News Updates for the Week of May 20

1.      Senate Unanimously Confirms Energy Nominee Ernest Moniz - Physicist Ernest Moniz won unanimous Senate confirmation Thursday to be the nation’s new energy secretary.  Moniz, 68, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, replaces Steven Chu. Moniz served as an energy undersecretary in the Clinton administration.  Moniz, who heads an energy initiative at MIT, is widely seen as sympathetic to the natural gas industry and will soon decide whether to approve a major expansion of U.S. natural gas exports that could create thousands of jobs, spur economic growth and help offset the nation’s enormous trade deficit. 5/16 AP

2.      2013 DOE Solid-State Lighting Manufacturing R&D Workshop June 5–6, 2013 • Boston, MA - The fifth annual DOE SSL Manufacturing R&D Workshop represents a meeting of the minds, bringing together varied perspectives from the entire SSL industry supply chain—plus other industries—to focus on a common goal. How do we work together to reduce SSL manufacturing costs, improve quality, increase volumes—and foster a greater U.S. role in SSL manufacturing? http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/boston2013.html

3.      Energy Department Publishes Protocols for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings - The Energy Department has published a new series of protocols for determining savings from energy efficiency upgrades in homes, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities. Using consistent methods to calculate energy savings will improve the credibility and demonstrate the impact of energy efficiency programs that help businesses and families reduce their energy bills.

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=883

4.      DOE Reports Track Progress in LED Lighting Technology - The industry’s shift to LEDs continues to be one of the most dynamic areas of product development and market realignment in the electrical industry. This transition has been getting substantial support from the U.S. DOE which offers programs for performance testing and standardized methods for reporting performance characteristics, with an eye toward assisting market acceptance. According to a recent DOE forecast, LED lighting will represent 74% of sales in the U.S. general illumination market by 2030 and will save about 2,700 terawatt-hours and $250 billion over a 20-year period. Navigant Research, in a report released this week, estimated that worldwide shipments of LED lamps will grow from 68 million units in 2013 to 1.28 billion units annually by 2021, and that the markets for every other lighting technology will contract over that period. DOE released two reports over the past few weeks on areas where there is still some distance to close before LEDs can be considered better than established light sources­—recessed troffer applications and environmental impact from end-of-life disposal. http://ewweb.com/news-watch/doe-reports-track-progress-led-lighting-technology

5.      GSA Advised to Keep LEED - The Green Building Advisory Committee, set up to advise facilities management agency the General Services Administration, concluded by a 10-6 vote that LEED was the best standard to help the government comply with the Energy Independence and Security Act.  The act requires federal agencies to use a green building certification system for new construction and major renovations. The GSA has required new buildings under its jurisdiction to be LEED Gold certified since 2010. There are more than 4,000 LEED-certified government projects, and another 8,000 pursuing certification, according to USGBC. http://www.energyvortex.com/pages/headlinedetails.cfm?id=6293

6.      Advanced Control Options for LEED v.4 - Version 4 of the popular Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system is expected to be released at Greenbuild in November 2013. Final balloting to approve the new LEED version is expected to occur in June. One thing is almost certain, which is that the prerequisite for the Energy + Atmosphere section will change from the 2007 to the 2010 version of the ASHRAE/IES 90.1 energy standard. This is because the 2010 version of 90.1 is now the national energy standard. By October 2013, all states in the country must put in place a commercial building energy code at least as stringent as ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2010 or justify why they can’t comply.  http://lightingcontrolsassociation.org/

7.      Call for Submissions for 2013 IES Progress Report - The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) recently announced a call for submissions to the 2013 IES Progress Report. This program offers organizations in lighting an opportunity to present important new products, research, publications, and design tools. All lighting products must be introduced commercially and all research, publications and design tools must be completed between August 1, 2012 and July 31, 2013. Submissions are open May 17 through July 19, 2013. http://www.ies.org/progress/

8.    LED Supply Chain Dynamics - Now that the rise of the LED has begun, the repercussions are rippling up and down the LED supply chain. One effect is consolidation in this sector, driven by a desire for vertical integration among the larger lighting companies, which in turn is being driven by the relentless demand for lower prices and higher quality. While the total number of vendors involved in the LED supply chain will likely shrink, other factors–including the expiration of existing patents, new interchangeability standards, new technologies, and an expected upsurge in creative product designs will create opportunities for new entrants at each level of the supply chain. Navigant Research forecasts that annual worldwide revenue from LED lamps will grow from just over $1.5 billion in 2013 to more than $8.5 billion in 2021. http://www.navigantresearch.com/research/led-supply-chain-dynamics

9.      MA Officials, Activists Tout Energy Savings Plan - Article 19 asks voters to borrow $4,049,027 to pay for a variety of energy-conserving measures in schools and other town-owned buildings. These will include more efficient heating systems and lighting as well as an energy management system. 5/13 The Eagle-Tribune

10.  Osram Leads Research on LED-Based Adaptive Headlamps for Autos - Focused on increased safety for drivers and passengers, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FMER) is sponsoring a research project on adaptive forward lighting systems (AFS) for autos, and Osram Opto Semiconductors is serving as the project coordinator. The project will seek to combine microelectronics and optoelectronics technologies to enable autonomous camera-based control of LED headlamps with no mechanical actuators. The AFS concept includes both optimum lighting for the driver and supplementary traffic safety functions. The goal is glare-free high-beam lighting, and low beams that adjust to the speed of the vehicle.  http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/5/7

11.  Pumped Up For Profits: Electrical Supplies in the Oil Patch by Jim Lucy - In an era of sluggish growth in the electrical market, the sales opportunities popping up in the oil and gas market in some regions of the country for distributors, reps and manufacturers stick out like a solitary pump jack on the northern prairie.  New horizontal drilling technologies combined with what’s called  “oil fracking” is now allowing drilling companies to access deposits of oil and natural gas that previously couldn’t be extracted profitably, often in regions of the country where the oil and gas business had more or less been dormant for years. http://ewweb.com/ewweb/2013-05-01