News Updates for the Week of September 16

1.      ENERGY STAR Lighting Road Mapping Meeting - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) welcome lighting stakeholders to this initial road mapping discussion on October 9, 2013 from 3:30 – 6:30 PM CDT. This meeting is expected to be the first in a series intended to facilitate engagement on ENERGY STAR lighting topics. Please find a draft agenda, and RSVP via email by September 23 Alex.Boesenberg@nema.org

2.      Outdoor Competition Intent-To-Submit Deadline Approaches - The 2013 Next Generation Luminaires (NGL) Solid-State Lighting Outdoor Design Competition launched in July. Written Intents-to-Submit are due by September 20, 2013, and must be submitted online at www.ngldc.org Final submission forms are due by October 18, 2013, and physical product samples are due by November 1. Judging takes place in December, and results will be announced in Feb. ’14.

3.      Some Rebate Programs Out of Funds; Others Offer Bonus Programs - According to our North American Rebate and Incentive Database, 74% of the USA is covered by an active lighting rebate program; 8% of all US commercial lighting rebate and incentive programs are currently out of funding. Other programs are offering limited time bonus programs to increase participation, such as a program called Energizing Indiana is offering double rebates on 25W T8 lamp and ballast retrofits and select high bay fixtures. Another bonus program by ComEd in Illinois is offering a bonus for customers who get rid of all T12s in their facilities. http://www.briteswitch.com/maximizing.html

4.      Rebates for LEDs are Available Across the Country - Depending on your location, you may be eligible for a sizeable rebates when installing LED solutions in your existing facility or new construction project. http://www.briteswitch.com/led.html

5.      Lights Out for T12 Rebates? - Manufacturers had to stop producing T12 lamps after July 2012. While the availability of rebate programs and the dollar amounts have decreased since the phase out, there’s still a good chance to still get a rebate in some parts of the country. If you have T12 fixtures that will need to be upgraded to T8 fixtures, you should act soon in order to take advantage of existing rebates. 

6.      DOE’s Adoption of Light-Emitting Diodes in Common Lighting Applications - This report presents the findings for nine major lighting applications where LEDs are competing with traditional light sources. This analysis estimates the energy saved due to current levels of LED penetration, as well as the potential energy savings if these markets switched completely to LEDs. The selected applications are classified into three groups: indoor lamps, indoor luminaires, and outdoor luminaires. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/led-adoption-report_2013.pdf 

7.      New York's Energy Star Program Reaches Milestone - The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's Energy Star program has completed its 50,000th project. NYSERDA offers loans of as much as $13,000 per household—or $25,000 if energy upgrades will pay for themselves in savings in 15 years or less. 9/8 AP

8.      Chicago Moves to Require Building Owners to Disclose Energy Use - Under the proposal, buildings in excess of 50,000 square feet--which represent less than 1 percent of the city's buildings but 22 percent of buildings total energy consumption--would be required to disclose energy consumption data and information about building size, use and occupancy levels into a software program like TurboTax administered by the U.S. EPA. The "benchmarking" tool, called Energy Star Portfolio Manager, would then compare the energy efficiency of comparable buildings. It is hoped that the scores will motivate business owners to improve through upgrades. 9/11 Chicago Tribune

9.      University of Kentucky Gets $1 Million Rebate for Energy Savings Program - In 2009, UK hired Ameresco of Louisville, which did an analysis of its energy usage. The school then started retrofitting 61 campus buildings with energy-efficient equipment, such as high-efficiency lighting, better air conditioning equipment and water conservation efforts. Officials estimate that the $25 million project saves about $2.4 million a year by using nearly 14 million fewer kilowatt hours of electricity and 37 million fewer gallons of water. The $25 million will be recouped in 12 years. UK received the rebates through the Commercial Rebate Program offered by KU and Louisville Gas and Electric Company.  9/12 Lexington Herald-Leader

10.  Imperial Irrigation District, CA Energy Rewards Program - As part of IID’s energy efficiency efforts, the rebates are designed to help business customers reduce their operating costs, improve profitability, protect the environment and help lower the cost of power generation.  The program offers rebates to small, medium and large size non-residential customers for the purchase of qualifying lighting, refrigeration, air conditioning, food service, agricultural and controls equipment. Applications for rebates totaling $2,500 or more require pre-approval. http://www.iid.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=6143

11.  World’s Largest LED Streetlight Retrofit Completed in Los Angeles - The enormous street light swap-out of 141,089 brand-new LED street lights was finished in June. The second phase of Los Angeles’ LED replacement program will see the retrofit of about 70,000 decorative street lamps located throughout the city. Navigant (formerly Pike) Research recently predicted that shipments of LED street lights will increase from fewer than 3 million in 2012 to more than 17 million in 2020.

Specs at: http://photos.state.gov/libraries/finland/788/pdfs/LED_Presentation_Final_June_2013.pdf

Los Angeles is certainly not alone in making the switch to LED street lighting. In March, the City of Las Vegas finished outfitting 42,000 street lights with LED fixtures. One month later, the City of Austin, Texas, announced plans to install 35,000 LED street lights. And, in December of last year, CPS Energy said it would install 20,000 LED street lights in San Antonio. http://www.forbes.com/sites/justingerdes/2013/07/31/los-angeles-completes-worlds-largest-led-street-light-retrofit/

12.   

http://www.theledshow.com/index.html