News Updates for the Week of November 29

1. Will ESL Light Bulbs Beat LEDs? - New York City-based Vu1 Corporation would like consumers to think so with the announcement that after years in the making, the company’s R30 Electron Stimulated Luminescence energy-efficient reflector light bulb —or ESL bulb for short — has been granted final UL approval and will become available to consumers in early 2011. And if all goes as planned, the ESL will prove to be a formidable contender to the two existing, not-entirely-perfect incandescent alternatives: the CFL and the LED. http://www.vu1corporation.com/eslupdate 11/22 Forbes

2. MIT Study Finds Great Potential Energy Savings Through User-Controlled Efficient Lighting Systems - MIT Media Lab are aiming to provide sophisticated and continuous lighting control that could slash lighting bills by more than half. The experimental control devices being tested are about the size of a business card, and thin enough to slip in a pocket. They monitor the light actually falling on the user’s working space, and contain light sensors as well as controls to adjust both the intensity and the color balance of the light. In the current test setup, this information is used to control an array of LED (light-emitting diode) light fixtures. The tiny controllers not only measure the intensity of the light falling on the workspace from the LEDs, but can identify how much light can come from different fixtures while also separately measuring any ambient light coming in from the windows or spillover light from neighboring work areas. 11/22 Balkans News

3. Light at Night: The Latest Science - A panel of leading experts was assembled to explore what today’s science can tell us about light at night. While it remains unproven that typical exposures to outdoor lighting have negative health impacts, this cannot be ruled out without more empirical data and a standard metric for quantifying the relevant light exposures. LED technology holds tremendous potential for energy savings, but it is not yet clear whether its spectral characteristics will offer advantages over other light sources in terms of vision and circadian regulation. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_whitepaper_nov2010.pdf

4. Seeing Heat: Utility Generating Thermal Images of Homes from High Up - Cedar Falls, Idaho residents will now be able to look at a thermal image of their home from a comfortable seat at their home computer. It will be possible because of two men who crisscrossed the skies over Cedar Falls through the night, carefully photographing every building in the city with a thermal imaging camera. Cedar Falls Utilities took advantage of a federal stimulus grant program ($3 million for the equipment), to create the thermal images. Homeowners and businesses will be able to look at the results and determine heat loss coming from rooftops. 11/20 Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

5. Automation Comes to LEED Green Building Program - The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), developers of the LEED green building program, has announced a new program designed to streamline and create capacity for the LEED building certification process. Called LEED Automation, the program enables users to submit documentation and certify LEED projects online through third-party technology platforms. http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/LEED%20Automation.pdf

6. UC Davis Turns On Smart Lighting to Save Energy, Be Model for Californians - The University of California, Davis, today turns on a new Smart Lighting Initiative to slash the amount of electricity it uses to illuminate its buildings and grounds. Working with the UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center, the UC Davis Facilities Management team already has installed lighting energy-saving projects including:
• LED overhead lights with two brightness levels, controlled by occupancy sensors, in campus parking structures;
• Bi-level induction lighting, also controlled by occupancy sensors, in campus parking lots and structures;
• Induction lights in streetlight fixtures on the north entry road (Howard Way);
• "Hybrid" bathroom lights that combine LED night lights with conventional lights and occupancy sensors in Emerson Hall and Webster Hall dormitories;
• Bi-level LED overhead lights in Bainer Hall corridors;
• Advanced compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in Meyer Hall downlights;
• LED desk lamps and bi-level overhead lights controlled by occupancy sensors, daylight sensors and people in Mrak Hall offices; and
• A unique mirrored sunlighting device to bring daylight into interior rooms at the campus’s new winery, brewery and food-processing complex.

The UC Davis Smart Lighting program is expected to cost $39 million. The California Statewide Energy Partnership Program will fund $4 million of the total. The remaining $35 million will be paid for by energy savings of $3 million per year. 11/22 UC Davis News & Information

7. After EISA 2007 There's No Turning Back by Dan Carazo - Everyone of us who champions increased energy efficiency in America – and all its benefits – should lobby our U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator to declare January to be Energy Efficiency Month. A Republican president approved EISA 2007, and a Democratic president signed ARRA 2009, so regardless of our personal political viewpoint, the broad scope of Federal support for energy efficient solutions makes it clear that the current trend toward green electrical is sure to continue to spur further growth for many years. http://tedgreenroom.com

8. Feds Lowers Economic Expectations for 2011 - Top Federal Reserve officials expect the unemployment rate to remain around nine percent at the end of next year and eight percent at the end of 2012, according to internal forecasts that drove the central bank to take new efforts to boost the economy three weeks ago. The 18 top leaders of the central bank expect the U.S. economy to grow at a 3 to 3.6 percent pace next year. 11/23 Washington Post

9. October's Existing-Home Sales Decline - Following two consecutive months of increases, existing-home sales declined in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.43 million. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the 2.2% decline compared with September reflects an uneven recovery. 11/23 HCN

10. Acuity Brands Releases Series of LED Educational Videos - Acuity Brands, through its Lithonia Lighting unit, has announced the release of a series of five online instructional videos featuring insights designed to help answer the common questions about commercial ambient and other LED lighting design applications. http://www.lithonia.com/RTLED

11. Scientists Say They Have Solution to TSA Scanner Objections - A cheap and simple fix in the computer software of new airport scanners could silence the uproar from travelers who object to the so-called virtual strip search, according to a scientist who helped develop the program at one of the federal government's most prestigious institutes: the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The fix would distort the images captured on full-body scanners so they look like reflections in a fun-house mirror, but any potentially dangerous objects would be clearly revealed, 11/22 Washington Post