News Updates for the Week of April 4

1. Osram to Spark Lighting M&A After Siemens Spin-Off - Lighting group Osram will pursue takeovers and alliances once it is spun out of German conglomerate Siemens in an initial public offering (IPO) late this year. An analyst said Osram could be floated at 11.5 times 2012 earnings.

• Siemens says Osram will look for partnerships

• Says plans IPO of Osram light bulb unit in late 2011

• Says to sell more than 50 percent of Osram in IPO 3/29 Reuters

• It will continue to retain a minority stake in the lighting brand and that it will continue as a long-term shareholder


2. “Green” Claims Confuse Consumers - The annual Cone Green Gap Trend Tracker found that 97% of Americans believe they know what common environmental marketing claims such as "green" or "environmentally friendly" mean. Yet their interpretations are often inaccurate, according to the researchers. More than two-in-five Americans (41%) erroneously believe these terms mean a product has a positive (i.e., beneficial) impact on the environment. Only 29% understand that these terms more accurately describe products with less environmental impact than previous versions or competing products. http://www.coneinc.com/news/request.php?id=3624


3. GE Helps to Understand the 2012 Lighting Legislation - Between 2012 and 2014, standard A-line 40- and 100-watt incandescent light bulbs must use 30% less energy, but produce the same light output as the incandescent bulbs most of us use today. For more information, visit: http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_lighting/products/2012_energy_legislation/

4. Unemployment Rate Falls to 2-Year Low Of 8.8 Pct.; Employers Add 216K Jobs in March - The unemployment rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent in March, capping the strongest two months of hiring since before the recession began. Factories, retailers, the education and health care sectors and professional and financial services all expanded payrolls. Those job gains offset layoffs by local governments. Another month of brisk hiring provided the latest sign that the economy is strengthening nearly two years after the recession ended. Private employers, the backbone of the economy, drove the gains. They added more than 200,000 jobs for a second straight month. It was the first time that’s happened since 2006 — more than a year before the recession started. Economists predict employers will add jobs at roughly the same pace for the rest of this year. That would generate about 2.5 million new positions. Still, that would make up for only a small portion of the 7.5 million jobs wiped out during the recession. 4/1 AP

5. Woodbridge Energy Center Project One of Three Selected in New Jersey Energy Procurement Process - Competitive Power Ventures, Inc. (CPV) announced today that its CPV Woodbridge Energy Center project has been selected by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to be one of three electric generating projects that will produce in-state power to help lower electric costs for New Jersey consumers who currently pay some of the highest rates in the country. 3/31 http://cpv.com/press_detail.php?p_id=40

6. ICF International Awarded $36.5 Million ENERGY STAR® Contract - ICF to identify and promote energy-efficient products and will be tasked with a number of crucial responsibilities, including providing EPA with specification development, research and analysis, sales and marketing strategies, media marketing, software and electronic information development, program integrity support, program evaluation, administration, and management support for the ENERGY STAR program. http://www.icfi.com/news/2011/icf-international-awarded-energy-star-contract

7. Groom Energy and Digital Lumens Wins More Cold Storage - Digital Lumens announced on 3/26 Tuesday that its Intelligent LED Lighting Systems have been installed in Americold facilities across three states. The upgrades in Massachusetts, Utah and Wisconsin are estimated to save 2.3 million kilowatt-hours annually. Groom Energy and Americold will also be upgrading warehouses in four other states in coming months, which would save another 3.3 million kWhs. But there could be even more -- as Americold, which owns and operates more than 180 temperature-controlled warehouses in various countries, has more than one billion cubic feet of storage. http://www.groomenergy.com/%20http://www.digitallumens.com/

8. GE Introduces Hybrid: Incandescent, Halogen & CFL - GE Lighting's latest customer-inspired light bulb—a hybrid halogen-CFL contained in an incandescent-shaped glass bulb—hits the target for homeowners who love the energy efficiency and long life of GE-quality CFLs but have yearned for more immediate brightness in an energy-saving bulb. GE Energy Smart® Soft White and Reveal® hybrid halogen-CFL bulbs will brighten the lighting aisles of mass retail, hardware and big box stores nationwide in the weeks leading up to Earth Day 2011 (April 22). Retailers set prices but customers could expect to pay $5.99-$9.99 based on product line and wattage.

9. Can We Do Without the Mideast? - The problem the nation faces is easy to define: it’s the 19 million barrels of oil a day used by its cars, trucks and aircraft. Though the United States remains one of the largest oil producers in the world, it has been an importer since the late 1940s, with imports rising and domestic production declining fairly steadily year after year over the last quarter-century, until recently. 3/30 NY Times