A second look at Second Sun

Anniston business Second Sun, Inc

manufactures high-efficiency LED

lighting for many commercial

applications which replaces current

high-pressure sodium and florescent
lighting technology

While dark economic times continue to linger worldwide, a change can be seen just west of downtown Anniston.

For over a year, Second Sun, Inc. has been making high-efficiency, high-output light fixtures using solid state LED (light-emitting diode) technology to provide business owners with cost-cutting solutions, address environmental and energy concerns, and challeng the common notion that US-based manufacturing is dead.

Jack Meacham, CEO of Second Sun, says his company's light solutions are for “any industrial or commercial operation” to replace current lighting options with LED technology. According to Meacham, nearly all manufacturing and warehouse buildings currently use older lighting such as metal halide, high-pressure sodium, or florescent lights to illuminate large areas. “Since we compete against these other lighting options, we can save anywhere from 50 to 80 percent off of current power costs.” He also adds that  LED lights will last over 10 years, where “comparable metal halide will usually last one to two years and require a myriad of maintenance issues.”

Meacham also explains how Second Sun can find advantages through recent government legislations to promote future growth. In an effort to address rising energy costs and consumption in the United States, former President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law. This legislation plans a transition to more efficient lighting technology, and as a result, manufacturing of incandescent light bulbs has begun a gradual decrease. Meacham estimates that LED lighting will be one of the few technologies to survive “the entire menagerie of lighting. Even flourescent will probably fall to the wayside.”

A standard high-pressure sodium (left) in the parking

deck of Regional Medical Center in Anniston is tested

against an LED light engineered and manufactured

by Anniston businessman Jack Meacham

Jack Meacham ultimately hopes Second Sun will help the local economy by delivering cost-effective technology to business owners while showing “that [manufacturing] doesn't have to be done in others countries. It is not about the cheapest product, it is about the biggest value for your dollar.” Over the next few years, Second Sun plans to add manufacturing jobs and spur growth for a wide variety of employers. Most aspects of manufacturing will be done “as close to this area as we can get.” He promotes the idea that any US business can still compete on a global level by offering and utilizing highly innovative and efficient products.

“For years that was the advantage of making things in the US. Since a vast majority of products have now become the 'throw-out paper cup', the US needs to begin focusing on the bigger picture.”


-MDS