[August 13, 2015]

San Diego Community College Saves Big Using Cree LED Lighting with SmartCast Technology

When San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) was searching for energy efficient LED lighting for its campus, it chose Cree (News - Alert)^® LED lighting to achieve a superior light experience with integrated control capabilities while saving money on energy and maintenance. Using Cree's high-performing LED lighting with SmartCast^® Technology, SDCCD upgraded its administrative offices with intelligent light while demonstrating a strong return on investment, consuming up to 75 percent less energy and generating over $80K of rebates for instant savings.

"Inefficient lighting costs us a lot of money per month on electricity and labor," said Mark Doubleday, senior planner, energy systems and facilities maintenance for SDCCD. "While we've tripled our campus footprint, we have not tripled our manpower or budgets, so we have to be smarter. Cree's LED lighting and integrated SmartCast^® Technology gives us a better light experience while delivering unprecedented savings."

As part of the upgrade to the administrative offices, SDCCD installed Cree CR Series troffers with SmartCast Technology, delivering exceptional lighting performance and essential lighting control without the complex design, installation and set-up of traditional lighting control systems. Featuring Cree's innovative OneButton^™ Setup, luminaires enabled with SmartCast Technology create their own secure network, learn about their environment and form groups to maximize savings, all with the push of a single button. SmartCast Technology eliminates additional design, wires and set up time often associated with control systems to provide the simplest system available. Exterior campus lighting also received a refresh with the installation of Cree Edge^™ area, security and high output flood lights, creating well-lit spaces that enhance safety.

"One of the qualities SDCCD likes from the Cree SmartCast^® Technology system is the ability to make adjustments for employees with different preferences across the office," said Andrew Hoerner, energy solution sales manager for Rexel, the distributor involved in the project. "Rexel's Energy Service team identified Cree's SmartCast^® Technology as the best fit for energy savings, ease of install, Title 24 compliance, rebate eligibility and end-user comfort."

SDCCD was able to finance the upgrades using Proposition 39 funding, a state program that makes up to $550 million available annually to pay for energy projects that demonstrate efficiency and a strong investment return for eligible education agencies. As the second largest community college district in the state of California, SDCCD continues to grow rapidly, tripling their footprint in less than 10 years - making it more important than ever to make the best use of limited resources while maintaining a commitment to sustainability. More efficient lighting was quickly identified as the biggest opportunity for improvement.

Previously, SDCCD used on-bill financing with their utility, SDG&E, paying for projects through energy savings. The new solution allowed the college to completely fund the upgrades through Proposition 39, and Cree's LED lighting solution qualified for additional incentives from the utility. The new lighting system also offers up to 100,000 hours of life expectancy, resulting in significant maintenance reductions and savings lasting up to 10 years.

"This installation demonstrates how making the switch to high-quality LED lighting can serve as one of the quickest ways for an educational facility to reduce operating expenses and create a better working and learning environment throughout the campus," said Betty Noonan, Cree chief marketing officer.

Please visit www.cree.com/lighting/SanDiegoCC to read the full case study and view images of the installation.

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, backlighting, electronic signs and signals, power suppliers and solar inverters.

Please refer to www.cree.com for additional product and company information.

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 and lifetimes will vary from expectations; the risk we may be unable to manufacture these new products with sufficiently low cost to offer them at competitive prices or with acceptable margins; the risk we may encounter delays or other difficulties in ramping up production of our new products; customer acceptance of new 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 29, 2014, and subsequent filings.

Cree^® and SmartCast^® are registered trademarks, and Cree Edge^™ and OneButton^™ are trademarks of Cree, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150813005143/en/

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