Cree Lighting: product range and EPD snapshot
Cree Lighting sits in a crowded spec world where disclosure wins as much as lumens. Their street and area lights show up on real projects, yet many bids now prefer product‑specific EPDs to avoid carbon penalties at the building level. Here’s a quick read on who they are today, what they sell, and how their portfolio maps to environmental declarations so sales teams don’t get boxed out at the last meter.
Who Cree Lighting is, now
Cree Lighting is a U.S. luminaire maker headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin, with roots in Ruud Lighting and the modern LED era. The business was sold by Cree, Inc. to IDEAL INDUSTRIES in 2019 and then to ADLT’s CLNA Holdings in September 2023 (GlobeNewswire, 2019) (Inside Lighting, 2023). In October 2025, Feit Electric acquired the residential lamp portfolio under the “Cree Lighting Home” banner, while the commercial and outdoor fixture business remained with ADLT (Inside Lighting, 2025).
What they make
The catalog spans exterior and interior luminaires and controls, aimed at municipalities, utilities, petroleum and c‑stores, industrial sites, and commercial campuses. Headline families include Guideway roadway, RSW cobra‑head street lights, THE EDGE area and wall, canopy and soffit, industrial high bay, plus intelligent lighting options like SmartCast and third‑party control integrations. Think dozens of product families and hundreds of SKUs across wattages, optics, CCTs and mounts. See examples on their product pages for Guideway and RSW, which highlight DarkSky approval and multi‑CCT options (Cree Lighting, 2023–2025).
Sustainability breadcrumbs on their site
Cree Lighting has published end‑of‑life disposal guidance and earlier announced TRUE Silver certification for zero waste at its Racine facility. Those are positive signals for operations and takeback questions many owners ask today (End‑of‑Life Disposal) (TRUE Silver news, 2021).
EPD coverage today
Based on checks of major public EPD registries and operator libraries as of December 19, 2025, we did not locate product‑specific, third‑party‑verified EPDs for Cree Lighting luminaires. If we missed a recent publication, great, but from a specifier’s vantage point the safe assumption on a fast bid is “no EPD on file.” That matters because LEED still awards material credit for product‑specific Type III EPDs and weights them higher in the shopping‑list math (USGBC BPDO EPD guide, 2024) (USGBC, LEED v5 ratified 2025).
Why this gap can cost specs
Under LEED’s BPDO EPD credit, teams count qualifying products toward a points threshold, and product‑specific Type III EPDs count more than generic disclosures. The Option 1 tally asks for a set number of products from multiple manufacturers, and projects often hunt for “easy wins” to hit the line (USGBC BPDO EPD guide, 2024). In short, if a luminaire lacks an EPD while a like‑for‑like competitor has one, the competitor is more likely to slot in without add‑on carbon penalties being applied to the model. With LEED v5 ratified in 2025 and emphasizing embodied carbon performance and robust disclosure, the direction of travel is obvious (USGBC, 2025).
A likely best‑seller without a published EPD
The Guideway and RSW roadway families are positioned for mainstream municipal and DOT work. We didn’t find published EPDs for these fixtures in operator libraries. In road and area lighting, competing SKUs from global players do have recent, publicly listed EPDs, for example Signify’s CitySoul gen2 and other luminaire families on EPD Hub, published in 2025 (EPD Hub, 2025). When owners require EPDs to streamline BPDO accounting, missing documentation can be enough to tip the submittal.
Competitors Cree Lighting sees on projects
- Signify and its North American unit Cooper Lighting Solutions cover street and area, pedestrian, wall pack, flood, industrial and controls, and publish luminaire EPDs in multiple ranges (EPD Hub, 2025).
- Fagerhult Group brands are visible in North American and EU specs with a growing catalog of luminaire EPDs across office, education and healthcare segments (EPD Hub, 2024–2025).
- Acuity Brands competes across most indoor and outdoor applications in North America. Public EPD depth varies by brand and product line, so spec teams often cherry‑pick models with documentation when available.
If you sell into municipalities, education, corporate campuses or healthcare, these are the names you’ll most often swap against. obviosuly, controls ecosystems and distributor footprints also shape who shows up on the line.
Fast path to close the EPD gap for luminaires
The good news is luminaires benefit from established rule sets. Common pathways include EN 15804‑aligned PCRs used by program operators and electronics LCA standards like EN 50693 referenced in lighting EPDs. Many competitors publish under operators such as EPD International and EPD Hub with five‑year declarations, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The work is mostly data discipline: BOMs, electronics and driver details, packaging, energy in assembly, and representative transport and end‑of‑life assumptions. A partner who actually wrangles the data across engineering, supply chain and manufacturing saves months and prevents internal thrash.
What this means for sales, right now
- If a product family drives volume in roadway, area or high bay, prioritize that EPD first so it shows up in bid calculators. LEED v5 keeps disclosure and heightens embodied‑carbon outcomes, so early movers reduce friction with AEC teams and owners (USGBC, 2025).
- Mirror the market’s common PCRs and operator choices so specifiers recognize the format immediately. Publishing where they already look is half the battle.
- Don’t over‑optimize: any current, verified EPD beats none on a deadline. Age only matters if the declaration is close to expiry, and even then the spec preference is usually “has one” over “doesn’t.”
Threading it together
Cree Lighting brings breadth across outdoor and industrial workhorse applications and shows operational sustainability intent on its site. The commercial unlock now is straightforward. Put product‑specific EPDs on the luminaire families that sales reps quote daily so project teams can count them without gymnastics. That keeps the conversation about optics, glare comfort and lifecycle value, not paperwork.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does LEED v5 still reward product‑specific EPDs for luminaires?
Yes. The Building Product Disclosure and Optimization credit continues to recognize EPDs, with product‑specific Type III EPDs weighted higher in the Option 1 count (USGBC BPDO EPD guide, 2024) and LEED v5 was ratified in March 2025 (USGBC, 2025).
Is there a sustainability page to reference for Cree Lighting today?
Two useful touchpoints are their end‑of‑life disposal guidance and the TRUE Silver zero‑waste certification announcement for Racine, WI operations (Cree Lighting EOL) (TRUE Silver news, 2021).
Who owns Cree Lighting’s different lines in 2025?
Commercial and outdoor fixtures are owned by ADLT’s CLNA Holdings after a 2023 transaction. Residential lamps were acquired in 2025 by Feit Electric as “Cree Lighting Home” (Inside Lighting, 2023) (Inside Lighting, 2025).
About the Author
Walker Ryan is a climate-tech entrepreneur focused on driving industrial decarbonization through better data. As the founder and CEO of Parq, he helps manufacturers generate high-quality, third-party–verified carbon disclosures at scale—accelerating a traditionally slow and expensive process. Before starting Parq, Walker led over $200 million in sustainability-focused investments as VP of Strategy & Growth at ReStream Solutions, following earlier experience in investment banking at Deutsche Bank. He brings a rare mix of capital markets expertise and hands-on sustainability knowledge to tackling the infrastructure of industrial emissions.
