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Simon and Lighting Science Group Help Turn the Northeast Retail Environment 'Green'

 
  Subscribe to FREE newsletter  Dec 09, 2009

Just as winter grips the Northeast, Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG), the country's largest owner, developer and manager of high quality retail real estate has taken another step towards "greening" its malls in the region. From New Jersey to New Hampshire, nearly 650 carts and kiosks in 29 malls have been retrofitted with 10,000 energy efficient SoL(TM) LED (light emitting diode) MR16 lamps from Lighting Science Group Corporation (Pink Sheets: LSCG).

The self-standing carts and kiosks have grown in popularity in Simon malls across America. The carts and kiosks generally feature specialty products such as jewelry, cosmetics, cell phones, art and tee shirts. Some offer seasonal items like holiday decorations, costumes or calendars. Typically, they were illuminated with thirteen 35-watt halogen MR16 reflector lamps. Simon chose to replace these lamps with the 5-watt Lighting Science retrofit LED lamps.

"While providing the same high quality lighting that Simon mall shoppers have come to expect, the Lighting Science Group energy efficient LED lamps will reduce energy consumption by 85%, save over 1.3 million kWh of electricity annually, and will have a positive impact on the environment by avoiding the emission of 944 metric tons of CO2," said George Caraghiaur, Vice President of Energy Services at Simon. "That's enough energy to power 131 homes for a year and the equivalent amount of carbon sequestered annually from 24,197 tree seedlings grown over 10 years.*"

"Simon Property Group is a leader in adopting emerging green technologies. This retrofit project represents one of the first major LED lighting upgrades in the Northeast," said Zach Gibler, Chief Executive Officer of Lighting Science Group. "Not only will Simon create a positive impact on the environment in the communities that it serves, but the company will also realize an immediate positive impact on its bottom line -- an annual operational savings of over $250,000 and a payback in 10 months -- doing good makes good financial sense.**"

The Lighting Science SoL LED MR16 lamp used to illuminate the kiosks at Simon's northeast properties is a compact reflector lamp that can be used in both commercial and residential track and downlight fixtures. The light source consumes only 5 watts and will last about 35,000 hours or 8 years in this particular application, thereby significantly reducing maintenance costs. The Lighting Science LED retrofit lamps offer a warm and pleasing light color, and its performance is validated by an independent testing lab that is approved for LM-79 Testing for ENERGY STAR for Solid State lighting by the United States Department of Energy CALiPER program.

"We chose to partner with Lighting Science Group because they are a leader in the field of LED lighting." said Caraghiaur, "We were looking for a solution that meets Simon's stringent energy and environmental requirements without sacrificing light quality. LED lighting will be part of our continued sustainability strategy."

*Source: U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator: **Energy savings calculation based on replacing 10,000 35W halogen lamps with 5W LED retrofit lamps operating 12 hours/day at $0.15kWh rate. Maintenance savings has also been included in the payback analysis.

About Simon
Simon Property Group Inc. is an S&P 500 company and the largest public U.S. real estate company. Simon is a fully integrated real estate company which operates from five retail real estate platforms: regional malls, Premium Outlet Centers, The Mills, community/lifestyle centers and international properties. It currently owns or has an interest in 385 properties comprising 262 million square feet of gross leasable area in North America, Europe and Asia. The Company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and employs more than 5,000 people worldwide. Simon Property Group, Inc. is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol SPG.

About Lighting Science
Lighting Science Group Corporation ("LSG") designs, develops, manufactures and markets LED lighting solutions that are environmentally friendlier and more energy efficient than traditional lighting products. LSG offers retrofit LED lamps in form factors that match the form factor of traditional lamps or bulbs and LED luminaires for a range of applications including public and private infrastructure for both indoor and outdoor applications. LSG's Custom Solutions business unit designs, develops and manufactures custom LED lighting solutions for architectural and artistic projects. LSG is headquartered in Satellite Beach, Florida; LSG's Custom Solutions business unit is based in Rancho Cordova, California; LSG's European operations are based in Goes, The Netherlands; and, LSG has sales offices in Tokyo, Japan, Buckinghamshire, England and Sydney, Australia. More information about LSG is available at www.lsgc.com.

LSG Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements include, but are not limited to statements regarding our expectations concerning management and our ability to expand and develop our business and statements using terminology such as "advance," "success," "will," "realize," "intensified," "revived," "would," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "potential," "opportunity," "greater," "help," or "extensive." Such statements reflect the current view of LSG with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the statements. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider various factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements. Readers should carefully review the risk factors detailed under "Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K's, Form 10-Q's and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These filings can be obtained by contacting LSG.

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