News Updates for the Week of August 12

1.      Call for Nominations: 2014 ENERGY STAR Emerging Technology Award - The U.S. EPA invites your feedback on candidate technologies for the 2014 ENERGY STAR Emerging Technology Award. www.energystar.gov/emergingtech The deadline to submit nominations is October 4, 2013. The ENERGY STAR Emerging Technology Award was created to raise the profile of innovative technologies that may not yet meet key principles associated with the ENERGY STAR program (e.g. widely available, cost-effective), but have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions once they are more widely adopted. As products in these categories become more mainstream, the relevant product categories then become candidates for ENERGY STAR specification development. Nominations should be sent to emergingtech@energystar.gov.

2.      Luminaires Verification Testing: Proposal to Reduce Duplicate Light Source Testing - The U.S. EPA is proposing to reduce duplicate testing of the same light source during verification testing for luminaires by directing certification bodies (CBs) to share test data for light sources used in multiple luminaires. This proposal is to address manufacturer concerns about duplicate light source testing. Share any questions or concerns about this policy with EPA by sending your comments to Certification@energystar.gov no later than August 30, 2013.

3.      BARRON TRACE*LITE Lights Up the Washington Monument - The National Park Service hosted a special ceremony to light the Washington National Monument as it undergoes repairs from damages caused by the 2011 earthquake. The Monument lights up each night at dusk, with 488 LED TRACE*LITE fixtures manufactured by Barron Lighting Group. Sensors were installed that will illuminate the national icon each night until it reopens sometime in Spring 2014.

4.      LED-Based Luminaires: New designs from Cree, Acuity, and GE Lighting - We are seeing more and more innovation in form factor and functionality in solid-state lighting products as lighting manufacturers better understand how to leverage LED sources. Cree, for example, combined LEDs in an indirect fashion with a complex optical design to deliver a new parking-garage fixture that delivers uniform light. Peerless has announced a 4-inch cylindrical fixture that includes an optic that provides continuous smooth lighting and can produce direct or indirect illumination or both. GE Lighting, meanwhile, added a lower-cost planar model to its Lumination family that is lit from the rear. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/8/5

5.      Goldman Sachs Sees 'Creative Destruction' in Eight Industry Themes - Goldman Sachs analysts described as "creative destruction" - trends that are big and disruptive enough to reshape industries and draw in an increasing number of investors. Cancer immunotherapy. LED lighting, natural gas engine technology, software defined networking and big data are among the trends Goldman analysts see as mega trends that will change the behavior of consumers and force companies to "adapt or die." LEDs could have 80 percent penetration by 2025, Demand is now in the early stages but the general lighting market is large - $11 billion. LED is about five percent of the market and it is being driven by industrial and commercial demand. Goldman believes Cree is the most attractive play and it has a technology advantage. http://www.cnbc.com

6.      On the Lighter Side: Mr. LED Lighting Takes a Tour of the Hospital - Are you sick and tired of fluorescent and incandescent lighting? If so then maybe you need to get yourself to a hospital, they have plenty of OLEDs and LEDs there.  Let's hope you don't require surgery but if you do it's likely the lights used in the surgical theater will be a sophisticated LED product. The screens that deliver important information to the staff is likely to be an OLED or TFT screen - with or without some LED indicators as well. There are examples of SSL in photo dynamic therapy (PDT), OLEDs that are used in opthamological vision restoration masks, triage informational tags, or even embedded into dermal repair bandages all designed to use the newest tech in quicker healing. And let's not forget the role of SSL in the hospital's general lighting. http://www.sslighting.net/documents/view/news.php?id=123232#editorial

7.      Residential Lighting End-Use Consumption - The U.S. DOE Residential Lighting End-Use Consumption Study aims to improve the understanding of lighting energy usage in U.S. residential dwellings using a regional estimation framework. The framework allows for the estimation of lamp usage and energy consumption 1) nationally and by region of the United States, 2) by certain household characteristics, 3) by location within the home, 4) by certain lamp characteristics and 5) by certain categorical cross-classifications. http://www.ies.org/store/product/lighting-controls-for-energy-management-1303.cfm

8.      Lighting Controls for Energy Management Published - IES announces the publication of Lighting Controls for Energy Management (LEM-7-13). Lighting controls play an essential role in all lighting systems, especially when used to enact various control strategies to satisfy visual needs of users and energy management needs of owners. The publication addresses these needs. http://www.ies.org/store/product/lighting-controls-for-energy-management-1303.cfm

9.      Osram Starts Trading as Spinoff from Siemens - In what had been regarded as one of the largest spinoffs in the electrical industry, Osram Lich AG has started trading on the Frankfurt and Munich stock exchanges under the symbol "OSR."  With this move Siemens AG shareholders received 10 Osram shares for each share they own. A total of 80.5 percent of the more than 100 million no-par-value registered shares were available for sale. Siemens AG holds 17 percent of the capital stock of OSRAM Licht AG. http://www.tedmag.com

10.  Council Wants More Light on LED Project - When it comes to replacing street lights, Pueblo, CO City Council wants a little more light on the subject before going ahead with a project that could cost nearly $6 million. The city has been discussing for three years replacing the city's 8,700 street lights with new LED lights. Executives from Next Step Energy, of Aurora, came to council's work session Monday and said they had been working with Pueblo city staff for three years. They questioned the costs that Black Hills was estimating in the proposed contract with the city and said that cheaper providers were easily found. 8/06The Pueblo Chieftain

11.  China Poised to Become the World's Largest Net Oil Importer Later This Year -  EIA's August 2013 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) projects that China's net oil imports will exceed those of the United States by October 2013 on a monthly basis and by 2014 on an annual basis, making China the largest importer of oil in the world. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=12471