Cree LED Lighting Delivers Superior Light Quality and Maintenance Savings to NC State Student Housing

DURHAM, NC -- 

When NC State sought a lighting solution for Wolf Ridge at Centennial, the university’s first residence hall planned for LEED Silver certification, they chose industry-leading LED lighting from Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) to help the building achieve the rigorous certification and significantly reduce energy and maintenance costs. Luminaires installed in two of the project’s six buildings are already delivering positive results. Powered by Cree TrueWhite® Technology, the luminaires deliver the industry’s best color quality, creating more inviting and better lit environments for student residents while significantly reducing the school’s operational expenses compared to outdated lighting technologies. 

“We’ve received nothing but positive feedback from our student residents, especially when they learn about the energy efficiency of the LED fixtures and that lighting maintenance requests are a thing of the past,” said Dr. Barry Olson, director of business administration for campus life, NC State. 

“The Wolf Ridge at Centennial student housing project called for the installation of thousands of luminaires, many of which operate 24/7,” said Pete Fraccaroli, facilities manager, campus life, NC State. “We needed an advanced lighting solution that allowed us to exceed LEED certification requirements and provide students superior color quality while delivering drastically reduced maintenance and energy costs to the university. The Cree LED lighting installed solved all of these problems.” 

When fully completed, the six-building project will utilize more than 4,000 luminaires from Cree’s LED lighting portfolio. The hallways and stairwells are lit with Cree® CR22™ and CR24™ LED architectural troffers and the Cree CR Series Light Engine, offering beautiful light quality and significant energy savings. The apartments’ interior space features the Cree SL24™ LED Surface Linear luminaire, providing high-quality illumination in a versatile design that installs in minutes. Additionally, the university was so impressed with the light quality in previous Cree LED lighting installations around campus, NC State installed Cree CR6™ LED downlights in the Wolf Ridge bathrooms. 

“The installation at NC State is a testament to the positive impact on students and staff when high-quality lighting is installed,” said Mike Bauer, vice president of lighting sales, Cree. “Students and faculty can feel good about the mercury-free LED lighting replacing the old fluorescent fixtures and the additional energy savings, all helping to create a substantially beneficial environmental impact.” 

In 2007, NC State was the first to join Cree’s LED University®, an international community of universities working to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient LED lighting across their campuses. Universities in the program include the University of Notre Dame, Marquette University, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Arkansas and many others. 

To read the full case study and view photos of this installation, please visit www.cree.com/lighting/wolfridge. 

About Cree 
Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, mercury-free LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications. 

Cree's product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. Cree® products are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, electronic signs and signals, power supplies and solar inverters. 

This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the risk that actual savings will vary from expectations; the risk that North Carolina State University’s plans for additional product purchases may change; customer acceptance of LED products; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render Cree’s products obsolete; and other factors discussed in Cree’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2013, and subsequent filings. 

Cree®, Cree TrueWhite®, TrueWhite®, and LED University® are registered trademarks, and CR22™, CR24™, SL24™ and CR6™ are trademarks of Cree, Inc.