News Updates for the Week of August 13

1.      3M's New LED Light Bulb Designed to Burn for 25 Years - 3M Co. is coming out with what it says is a better LED light bulb -- and its first-ever consumer bulb -- at the end of August.  The high-tech bulb looks like a traditional incandescent but boasts a 25-year lifespan and a $25 price tag. The bulb is being manufactured at the 3M plant in New Ulm, MN, with materials sourced from around the globe. Toward the end of August, shoppers will find the bulb on shelves of select Walmart stores. http://www.twincities.com/ci_21223376/3ms-new-led-lightbulb-designed-burn-25-years

2.      LEED-Certified Building Stock Swells to Two Billion Square Feet Worldwide - The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that the total footprint of commercial projects certified under its LEED green building program surpassed two billion square feet. An additional seven billion square feet is currently in the pipeline across the globe as registered projects. As the most widely recognized and used green building program, LEED is certifying two million square feet of commercial building space each day in more than 130 countries. Today, nearly 50,000 commercial projects are currently participating in LEED, comprising nine billion square feet of construction space. Additionally, nearly 23,000 homes across the U.S. have earned certification through the LEED for Homes program, with nearly 86,000 additional units in the pipeline. That's more than 159,000 registered and certified projects in LEED. http://www.tedmag.com

 

3.      Lighting Facts Institutes QA Testing, Requires Annual Product Updates - Beginning October 1, the LED Lighting Facts program will begin charging a fee for annual product listings. It has already begun quality assurance testing, which results in a green double-check mark on the label upon verification. The biggest change is that Lighting Facts will now require that manufacturers update the status of their listed products annually. Any product that has been on the list for more than one year will have to be updated to assure whether it is available on the market and to give the opportunity to update performance changes that have taken place since the listing.  In the coming weeks, Lighting Facts will hold a number of webinars to educate LED lighting manufacturers and users regarding the changes. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/9/8/2

 

4.      National Grid Small Business Incentive Program - National Grid offers incentives for up to 70% of the cost of the installation of qualified energy efficient equipment and can finance your share of the cost.  Some of the cost-cutting, energy efficient equipment available through this program includes:

·         Lighting upgrades (Now includes LED lights)

·         Lighting occupancy sensors

·         Walk-in cooler efficiency measures

·         Site-specific custom projects

https://www1.nationalgridus.com/SmallBusiness

 

5.      Boulder County's New Energy-Efficiency Loan Program - The EnergySmart loan program, which is being administered by Elevations Credit Union, officially kicks off Wednesday.  Elevations business energy loans offer financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades for businesses in Boulder County and the City/County of Denver. Loan details:

·         Fixed rates starting as low as 2.75% APR

·         36, 60, 84 or 120 month terms

·         Businesses can apply for a loan between $1,000 and $150,000

·         Property must be located in Boulder County or Denver County, Colorado

·         Before loan can be issued, an Energy Advisory will work with you to ensure your project meets loan eligibility criteria and any available rates. https://elevationscu.com/business-loans

6.      Hundreds of Dearborn Streetlights to be Replaced with LED Fixtures -Dearborn City Council on Monday approved $158,079.40 in funding for the energy efficiency project.  The project is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, and joins a previous city appropriation for $242,223.78 to be used to replace 318 streetlights.  Since the approval of the original project with DTE Energy in April, the pricing per light fixture was reduced from $761 to $529.31. Therefore, the entire order–which will replace 778 fixtures total will cost a total of $400,303.18. http://dearborn.patch.com/articles/hundreds-of-dearborn-streetlights-to-be-replaced-with-led-fixtures

7.      Wide Differences Found in NYC Buildings’ Power Use - NYC Mayor Bloomberg may target inefficient buildings next.  The first comprehensive study of energy use by New York City’s largest buildings shows some to be power hogs, using up to five times as much electricity, natural gas, heating oil and steam as others of comparable size or purpose. And there is ample room for improvement. The report http://www.nyc.gov/html/gbee/html/plan/ll84_scores.shtml to be released on Friday by the city’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, estimates that if poor-performing buildings in the city improved their efficiency and reached just the median level of energy use in their categories, the city’s energy consumption would decline by at least 18 percent and greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 24 percent. 8/2 NY Times

 

8.      DOE Releases L Prize Lumen Maintenance Report  - The U.S. DOE has published a report, Lumen Maintenance Testing of the Philips 60-Watt Replacement Lamp L Prize Entry, after completing 18,000 hours of lumen maintenance testing. Using the latest data, key findings include: http://www.lightingprize.org/pdfs/lprize_60w-lumen-maint-testing.pdf

·         Very little change in light output

·         Chromaticity remains well within the L Prize requirements

·         Most recent data projects lumen maintenance will be 97.8% at 25,000 hours

http://www.lightingprize.org/60watttest.stm   

9.      Mississippi Universities to Cut Energy Costs - Eight public Mississippi universities will be cutting energy costs with a $725,000 grant from the Department of Energy. The Tennessee Valley Authority, an electric company that services 36 counties in Mississippi, is adding $150,000 to the grant over a three-year period.  Mississippi is not the only state that will receive money from the Department of Energy. The department is spending $7.9 million across 13 states to help cut energy costs. Mississippi, however, received the most money from the grant. http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/08/universities-cut-energy-costs/

10.  Osram Develops LED Module for Historic Street Luminaires - Osram has developed an LED module to enable rapid upgrading of historic street luminaires. The decorative street lighting (DSL) module can be used for a wide variety of luminaires, independent of the original manufacturer. The module is prepared upon request so that fitting is as simple as replacing lamps or sockets. Osram also notes that the integration of modern control units with intelligent light management can ensure further energy savings. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/9/8/3

 

11.  Enterprise LED Lighting 2012 Research Report - Groom Energy and Greentech Media announced the release of a new commercial and industrial LED lighting research report, "Enterprise LED Lighting 2012: Commercial and Industrial Market Trends, Opportunities and Leading Companies." An update to their previously published 2010 report, the study revises earlier forecasts upward, now sizing the 2012 North American market at $630 million, growing at 40 percent per year and expected to surpass $2 billion in annual revenue by 2016. The report also introduces its Enterprise LED Lamp and Fixture Price Index, which aggregates latest pricing for a broad range of LED lamps and fixtures. The index shows that prices for enterprise class LED light fixtures have declined by 24 percent in the two years since the first publication of the report. To review an abstract or to purchase online, visit www.groomenergy.com or http://www.greentechmedia.com

12.  LED Vs. Everything Else: Interior & Exterior Instructed By Stan Walerczyk, L.C., C.L.E.P. -

An 8-Hour Distance Learning Seminar; Earns 0.8 CEU / 8 PDH; New Program Starts October 1

Presented online in a series of four live two-hour time modules, this seminar is designed to educate you about both the best types of applications for utilizing current LED lighting technologies, as well as how these technologies compare to other options available for the same lighting scenarios.

You can participate in the seminar from your office, home, or anywhere you have access to the internet and a phone. You'll have opportunities to interact with your instructor and colleagues in real time during the four live teleconferencing sessions, as well as in the time between sessions. AEE Seminars registrar@aeecenter.org