News Updates for the Week of September 19

1.      Acuity Brands Expands Lithonia Lighting LED Retrofit Portfolio with Introduction of RTLED RELIGHT - Acuity Brands, Inc. has expanded its LED indoor ambient lighting portfolio with the launch of the Lithonia Lighting® RTLED™ RELIGHT assembly kit. The RTLED RELIGHT kit is a high-quality, volumetric assembly designed to bring the advantages of LED lighting to renovation projects. It joins the RTLED, ACLED, TLED and VTLED as part of Lithonia Lighting’s versatile recessed LED indoor ambient lighting product family. The RTLED RELIGHT is available in 2’x2’ and 2’x4’ configurations for parabolic and lensed troffer upgrades.

http://www.solidstatelightingdesign.com/documents/view/cldoc.php?id=120870

2.      Solid-State Lighting GATEWAY Demonstrations - DOE GATEWAY demonstrations showcase high-performance LED products for general illumination in a variety of commercial and residential applications. Demonstration results provide real-world experience and data on state-of-the-art solid-state lighting (SSL) product performance and cost effectiveness. These results connect DOE technology procurement efforts with large-volume purchasers and provide buyers with reliable data on product performance. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/gatewaydemos_results.html

3.      Siemens Delays Osram IPO Amid Market Volatility - Siemens AG says it is delaying a planned initial public offering of shares in light bulb maker Osram because of market volatility. The IPO was originally planned for this fall but Siemens said Wednesday it has been delayed until "a later date." Siemens cited "the highly volatile environment on the capital markets and possible effects on the industry" in its announcement. But the parent company said it remains firmly committed to listing Osram and keeping a minority stake. http://moneywatch.bnet.com

4.      Toshiba LED Lighting Systems Gains New Leadership - Toshiba International Corporation (TIC), a Houston, Texas-based wholly-owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, has hired several lighting veterans, to lead its LED Lighting Systems Division. Industry veteran Ken Honeycutt, former CEO and president of Acuity Brands Lighting, has assumed the role of senior vice president of TIC and chief venture executive for Toshiba LED Lighting Systems Division.  Mark Altomare, Peter DallePezze, Keisuke Ono and Jim McKenzie round out TIC’s senior management team. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/8/9/15

5.      Lighting for Tomorrow Announces 2011 Winners - SSL fixtures and a total of 52 products, the Lighting for Tomorrow panel of judges awarded superior energy efficient SSL fixtures, replacement lamps and lighting controls.  In a ceremony held at the American Lighting Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Palm Beach, Florida on September 13, the winners of the ninth annual Lighting for Tomorrow competition were recognized for designing the best energy-efficient lighting products for the residential market. Of the fifty-two products submitted in the 2011 competition, the judging panel selected eight winners and six honorable mentions. http://lightingfortomorrow.com/2011/pdfs/LFT_Revised_book_FINL2.pdf

6.      Registration Is Now Open - 2011 ENERGY STAR Products Partner Meeting - Charlotte, North Carolina on November 7-10, 2011. Register for the meeting: www.energystar.gov/partnermeeting

7.      New York City Arrives to the LED Party, Fashionably Late - Whether it’s the newest gadget or the season’s hottest handbag, “it” trends often are spotted first on the streets of New York City. LEDs are the exception. At a time when many municipalities across the U.S. jumped at the chance to use ARRA grants to fund LED street lighting projects, New York City bided its time and waited for the right streetlight to come along. After a seven-year process that included the design and production of that luminaire, four LED streetlight prototypes were installed in Manhattan. After receiving more than 200 entries from 23 countries, the city selected an LED-based streetlight designed by architectural lighting firm Office for Visual Interaction (OVI). The DOT is expected to add the new light to its Street Lighting Catalogue, making it available for all new and replacement installations in the five boroughs. http://www.ies.org/LDA/E-newsletter/2011/September/newswire/110915-nyc.cfm

8.      USGBC's Green Building Policy Report - The report, "Advancing Green Building Policy in the States: 2011 Victories from Alabama to Wyoming," presents legislative actions taken by each state that are designed to increase energy-savings and building sustainable. While the USGBC’s report admits that state legislatures are currently under economic duress which has made it more difficult to pass some forms of green legislation, the thirteen pages manage to display advances in green building legislative action that has been taken in every state. http://www.tedgreenroom.com/

9.      Average Commercial Sector Retail Price of Electricity Increases to 10.26 Cents/Kwh in May 2011 by Craig DiLouie. According to recently unveiled Department of Energy numbers, the May 2011 average commercial sector retail price was 10.26 cents per kWh, increasing 0.2% from May 2010, and 2% higher than in April 2011. The average residential sector retail price increased by 0.5% from May 2010 to 12.03 cents per kWh, and increased by 2% from 11.79 cents per kWh in April 2011. And the average industrial sector retail price for May 2011 was 6.76 cents per kWh, a 1.5% increase from May 2010, and a 2.7% increase from April 2011. Year-to-date 2011 average retail prices increased to 9.70 cents per kWh, representing a 1.6% increase from the same period in 2010.  http://www.lightnowblog.com/

10.  Time to Upgrade Your Aquarium Lights? - A new type of lighting is sweeping the aquarium market, LEDs. Over the past years, we have gone from T12 lights to T8 lights to T5 lights. The latest improvements in aquarium lighting becoming available are with LED technology. The improvements in LED lighting for aquariums are continuing at a furious pace. In Europe, where the aquarium hobby is typically two years ahead of us here in the U.S., they have many different LED lighting systems available, some of which are in use for marine tanks with corals and other photosynthetic animals; these work for all but the most light-hungry corals, and for clams. Keep your eyes on this sector of the aquarium industry, as there will be great technical advances and great price decreases. http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-experts/wiegert/aquarium-led-lighting.aspx