News Updates for the Week of December 31

1.     32,256 Philips LEDs Light the Iconic 2013 Times Square - Philips continues to bring innovative LED technology into the lives of millions by lighting the world-famous Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball. New Year’s 2013 marks the 13th consecutive year Philips has served as the official Lighting Partner to the iconic Times Square Ball. The LED lighting on the Times Square Ball demonstrates the latest in innovative LED technology and ushers in a new era of lighting that delivers energy savings, greater light quality, longer bulb life, and dimmability to existing lighting fixtures.  The same innovative technology used in the Ball is commercially available to consumers to use in their home, and continues to become the new standard in lighting. 12/27 BUSINESS WIRE

2.      Draft 3 Version 1.0 ENERGY STAR Specification for Lamps - The ENERGY STAR Lamps Version 1.0 specification shall take effect in early 2014. To qualify for ENERGY STAR, a product model shall meet the ENERGY STAR specification in effect on its date of manufacture. Comments on Draft 3 are due via email to lamps@energystar.gov no later than Friday, January 18, 2013. https://www.energystar.gov/lamps

3.      The 2012 ENERGY STAR Summary of Lighting Programs - The Summary provides an overview of a variety of programs offered by utilities and other energy efficiency program sponsors in the United States to promote ENERGY STAR certified light bulbs and fixtures, decorative light strings, and ceiling and ventilating fans with light kits.  The Summary includes information provided by energy efficiency program sponsors and describes their current program offerings for 2012-2013 and beyond. Each ENERGY STAR lighting program is summarized with a focus on incentives, marketing and consumer education efforts, program contacts, and other relevant program details. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=activity_search.basic

4.      Optional Guided Tour of L.A.'s Streetlights and Operations Center/Museum on January 29 - The city of Los Angeles has the largest LED street lighting retrofit project in the U.S., if not the world, with more than 106,000 luminaires replaced to date. Led by Senior Street Lighting Engineer Orlando E. Nova, the tour will visit selected outdoor installations and hear about the city's aggressive efforts to integrate remote monitoring systems, adaptive lighting, and controls. 2013 DOE Solid-State Lighting R&D Workshop, January 29-31, 2013 • Long Beach, CA. Register at: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/longbeach2013_tour.html

5.      tED Magazine's Greenest of the Green Award - Apply for tED's 2013 Greenest of the Green award. Nominations for the 2013 contest will be accepted from Dec. 3, 2012 through Jan. 18, 2013 through electronic submission portal: https://www.formopro.com/mr.asp?2.270235.8 The 2013 Greenest of the Green award will be presented at the 2013 NAED National Meeting; the winning company will be featured in the April 2013 issue of tED. http://www.tedmag.com/greenaward2013/

      6.      Energy-Efficient Lighting Explained: A Guide for Business People Who Aren't Lighting Techies - FREE (reg. $189) - Provided by Real Energy Writers and The Daily Energy Report, this educational guide reveals why lighting is one of the most cost-effective energy efficiency investments you can make today. You will learn about current lighting technologies, the industry's political issues, and what you can do to reduce energy costs. https://www.noesisenergy.com/site/content/energy-efficient-lighting-explained

7.      Cheap Rare Earth Metals Provide a Boost to the LED Industry - A glut of manufacturing capacity and near-collapse in rare earth metal prices is driving down the cost and hence encouraging the rapid take-up of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting. LED lights are based on semiconductors and therefore do not require traditional lamp manufacturing expertise. This has opened opportunities for LED chipmakers to challenge the incumbent incandescent light bulb manufacturers such as Philips, Osram and General Electric. http://oilprice.com

8.      Lightfair International 2013 Expands - LIGHTFAIR^® International (LFI^®) will expand its product presentation and increase its scale in 2013 with the addition of two high-profile categories occupying newly added Hall F space in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Convention Center. The 2013 additions of solar power and software accelerate LFI’s continuing growth as the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference. The new categories will advance its footprint.  Solar and software naturally complement the core LFI product mix with systems and technologies integral to the lighting industry’s broader reach into energy and control innovations. http://lighting.com/lightfair-international-2013-expands/

9.      India Lighting Industry Expects Healthy Growth in 2013 - The LED Industry is expected to reach around US $ 500 million by 2015 in India. Within the segment, LED street light and LED solar light's demand to increase by leaps and bounds in coming years. The industry as a whole faced a tough time specifically in project sales. At the same time, the consumer category still witnessed a reasonable growth, with CFLs continuing to be the growth driver. The advent of reliable LED products will play a significant role in the industry growth in coming years, as major players in the industry are already offering very good value propositions in the market, making this segment very vibrant and dynamic. The lighting industry in India is growing at nearly 17-18% per annum over the last two to three years. 12/29 The Times of India

 

10.  OLEDs on the Road - The automotive industry is one of the markets where new technologies can appear and interact directly with the consumer. One technology that is struggling to find its feet in the consumer world, but could benefit by inclusion in vehicles, is OLED lighting. While there are questions about its efficiency, and high price, being included in an already expensive item would bring it to the attention of the mass market. German manufacturer Audi is known for its innovations in vehicle lighting, having been the first to include LEDs in tail lamps, and then again in the sidelights of a vehicle. It has now begun to pioneer the use of OLED lighting in vehicles-not just as a lens, but to also create cars that can respond to the driver's mood. http://www.plusplasticelectronics.com/lighting/oleds-on-the-road-71130.aspx

News Updates for the Week of October 17

Online DISC Assessment Now Available - The Success Insights® DISC Profile Behavioral Assessment is an analysis of each individual's behavioral style to increase your self-awareness and abilities to develop adaptive styles to meet the demands of your work and customer environments. It will take you no more than 15 minutes to complete the online assessment and I promise, you will be impressed with the results. The cost to you is $80 and all you have to do is go to my website: 

 http://www.attardimarketing.com/services/

You will then see: Order the online DISC assessment ONLY for $80.00. 

Once you place your order, I will then email you the link and the necessary instructions to take the online DISC assessment. Once completed, you will then receive a 25 page report automatically. Once completed, you will then receive a 25 page report automatically. Learn about your own behavioral style and how you can recognize the behavioral style of others.

1.      Clinton-Backed Efficiency Program Tackling 30m Sq Ft of Commercial Space - A Los Angeles program backed by the Clinton Climate Initiative is giving building owners financing and free energy assessments, in an effort to raise the efficiency of 20 to 30 million square feet of commercial space. The LA Commercial Building Performance Partnership http://www.lacommercialbpp.com/  aims not only to help commercial property owners make their buildings more energy and water efficient, but also to save tenants money. The partners say they will offer financing at competitive rates to cover up to 100 percent of the cost of an owner’s energy upgrades. One option available through the partnership is property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing, in which building owners can secure capital and repay the costs through their property tax bill, payable over periods of up to 20 years. Improvements to building energy and water efficiency could include on-site clean energy generation, lighting and chiller plant upgrades or the installation of new technology to control and monitor energy use. 10/13 Environmental Leader

2.      Vu1 Corporation Signs Manufacturing Agreement with Huayi Lighting Company Ltd. to Supply 250 Million Units (Bulbs) Over Five Years - New York City-based Vu1 Corporation has developed a new energy efficient light bulb made in China to provide the consumer market with the first affordable, non-toxic light bulb with features consumers are demanding and not receiving from existing products. The Vu1 Electron Stimulated Luminescence™ – ESL light bulb is energy efficient and specifically designed to replace a 65W incandescent R-30 flood bulb in recessed light fixtures. The Vu1 reflector bulb gives uniform flood illumination and a light quality that is virtually indistinguishable from the incandescent lamp it replaces. www.vu1.com

3.      Sylvania LED Bulbs to Appear at Menards - Osram Sylvania released new LED bulbs at Menards stores on Oct. 11. Part of the “Ultra LED” A line, the omnidirectional bulbs are available in two wattages. The 8W is equivalent to the 40W incandescent, and the 13.5W is equivalent to the 60W incandescent. The Ultra LED BR 30 and BR 40 are replacements for the equivalent 65W incandescent models.  10/12 HCN

4.   ‘$1bn’ University Green Endowment Plan Launched - Harvard and Stanford are among 32 universities that have committed $65 million to new energy efficiency financing initiative Billion Dollar Green Challenge. The fund aims to get colleges, universities and other nonprofits to invest a total of $1 billion in self-managed “green revolving funds.” Such funds are used to finance energy efficiency upgrades that offer a quantifiable monetary saving or return. Such funds have a median annual return on investment of 32 percent.  Full lists of participating universities, coordinating partners and financial backers can be found at the Billion Dollar Green Challenge website http://greenbillion.org/ 10/13 Environmental Leader

5.      LUMEN Coalition Showcases Energy-Efficient Light Bulb Options - LUMEN – a coalition of more than 40 manufacturers, nonprofits and consumer groups – is informing consumers about the variety and benefits of energy-efficient lighting products and will unveil a new consumer-friendly website http://lumennow.org/ LUMEN is led by the Alliance to Save Energy, the American Lighting Association (ALA) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). 10/11 Alliance to Save Energy

6.      Choosing a Bulb Website - Once you make the smart choice to pick an energy-efficient bulb, you need to decide which bulb to buy for different fixtures. Companies are making this easy, by having energy-efficient options for almost every type of scenario. http://www.ase.org/resources/choosing-bulb 

7.      LED Lighting Sees Improvements with the Addition of Hybrid Capacitors - A combination of an ultracapacitor and a lithium-ion battery, hybrid capacitors are an ideal choice to power LEDs, which have bright output with low input power. Because of the low energy and power of LEDs, hybrid capacitors are a longer term energy source than other alternative energy storage solutions on the market. They provide for more energy storage with an energy density up to 115 percent more than standard electric double-layer capacitors (ELDCs). LED devices last longer, charge faster, incur fewer maintenance costs, consume less power and are more environmentally friendly. Hybrid capacitors are responsible for these benefits, and they make LEDs an attractive solution for solid-state lighting. 10/4 Environmental Leader

8.      Costs of Rare Earth Metals for Cleantech Applications to Reach $1.2 Billion by 2017 - In testimony before Congress on September 21, Mark Smith, CEO of rare earth mining concern Molycorp, said that China, which now controls some 97% of the world’s supply of rare earth metals, will continue to limit exports of the valuable elements, restricting its supply largely to domestic customers.  According to a recent report from Pike Research, demand for rare earths in the cleantech industry will reach 12,920 tons per year by 2017, up from approximately 9,000 tons annually in 2011, which could place an increased strain on global supply for these emerging applications.  Supply uncertainties will drive the cost of rare earth metals to makers of cleantech applications to at least $1.2 billion by 2017. http://www.pikeresearch.com/research/rare-earth-metals-in-the-cleantech-industry

9.      Cree Continues to Lead LED Industry with Even Brighter Lighting-Class LEDs  - Cree, Inc. to extend the advantage of its Xlamp® LED family with the announcement of new levels of performance, now delivering up to 140 lumens per watt. The XP-G LED can help lighting manufacturers reduce system cost and complexity and can make existing designs brighter and more efficient. Cree XP-G LEDs also boast the longest projected lifetime data published. www.cree.com 10/12 BUSINESS WIRE 

10.  TerraLUX Appoints Lighting Veteran Brian Dundon to Chairman of the Board - TerraLUX, Inc. announced the expansion of its Board of Directors to include former Philips Lighting Electronics CEO Brian R. Dundon. Mr. Dundon, who will assume the Board Chairman role, also served as Chair of the Lighting CEO Board for NEMA from 2006 to 2009. TerraLUX Inc. is headquartered in Longmont, Colorado and invents, designs, patents, manufactures and distributes innovative high power LED solutions for general illumination, industrial, commercial, medical and portable applications. www.terralux.com