellern is a landscape architect who works for Montgomery Countys RainScapes program, which has the same basic goals as the Districts RiverSmart initiatives. The program offers incentives to communities, congregations and businesses to take steps to reduce stormwater pollution.

Ellern took courses at the Anacostia Watershed Societys Watershed Stewards Academy, and that connected the dots for me about where I should be putting my energies, she said. It just seemed like a no-brainer that we should be doing something here at the synagogue.

It fits within the ethos of our congregation, which is very much focused on environmental issues, Seidel said.

The project began with a $1,000 grant from Hazon, a nonprofit Jewish organization that supports sustainable communities. The next stop was the D.C. Department of the Environment, which provided a $65,000 grant.

I think were the first synagogue or religious organization, period to do it, Ellern said. The city wanted to do it, but we were kind of the guinea pig.

The three varieties of permeable paving used in the project were more expensive than the committee expected, and working with existing buildings is more complicated than installing rain-capture features in new construction. Ultimately, the synagogue went back to the city for an additional $17,000.

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D.C.s Tifereth Israel waits for new rain garden to bloom

When Carlson set the wheels in motion to create the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee in the late 1990s, there wasnt a single conservation easement along the banks of the Little Tennessee River in Macon County. Today, 34 miles of river frontage are permanently protected, and thousands of acres of farms and forests have been conserved, thanks to his vision.

Carlson was at the forefront of a revolution in conservation circles. He introduced the region to a new paradigm, one where humans could co-exist alongside conservation, where the landscape supported cultural heritage and vice versa.

A lot of land trusts dont mess with the cultural side. But from day one, our mission was to conserve the waters, forests, farms and heritage of the Little Tennessee watershed, Carlson said. Whats fun is that conservation story has fallen into place.

He molded public perception like he did the landscape incrementally yet steadily, subtly not brazenly.

Eventually, a movement was born. It was so measured, many didnt realize a movement was afoot, one that would forever alter how people viewed the landscape, both emotionally and economically.

From the outside, it may all seem like a big coincidence.

LTLT was saving a piece of land here, a piece of land there picking up the scattered chips of an increasingly fragmented landscape, merely answering the door when opportunity knocked.

But eventually, the tracts were no longer lone life rafts, but a cohesive flotilla.

It is very satisfying to see a vision coming together with some consistency, Carlson said. This is one place you can make a stand. There was a defined constituency for the river. It is place-based conservation.

Carlson is quick to deflect any accolades, and instead credits the deep bench of supporters who lent their voice to the cause over the years, and ultimately the landowners who have signed on to the movement.

The rest is here:
Changing attitudes Carlson reshaped ideas about conservation

Feb. 25, 2015, 4 a.m.

WEEKENDS, my mate Pud and I hitched billy-carts to our pushbikes and sweated our way up a lonely track on the slope of a long-dead volcano.

WEEKENDS, my mate Pud and I hitched billy-carts to our pushbikes and sweated our way up a lonely track on the slope of a long-dead volcano.

The ruins of the old native police barracks on Mount Eckersley at Heywood. Picture: Heritage Victoria

It was a hard ride, the slope getting steeper, the landscape below spreading forever, but we had the hill and a fast dusty track to ourselves.

Drifting around south-west Victoria the other day, I drove out to the hill to check the authenticity of memory. The track was still there among the trees, the slope as terrifyingly steep, the view as extensive as ever.

The place has come to assume a treasured spot in my personal dreaming, but it has a larger, barely whispered role in Australian history.

The old volcano is known as Mount Eckersley. It rises above the small town of Heywood. A branch of my family a century ago lived and laboured up there on the grazing station, Oakbank, that flows over the hill and boasts a fine bluestone homestead.

In a corner of the property, however, not far from our childhood billy-carting adventures, exists a ruin with the power to haunt.

A stone chimney stands above broken stone walls, the roof and the floorboards gone.

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Heywood ruins hide a sinister history

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A DEVELOPMENT of greenproperties has been completed in Kings Hill.

Environ Communities built the detached eco homes at Keepers Court in Kings Hill.

The new properties have followed the principles of biophilia - biophilic design incorporates fresh air, daylight and natural materials, with a view to creating a more pleasurable environment in which to live.

The benefits of biophilia include faster recovery rates for patients, decreased dependency on medication, reduced stress, and improved emotional wellness.

The five bedroom properties at Keepers Court are light with significant expanses of glass used throughout.

The large picture window in the upstairs landing and sky lights in the roof allow light to flood down on to the landing and stairs.

The landings are double height and some master bedrooms have cathedral ceilings, to continue the light and airy feel.

Natural materials are used throughout the properties, including oak wood flooring and granite Pyram kitchen worktops.

The ground floors have a seamless continuation of the indoor space outdoors.

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couriereditor published New green homes for sale in Kings Hill will keep you healthy -...

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A marriedcouple has spent nearly 200,000 on clearing an eyesore mountain of waste wood from their land following legal action.

Syed Akhtar and his wife Ilyas allowed thousands of tonnes of wood to be dumped at Dottrell Hall Farm near Royston without permission.

They have also been ordered to pay an additional 6,000 in fines and costs after being prosecuted by Cambridgeshire County Council.

Cllr Peter Topping, who represents the area, said: This dumping of thousands of tonnes of waste wood was not only an eyesore but was a real concern for local residents.

Although he did finally remove the wood it was after legal action had started and shows that enforcement action was needed.

He added: I hope this will act as a warning to others who think they can get away with dumping waste.

On Monday, the Old Bailey heard that the council served a planning Enforcement Notice on the couple instructing them to stop the dumping and to restore the land by June 24, 2013.

Though no further dumping of wood took place, the waste was not removed until a year later once the council began legal action against them.

The total cost of removing the waste wood and restoring the land came to 192,000.

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Royston couple Syed and Ilyas Akhtar ordered to pay 6,000 for allowing flytipping on land

Blackhurst Homes
Emily and Angie discuss all the members of the team that work to build a great custom home. Josh Mettle helps with financing, Chuck Blackhurst builds the home, Theresa Ebert is the interior...

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Blackhurst Homes - Video