News Updates for the Week of January 23

1.      Giants vs. Pats in Rematch – who would have thunk it!

2.      Cloud-Based Lighting - Among the technologies on the cutting edges of research and development, we have cloud-based computing and solid-state lighting. A Tokyo-based company, NetLED Technology Corp. offers LED lighting that can be controlled using iPhone apps via a cloud-based control interface. You can use your phone or tablet to dim the lights or switch them on and off. The system also makes it possible to track energy usage in real-time and to automatically aggregate data over an extended period of time. http://finance.boston.com/boston/news/read?GUID=20416566

3.      Empowering Customers With a Green Button - The White House hopes that someday soon everyone will be able to monitor and control their home energy usage, and lower their monthly utility bills, with a few swipes on a smartphone app. At least that’s the vision of the Green Button initiative, a recent White House effort to bring together the nation’s utilities, energy consumers and private industry to develop Internet and mobile phone-style technologies and business models aimed at reducing energy consumption. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/11/21/empowering-customers-green-button

4.      IES 2012 Illumination Awards Now Accepting Submissions for Lighting Controls Innovation Award - http://www.ies.org/ia/index.cfm

5.      NEMA Publishes LSD 56-2011 - Provides design guidance in the area of lamp/dimmer compatibility to the manufacturers of dimmable self-ballasted compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) that use forward phase control and the manufacturers of forward phase control dimmers. http://www.nema.org/stds/LSD-56.cfm#download

6.      LED Lights Extend Meat Shelf Life - New research conducted at Kansas State University that will be presented at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka in February looked at five different meat products—pork loin chops, beef loin steaks, ground beef, ground turkey and beef inside round steaks. They examined several aspects of these meat products and their refrigeration units including discoloration, rancidity and operating efficiency. They found LED lights scored positively in nearly all areas. Most significantly, LED lights helped reduce operating costs and prolonged the shelf life for most of the meat products. http://www.foodproductdesign.com/news/2012/01/led-lights-extend-meat-shelf-life.aspx

7.      TerraLUX Appoints Lighting Veteran Ray Hurt as VP Sales - TerraLUX, Inc. today announced that Ray Hurt will join the TerraLUX team as Vice President of Sales for their Illumination Division, effective February 1, 2012. Hurt brings over 25 years of lighting and electronics experience, including a long tenure with Philips Lighting Electronics, where he held various executive level sales and marketing positions.