News Updates for the Week of August 22

1. Cree Acquires Ruud Lighting, Inc. to Accelerate the LED Lighting Revolution - Cree, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Ruud Lighting, Inc., a leader in LED outdoor lighting, at an estimated net cost of approximately $525 million. Combining two highly complementary LED innovators, the acquisition allows Cree to extend its leadership position and increase the adoption of energy-efficient LED lighting. 8/17 BUSINESS WIRE

2. Income Up at Nexxus Lighting; Attributed to Lowes - Sales of Array products in the second quarter of 2011 grew more than six-fold or approximately $2,786,000 to approximately $4,066,000 as compared to approximately $1,327,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2010. . This growth represents the launch of our Array products for sale through the consumer market channel. We completed the initial shipments of our Array products to approximately 1,100 Lowe's stores across the United States in the second quarter of 2011. Lowe's offers seventeen different Array products, including our PAR 38, R30, R16, MR16 and GU10 lamps that have qualified for the Energy Star rating. The ramp of sales to the consumer market may have adversely affected our ability to service other commercial market customers. Sales to commercial market customers declined as a result. Sales of Lumificient products decreased 5% from approximately $897,000 in the second quarter of 2010 to approximately $850,000 in the second quarter of 2011 as market conditions softened as compared to the first quarter of 2011. 8/12 PRNewswire

3. Lutron Services Company Expands National Authorized Service Network through Agreement with SYLVANIA Lighting Services Company - Lutron Services Co., Inc. (LSC) recently announced that SYLVANIA Lighting Services Corp. (SLS) has become an Authorized Service Center Subcontractor. Under the agreement, SLS will perform services related to Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. commercial lighting controls products, including system start-up services, system programming, warranty and post-warranty support services. In addition, SLS service maintenance customers now have the opportunity to explore a broader set of services within one convenient SLS support plan that can include Lutron Field Service Engineers performing technical support and inspection of Lutron interior lighting controls systems.

4. Chelan County, WA PUD to Distribute Energy-Saving Light Bulbs to Customers - Chelan County PUD has announced that the company will distribute free energy-saving light bulbs to customers. Customers can visit any PUD office in Wenatchee, Leavenworth or Chelan to receive a bag of 20 CFLs. In the average home, lighting accounts for about 20 percent of the electric bill. The easiest way to start saving energy is to switch to compact fluorescent bulbs, the company said. 8/17 Datamonitor

5. ASHRAE is now writing a guideline, SGPC 10, Interactions Affecting the Achievement of Acceptable Indoor Environments. Larry Spielvogel, PE See the attached notice.

6. Existing-Home Sales Decline in July - The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that existing-home sales declined in July compared with June, but have improved compared with a year ago. Total existing-home sales, which are based on transaction closings of single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.84 million in June to 4.67 million in July, a decrease of 3.5%. However, existing-home sales for July 2011 were 21.0% above the 3.86 million-unit pace in July 2010. 8/18 HCN

7. City Making Streetlights More Energy-Efficient - The city of Merced, CA said it will begin retrofitting its streetlights today to install energy-efficient lights. The city contracted with Siemens Industry for a $7.2 million energy-efficiency project to lower its utility bills, boost efficiency and become greener, according to a news release. The city owns more than 5,600 streetlights. 8/17 http://www.mercedsunstar.com/

8. Energy Efficiency: A Rare Bipartisan Issue - At this time of partisan wrangling in Congress, energy efficiency stands as a rare issue that crosses party lines to garner bipartisan consensus. That comes as no surprise to efficiency advocates, who know that energy-efficiency programs are one of our best national investments. By lowering energy costs, they return more money to the economy than they cost taxpayers. The ENERGY STAR program that labels the most energy-efficient products on the market is a prime example. At a cost to the federal government of well under $100 million annually, ENERGY STAR products cut energy costs for consumers and businesses by a whopping $17 billion in 2009 alone! 8/16 AOL Energy

9. New LED Lasts 25,000 Hours - Omni-directional LED A-Line lamp from OSRAM SYLVANIA, available in two wattages equivalent to 40w and 60w incandescents. Energy efficient, dimmable and available this summer. http://www.sylvania.com/BusinessProducts/Innovations/LEDLampsandRetrofits/

10. MEA Announces Its Clean Energy Programs for Fiscal Year 2012 - The Maryland Energy Administration’s has announced its fiscal year 2012 clean energy programs. The programs include Save Energy Now and the Lawton Loan program (targeting the industrial sector), grants to homeowners installing solar, wind and geothermal (the Residential Clean Energy Grants program). http://www.energy.state.md.us/News/documents/AugustNewsletter.pdf

11. Encelium Technologies to Exhibit at Iidex/Neocon Canada Sept. 22-23 - A web-based application, Polaris 3D provides an industry first 360-degree, three-dimensional view of lighting energy use in a building or complex. The software is used to commission, configure and manage Encelium’s ECS, which has been proven to cut lighting energy expenditures by 50 to 75 percent and significantly reduce CO2 emissions. With Polaris 3D, users will no longer need to navigate through single floors, or a ‘tree architecture,’ to reach a specific control zone. Instead, they will get a 3D, colorized thermo-graphic view of system parameters to identify areas and trends of lighting inefficiencies throughout a building. http://iidexneocon.com/

12. Philips recalls Reflector Flood Lamps - On August 11, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a voluntary recall from Philips Lighting Company of Somerset, N.J. Philips has recalled about 1.86 million EnergySaver (aka Marathon or Marathon Classic) compact fluorescent dimmable reflector flood lamps due to a laceration hazard. According to the CPSC news release, “The glue that attaches the glass outer envelope or globe to the body of the lamp can fail allowing the glass outer envelope to fall and strike persons and objects below, posing laceration hazard to consumers.” The products involved in the voluntary recall were manufactured from March 2007 through May 2010. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11302.html

13. Mitsubishi Electric Lighting - will spend $6.5 million to expand its factory for LED products in Shizuoka Prefecture, according to a July 26 article from Asia Pulse. The item claimed that 20% of the company’s total sales are LEDs.

14. Siemens - A Bloomberg report quoted an ING Groep NV analyst saying that Siemens, with a $19 billion “acquisitions war chest,” would soon take advantage of the recent plunge in valuations and begin buying.

15. Philips Introduces Fortimo LED HBM High-Brightness Module - Philips today announced a new addition to its Fortimo LED family - the Fortimo LED High Brightness Module (HBM). Fortimo LED HBM is an easy to design-in, compact, high lumen LED module for white light applications. The product delivers all the benefits of LEDs without the complexity and recurring R&D costs of lens optics-based LED solutions. http://www.ledsmagazine.com/products/32205

16. How Commercial Lighting Is Evaluated - Graphic from OSRAM Sylvania, as posted to http://www.environmentalleader.com/