BOSTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As people around the U.S. prepare to recognize Earth Day on April 22, Color Kinetics Incorporated (NASDAQ:CLRK) today emphasized the role that new lighting technology will play in mitigating energy strain, projecting that at least 75% of commercial lighting in the U.S. will be produced by energy-efficient LED sources by 2030*.

LEDs already deliver four times the efficiency of traditional incandescent and halogen light sources, while rapidly gaining ground on fluorescent and offering numerous benefits above and beyond all three.

The role of lighting as a chief energy drain and contributor to global warming has garnered international attention in recent weeks, including news of industry initiatives, incentives and even proposed legislation to ban inefficient incandescent sources. The Earth Day Network, official organizers of the annual event, proclaimed 2007 "the beginning of the end of the inefficient incandescent."

Though public attention has centered on the impact of replacing incandescent sources with compact fluorescent (CFL) in residential lighting, with today's prediction Color Kinetics is emphasizing the need to tackle inefficiencies in commercial lighting -- which is accountable for much higher energy consumption overall than lighting in homes.

"With millions of lights burning nearly 24x7 in office buildings, hospitals, shopping malls, hotels and public places, it's no wonder that commercial buildings account for 51% of total energy consumption for lighting in the U.S. vs. 27% for residential," said Bill Sims, President and CEO, Color Kinetics. "This presents us with an enormous opportunity to leverage smart technologies, like LED lighting, to put a real dent in energy inefficiencies and in turn reduce the amount of emissions being pumped into our atmosphere."

Color Kinetics sees LED technology as the future of energy-efficient lighting, first for commercial spaces and eventually for residential applications as well. Performance trends suggest that LEDs have the ability to ultimately leapfrog other efficient light sources, such as fluorescent, given their longer source life, durability, non-toxic materials, lack of radiated heat and UV, higher quality of light output and flexibility to accommodate wide-ranging fixtures and form factors. Moreover, as inherently digital devices, LEDs produce light that can be intelligently controlled to dynamically customize environments, from restaurants and casinos to retail shops, homes and even automobiles.

Color Kinetics' intelligent LED lighting technology is already at work in over 15,000 installations worldwide, spanning every state in America and six of seven continents. The company's lighting systems have successfully displaced conventional sources in a number of applications where LEDs already win in terms of cost efficiency and visual impact. For example:

  * LAX Gateway at Los Angeles International Airport replaced metal halide
    with an LED system, anticipating 75% less energy consumption.

  * Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas replaced metal halide with an LED
    system, cutting annual energy costs from $18,000 to $1,900.

  * The British Airways London Eye replaced fluorescent with an LED system,
    eliminating former maintenance costs and requirements while gaining the
    ability to produce color light and programmable effects.

  * Bostonian shoe stores in the U.S. replaced fluorescent with an LED
    system, mitigating the need for frequent and costly lamp replacement,
    while also gaining the ability to easily adjust from "warm" to "cool"
    white light in its display shelves.

  * Boathouse Row in Philadelphia replaced incandescent with an LED system,
    saving approximately $57,000 in annual operating costs due to reduced
    maintenance and energy consumption.

"The notion that LEDs are still relegated to flash lights, tail lights and electronic gadgets is a misconception. We can point to major landmarks, towers, bridges -- even the world's largest spherical building -- that are illuminated by our LED systems today," said Sims. "Color Kinetics was established for the very purpose of supplanting less efficient light sources with a new form of intelligent lighting based on LEDs. We're not simply responding to a timely trend. We've spent ten years solely focused on making LED sources viable as the right long-term solution."
 

Color Kinetics participates in several government and industry initiatives related to energy conservation. As a member of the Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance, the company is helping to develop a technology roadmap for the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), as well as Energy Star criteria for LED lighting. In 2006 the company was awarded a $1.7 million grant by the DoE to develop LED-based replacement lamps for 60-watt incandescent light sources that, with a four-fold increase in efficacy to 80-lumens per watt, would meet or exceed the efficacy of nearly all conventional light sources.

Reflecting the company's leadership role, Color Kinetics' VP of Innovation Kevin Dowling will make his 6th appearance as a featured presenter at the DoE's Solid-State Lighting Workshop in California on April 23. At this meeting of technical, legislative and academic minds, energy efficiency and speeding the pervasive use of LEDs for illumination will be a major topic of discussion.

"We applaud any initiative, whether public or private sector, that brings attention to the need for energy-efficient lighting. Though adoption may be aided by government regulations, business consortiums, financial incentives, grass roots movements or other influencers, we believe that LEDs will ultimately win in the market based on their merits as a superior technology, as has been the case with so many disruptive technological innovations in the past," Sims concluded.

About Color Kinetics

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Color Kinetics Incorporated (NASDAQ:CLRK) transforms environments through new, dynamic uses of light. Its award-winning lighting systems and technologies apply the benefits of LEDs as a highly efficient, long lasting, environmentally friendly, and inherently digital source of illumination -- reinventing light itself as a highly controllable medium. Color Kinetics also enables widespread adoption of LED lighting through OEM and licensing partnerships in diverse markets. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA with offices in the UK and China. More information is available at http://www.colorkinetics.com/.

*Based on past penetration rates of other lighting technologies: Fluorescent lighting share of the U.S. commercial lighting market, Electronic ballasts share of U.S. lighting ballasts, and HID lighting share of the U.S. industrial lighting market.

Editors Note: Digital images of LAX Gateway, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, British Airways London Eye and other installations are available upon request.

Color Kinetics is a registered trademark and the Color Kinetics logo is a trademark of Color Kinetics Incorporated. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Color Kinetics Incorporated's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that these statements involve risks and uncertainties, are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events and results. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2006, File Number 000-50798, and most recent 10-Q, each as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: Color Kinetics Incorporated

CONTACT: Felicia Spagnoli, Media Relations, ,
, or Justine Alonzo, Investor Relations,
, , both of Color Kinetics
Incorporated

Web site: http://www.colorkinetics.com/