News Updates for the Week of March 21

1.      Japan Crisis Could Rekindle U.S. Antinuclear Movement - In 1973, vexed by an Arab oil embargo and soaring fuel prices, President Richard M. Nixon championed a long-term solution: to have 1,000 nuclear reactors in place in America by the year 2000 as part of a national energy independence plan. That never came to pass: 104 nuclear reactors operate today, compared with 40 then. The last permit for construction of what became a fully operational nuclear plant was issued in 1978. Today, activists who figured prominently in the movement’s teach-ins and protest rallies are hoping that Japan’s nuclear crisis will rekindle a protest movement in the United States. 3/18 NY Times

2.      EPA Announces U.S. Cities with the Most Energy Star Certified Buildings - The EPA is releasing a list of U.S. metropolitan areas with the greatest number of energy-efficient buildings that earned EPA's Energy Star certification in 2010. The list of 25 cities is headed by Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Chicago; New York; Atlanta; Houston; Sacramento; Detroit; and Dallas-Fort Worth.  More information on the top cities in 2010 with Energy Star certified buildings: http://www.energystar.gov/TopCities  More information on EPA's real-time registry of all Energy Star certified buildings: http://energystar.gov/buildinglist

3.      NEMA Publishes Two Standards for Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment - NEMA has published two ANSI C136 series standards for roadway and area lighting equipment:

• ANSI C136.15-2011, "American National Standard for Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment—Luminaire Field Identification"
• ANSI C136.36A-2010, "American National Standard for Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment—Aluminum Lighting Poles"

Both standards were produced by the ANSI Committee 136 for Roadway and Area Lighting. To view a comprehensive list of standards in the ANSI C136 series, go to www.nema.org/stds/C136.cfm

http://ecmweb.com/lighting/nema-roadway-area-lighting-standards-20110310/?cid=nl_ezone

4.      Osram Opto Demonstrates 142 Lm/W Warm-White LED - Osram Opto Semiconductors claims to have set a new laboratory record of 142 lm/W for the efficiency of a warm-white LED light source. The LED had a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 2755 K, the LED has a color-rendering index (CRI) of 81. The peak value of 142 lm/W measured under standard conditions is achieved at a color point – with color coordinates of (x=0.46, y=0.41) on the Planckian curve - that very closely matches the perception of a classic incandescent lamp. http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/8/3/12

5.      February Housing Starts Sink 22.5% - Inexplicably, housing starts took a dive in February, according to data released Wednesday by the Department of Commerce.  Privately owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 479,000; that's 22.5% below the upwardly revised January estimate of 618,000. It's also 20.8% below the February 2010 rate of 605,000.  3/16 HCN

6.      NEMA Publishes Two Solid-State Lighting Standards - Two new solid-state lighting standards have been released by NEMA, covering LED drivers and dimming of incandescent-replacement LED lamps, both directed toward designers, manufacturers and users of SSL products. They are:

• NEMA SSL 1-2010: Electronic Drivers for LED Devices, Arrays, or Systems 
• NEMA SSL 6-2010: Solid State Lighting for Incandescent Replacement—Dimming

Other related NEMA standards and white papers include: 

•  SSL 3-2010: High-Power White LED Binning for General Illumination
• LSD 44-2009: Solid State Lighting – The Need for a New Generation of Sockets and Interconnects
• LSD 45-2009: Recommendations for Solid State Lighting Sub-Assembly Interfaces for Luminaires
• LSD 49-2010: Solid State Lighting for Incandescent Replacement – Best Practices for Dimming 
• LSD 51-2009: Solid State Lighting – Definitions for Functional and Decorative Applications

In addition, NEMA has unveiled “The 5 Ls of Lighting: The Consumer’s Guide to Choosing Energy-Efficient Lighting.” This educational guide to the transition to more energy-efficient lighting can be downloaded at www.lightbulboptions.org

7.      Amerlux Celebrates Opening of New Facility in China – Amerlux recently celebrated the grand opening of Guangzhou Amerlux Lighting Solutions Co. Ltd., a new facility in China, as well as a Hong Kong sales office. “The opening heralds a new chapter in our history of success,” observed Frank P. Diassi, chairman and founder of Amerlux. “It represents our full commitment to international expansion and to enhancing Amerlux’s service to worldwide customers. As global markets continue to open up, our company is strategically positioned to grow exponentially throughout the Far East and all over the world.”  “Amerlux is now completely equipped to supply its customer base anywhere in the world,” observed Joe Manning, vice president of product development. More information about Amerlux is available at www.amerlux.com

8.      GE Tours: Electric Vehicle Charging, Lighting Revolution -  General Electric recently unveiled plans for two national tours:  3/15 TED

1)      Seven-city EV Experience Tour: From the release: Each day-long stop in cities along the tour will include presentations by GE and community leaders, workshops to help stakeholders with EV planning, deployment, and integration strategies, and test drives. AND: GM, Ford, Toyota, Navistar, Smith Electric Vehicles, Mitsubishi, Coda, Smart, THINK and other organizations are working with GE on this. Stops:

·         San Francisco and Seattle (done)

·         Los Angeles (March 17) and San Diego (March 22)

·         Austin, Texas; New York City; and Washington, D.C. (to be scheduled)

2)      47-city GE Lighting Revolution Tour—first stop happened March 2 in Orlando, Fla.; there are 46 more to happen before November ends. What’s it about: LEDs, fluorescent, halogen and ceramic-metal halide lighting systems, GE said. Distributors, contractors, and others are invited; find out if the tour stops near you, and register, here.  Upcoming stops:

·         Houston—March 21

·         Austin, Texas—March 28

·         Dallas—April 4

9.      Cooper Lighting Lights Up Tucson with LED - Officials in Tucson, Ariz., have replaced the city’s low-pressure sodium street lamps with energy-efficient LED luminaires from Cooper Lighting. They applied for and received approximately $425,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to convert 600 lighting fixtures to LED lighting. 3/17 HCN  Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110317/DA67171  

10.  Honeywell Awarded $213-Million Contract to Expand Energy Infrastructure at FDA - Honeywell today announced a $213-million contract with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to support the continued development of on-site utilities and energy infrastructure at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters -- the White Oak Federal Research Center in Silver Spring, Md. This is the fifth major energy-conservation contract for Honeywell at the White Oak campus. Under the agreement, Honeywell will also upgrade lighting systems in parking garages with high-efficiency light-emitting diode fixtures and occupancy sensors. 3/16 PR Newswire Europe

11.  Commerce Department Launches i6 Green Challenge - The federal government will award up to $1 million to each of six teams with the most innovative ideas to drive technology commercialization and entrepreneurship for a green economy ─ as long as Congress appropriates the funding in the 2011 budget.  http://www.commerce.gov/blog/2011/03/10/us-commerce-department-launches-i6-green-challenge

12.  Litecontrol Classroom Lighting Calculations iPhone App Now Available Through iTunes -Litecontrol recently announced that their Classroom Lighting Calculations app is available for free download in the Apple itunes store. Developed initially for the iPhone and iPad, the app will help lighting designers and specifiers calculate energy efficiency and cost for lighting in standard classroom settings.  http://www.litecontrol.com/

13.  HID Lamp Indexes Decline during Fourth Quarter 2010 - NEMA’s shipment indexes for high

intensity discharge (HID) lamps declined by 11.7%, 17.1%, and 0.9% on a year-over-year basis for sodium vapor, mercury vapor, and metal-halide lamps, respectively. For the year as a whole, shipments of mercury vapor lamps also declined for the fourth consecutive year, dipping 2.7% compared to 2009. Conversely, sodium vapor and metal-halide HID lamp shipments increased during 2010 by 1.1% and 5.2%, respectively. Sodium vapor lamps showed an increase in market share of nearly 2.0 percentage points ending the quarter at 33.2% of HID lamp shipments. The share of metal-halide lamps registered a reading of 61.8%, a decline of 1.5% points. Mercury vapor lamps gave up market share as well, declining by 0.5 percentage points to 5.0% for the fourth quarter. http://ecmweb.com/lighting/hid-lamp-indexes-20110310/?cid=nl_ezone