News Updates for the Week of June 24

1.      ACEEE: Energy Efficiency Still Cheaper Than New Generation - Energy efficiency programs continue to be the lowest-cost resource for utilities. Efficiency programs cost around 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with 7 cents and more for new generation, the organization said—meaning investments in energy efficiency continue to be an effective way to keep rates down for customers.The numbers came out of the ACEEE report "Leaders of the Pack: Utility Energy Efficiency Programs Innovate, Evolve, and Expand," released on June 20. The organization conducted similar reviews in 2003 and 2008 to publicize effective utility energy efficiency programs. http://aceee.org/blog/2013/06/leaders-pack-utility-energy-efficienc

2.      UL Expands Zhaga Testing Capabilities For LED Light Source Interchangeability - Underwriters Laboratories (UL) recently announced that it has been named an authorized testing laboratory for three new Zhaga Books—Zhaga Interface Specification Book 4: high-intensity LED light engines; Zhaga Interface Specification Book 7: indoor light engines with separate electronic control gear; and Zhaga Interface Specification Book 8: socketable LED light engine with integrated control gear (85 mm base). http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/lighting/index.jsp

3.      Los Angeles Has Swapped Out 140,000 Street Lights for Highly Efficient LEDs - A move that could save the city $10 million annually. The effort was the largest such street LED light replacement program in the world. The replacement program cost an estimated $57 million over the four years. It was funded through a $40 million loan and $16 million in rebate funds. Since Los Angeles started the program, the practice of mass conversion to LED has been sweeping across the country. In 2012, Baltimore completed its conversion of 70,000 street lights, which saves roughly $2 million a year. Portland, OR is launching a retrofit this year. Other major cities like San Francisco, San Antonio and Seattle are looking into swapping street lights as well. 6/20 The Daily Beast

4.      Hawaii Vows to More Than Double Energy Savings - Hawaii wants to more than double the energy it saves over the next two years by retrofitting government buildings with new lighting, air conditioning and other energy saving equipment. The plan is expected to cost about $300 million which will be paid for by savings gleaned from reducing energy use. Potential targets include Hawaii's 15 airports, the public safety department's prisons and jails, 30 buildings on the University of Hawaii at Hilo's campus and Honolulu's largest wastewater treatment plants. 6/14 AP

5.     Valoya Claims Additional Benefits for LEDs in Horticulture, Bees Like SSL - LED grow-light manufacturer Valoya has announced that horticultural research focused on growing tomatoes under artificial lighting at PlantResearch in Made, Netherlands has revealed additional benefits attributed to solid-state lighting (SSL) technology. The study revealed that the pollinator bumble bees, which are necessary for crops such as tomatoes and strawberries, are very active under SSL whereas with legacy high-pressure sodium (HPS) sources, the bees are only active when there is also some level of natural light. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/6/13

6.      Walgreens to Expand Solar Energy Installations to More Than 200 Stores - Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, together with Chicago-based solar developer SoCore Energy, today said they will build more than 200 new solar installations at Walgreens drugstores throughout California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. This latest expansion will bring the number of completed solar installations at Walgreens stores to more than 350, making the company the leading retailer in number of solar powered stores. 6/19 BUSINESS WIRE

7.     The LED Show Named the Top 25 Fast-Growth Shows in EXPO’s Annual List for 2013 - The LED Show 2013, offers an intense two day conference with a pre-conference workshop.  The conference will deliver education on a broad spectrum of essential LED technologies, trends and innovations. Speakers will reveal new technological advances for LEDs in manufacturing, design, testing, color definitions, controls, and final assembly. The latest in LED fixtures from multiple sources are featured on the exhibit floor enabling attendees to make informed specifying or purchasing decisions. http://www.theledshow.com/conference.html

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP: AUGUST 13, 2013
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION: AUGUST 14 - 15, 2013
RIO ALL SUITE HOTEL & CASINO 
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA

 

8.      May Delivers Robust Existing-Home Sales - On the heels of promising housing starts figures from last month, May's existing-home sales also experienced a sizeable year-over-year bump, according to the National Association of Realtors.  May's total existing-home sales rose 4.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million, up from 4.97 million in April and delivering growth of 12.9% from May 2012's 4.59 million rate. This is the highest it's been since the tax stimulus of November 2009, with sales staying above year-ago levels for the past 23 months. 6/20 HCN

News Updates for the Week of October 8

1.      Highlights of EEI Member and Non-Member Residential/Commercial/Industrial Efficiency and Demand Response Programs for 2012 (Last Updated on June 08, 2012) - Many Electric Companies offer programs and incentives to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use.

• Energy-efficiency rebates to make high-efficiency appliances, including lighting, air conditioning, and refrigeration, more affordable. 
• Low-interest loans for financing the purchase of high-efficiency equipment.
• Online energy audits to analyze a home's energy use and offer recommended adjustments. 
• Home construction programs to encourage builders to use energy-saving designs and specify high-efficiency appliances and equipment in new homes. 
• Demand response programs to encourage customers to reduce their electricity use during peak periods.

State by State review at: http://www.eei.org/ourissues/EnergyEfficiency/Documents/progs.pdf

2.      Global Demand for Lighting Fixtures to Grow at 6.9% CAGR to Reach $153 Million in 2016 - The lighting fixture industry is segmented into three major markets: construction, vehicles and machinery, and consumer and commercial goods. The construction market is the largest segment for lighting fixtures and gains in this market will be led by the residential building segment. Meanwhile, sales gains in the vehicles and machinery market will nearly match those of the construction market over the forecast period as vehicle production rates improve. The new Freedonia industry study presents historical demand data for 2001, 2006 and 2011, plus forecasts for 2016 and 2021 by product, market, world region and for 24 major countries. The study also considers market environment factors, evaluates company market share and profiles 39 industry competitors. http://www.giiresearch.com/report/fd128460-lighting-fixture.html

3.      ACEEE: Massachusetts Still #1 State for Energy Efficiency, While Oklahoma, Montana, and South Carolina Are Among Most Improved - States continue to move strongly in 2012 to advance energy efficiency initiatives regardless of which political party is in control of state legislatures and governors' offices, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) on the release today of its sixth annual State Energy Efficiency Scorecard. The ACEEE State Scorecard shows that the top 10 energy efficiency states are Massachusetts (in its second year atop the rankings), California, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Maryland, and Minnesota. The 10 states most in need of improvement (starting with last) are Mississippi, North Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Nebraska. http://aceee.org/sector/state-policy/scorecard

4.      IKEA to Sell Only LED Lighting by 2016 - IKEA, a leading home furnishings retailer, said today it will be converting its full lighting range to LED by 2016, meaning the company will sell only LED bulbs and lamps. It is believed that IKEA is the first U.S. home furnishings retailer to take such a move.  Additionally, IKEA said it is changing more than one million light sources inside their stores to LED and other more efficient lighting.  IKEA said that 43% of American households have at least one LED bulb in their homes. That number is based on an IKEA Global study. 10/1 TED

5.      Swarm of BEEs Arrives in Florida - Florida Power & Light Company is marking Energy Awareness Month by helping 1,000 small-and medium-sized businesses in Florida shape-up and BEE-healthy. FPL's Business Energy Evaluation (BEE) is a first step for a business to get "Energy Fit." FPL energy efficiency experts will meet with business customers, who already have electric bills that are among the lowest in the state, and develop customized BEEs showing them ways to save even more--in most cases five percent or more on lighting and cooling costs. www.FPL.com/BEE

6.      DOE Releases GATEWAY Report on LED Post-Top Lighting - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published the evaluation report from a GATEWAY demonstration in New York City's Central Park, conducted in collaboration with The Climate Group and the New York City Department of Transportation. LED post-top luminaires from five different manufacturers were installed along paved walking trails and evaluated against the metal halide luminaires that were in the park at the time. The report includes product comparisons across performance criteria of energy savings, improved horizontal and vertical illuminance, life-cycle cost, and simple payback, as well as considerations regarding orientation, spacing, and color quality. The report is available for download at www.ssl.energy.gov/gatewaydemos_results.html

7.      LEDnovation Introduces 75W- and 100W-Equivalent A-Lamps - LEDnovation, a manufacturer of LED replacement lamps based in Tampa, FL, has introduced 75W and 100W comparable versions of its EnhanceLite Omnidirectional A-lamps. The LEDH-A19-75-1-27D-IO and LEDH-A19-100-1-27D-IO offer 1150 lm and 1600 lm output and require 13.7W and 19W, respectively, and deliver a warm color temperature of 2700K. The company will begin producing the 75W-equivalent lamp in November 2012 and the 100W-equivalent lamp in January 2013.  http://ledsmagazine.com/news/9/9/23

8.      Georgia Power Encourages Customers to Take the Change a Light, Change the World Pledge -For the seventh year, Georgia Power is encouraging its customers to help the environment and save energy by supporting the U.S. EPA’s "Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR®" campaign. Georgia Power currently ranks as the top EPA national pledge leader for the 2011-2012 campaign. The company has distributed more than 680,000 CFLs to customers in exchange for pledges since establishing the partnership with the EPA pledge campaign in 2006. Through the campaign, customers are encouraged to take the pledge to change at least one standard incandescent light bulb to an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL. 10/02 PRNewswire

9.      California Utilities Announce Innovative Financing For Energy Efficiency Retrofits - The California investor-owned utilities (Sempra, SoCalEd and PG&E) announced several financing programs including the first On-Bill Repayment (OBR) program using third-party capital to finance energy efficiency retrofits in commercial properties. Property owners would be able to access low-cost capital to finance upgrades and repay the investment through their utility bill. http://www.edf.org/energy/obr

10.  2012 IES Annual Conference Minneapolis (11/11/12 - 11/13/12) at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center - http://www.ies.org/ac/

News Updates for the Week of May 21

1.      Energy Efficiency Gaining Ground in Inefficient States, ACEEE Says - Energy efficiency is gaining momentum in states that have traditionally been behind the curve in pushing such technology, according to research by the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy. The report draws on a series of interviews with stakeholders in states ranked in the bottom ten of the State Energy Efficiency Scorecard: Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. 5/17 Environmental Leader

2.      LEDs Revolutionize the Market for Recessed Lighting and Control by Susan Bloom - As an estimated 5-million-piece market valued at nearly $1 billion in U.S. sales, recessed lighting has been a familiar go-to configuration within millions of professional and residential lighting applications for decades. Once dominated by incandescent lighting, however, the recessed market has changed; LEDs now deliver a new level of energy efficiency, long life, low maintenance costs, and light and color quality to the recessed lighting market, proving this once-standard setup is anything but. 04/’12 Electrical Contractor

3.      The Overall Value of the Lighting Market Will Shrink as Energy Efficient LEDs Displace Conventional Technology, According to Pike Research - While today cost remains a barrier to the adoption of more efficient lighting, particularly LED lighting, those costs are declining rapidly and mass adoption could happen in a relatively short timeframe. According to a recent report from Pike Research, LEDs will displace more than 52% of the global market for lamps in commercial buildings by 2021. The cleantech market intelligence firm anticipates that the combination of declining prices for LED lighting and the accompanying extended lamp lifetimes will have the effect of shrinking the overall value of the market. While revenues from LED lamps in the commercial sector will rise by 8.5% through 2021, to $2.7 billion, Pike Research forecasts, the overall market for commercial lighting will peak at $54 billion in 2012 before contracting through the remainder of the decade, hitting about $30 billion in 2021. 5/18 BUSINESS WIRE

4.      ENERGY STAR Vision and Guiding Principles Document - The U.S. EPA finalized the Vision and Guiding Principles for ENERGY STAR products.  These include a focus on products that meet the highest energy conservation standards without sacrifice in performance or functionality and an emphasis on transparency and a collaborative relationship with industry and other stakeholders. www.energystar.gov/productdevelopment 

5.      Revised Solid-State Lighting R&D Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) Is Now Posted Online - The MYPP is an important part of DOE's SSL R&D program, because it guides our Core Technology Research and Product Development implementation as well as our funding solicitations. But the MYPP's influence extends well beyond the halls of government, with many of its figures, graphs, and projections being widely used throughout the industry – overseas as well as here in the U.S.
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_mypp2012_web.pdf

6.      Quantum Light™ Optic - QD Vision's Quantum Light™ optic enables LED lighting companies to produce lamps and downlight fixtures that combine the familiar warmth and color of incandescent bulbs with the energy efficiency of LED technology. The first lamp incorporating Quantum Light™ optics became available in the first quarter of 2010. The Quantum Light™ optic is applied to the exit face of an LED replacement lamp or downlight fixture. These quantum dot-enhanced products demonstrate high color quality and efficiency, together with energy savings of up to 80% and 50,000 hours of product life. http://www.qdvision.com/quantum-light-optic

7.      Commerce Dept Slaps Tariffs on Chinese Solar by Doug Chandler - The U.S. Department of Commerce yesterday announced that it would order tariffs of 31% and more on solar photovoltaic (PV) panels imported from China after a preliminary finding that Chinese companies were selling panels in the United States at prices below fair market value—i.e., dumping.  If this preliminary finding is affirmed by U.S. trade officials this fall, will have a significant effect on the cost of solar power development and possibly on the availability of panels in the U.S. market. 5/18 http://livewire.electricalmarketing.com/

8.      Next Generation Luminaires Design Competition Announces 2012 Indoor Winners - Winners in the Indoor category of the fourth annual Next Generation Luminaires^TM Solid-State Lighting Design Competition were announced at LIGHTFAIR^® International in Las Vegas. Out of 114 entries from 43 companies, 53 were recognized as winners this year, meaning they were considered worthy of specification. Three of this year's winners were designated as "best in class."

• Intense Lighting for its MBW2 LED Track accent lighting fixture 
• Albeo Technologies Inc. for its H-Series LED high-bay luminaire 
• Lithonia Lighting for its ST Series LED utility/general purpose luminaire

More information on all the winning entries is available at www.ngldc.org

9.      What Lamps Will Be Phased Out? - Lighting industry experts discuss the new standards for lamp efficiency. Results of a recent survey of energy-efficient lighting professionals across the country in December by Hudson, Wis.-based Precision-Paragon (P2), an online source for lighting retrofit systems and information, reveals the demand for energy-efficient lighting is growing, despite the sluggishness of the recovery of the general U.S. economy and the severe downturn in the construction industry. http://ecmweb.com/market_trends/what-lamps-will-be-phased-out-20120401/

10.  Construction Employment Remains Nearly Flat in April - The construction industry lost 2,000 jobs in April, following similar declines of 3,000 in March and 1,000 in February, but still added 63,000 jobs over the past year as the industry unemployment rate shrank to 14.5%—the lowest April level in four years, according to an analysis of new federal employment data released recently by the Associated General Contractors of America. 5/16 EC&M

11.  Home Energy Management - The home energy management (HEM) market continues to struggle for more traction.  By now, with major deployments of smart grid infrastructure in place, the expectation had been that a smarter grid would be enabling the wider use of new tools and incentives for consumers to use energy more efficiently.  This Pike Research report examines global and regional home energy management trends as they play out along a continuum of five segments: paper bills, web portals, standalone systems, in-home displays, and integrated HAN/HEM systems. The study also explores the drivers and inhibitors shaping the market, plus major technology issues. http://www.pikeresearch.com/research/home-energy-management   

12.  Rexel Expands Its Presence in the USA with the Strategic Acquisition of Platt Electric - In one of the largest acquisitions in years, Rexel has purchased Platt Electric Supply, Beaverton, Ore., the largest regional chain in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states. This acquisition represents an investment of c. €300 million (enterprise value) for Rexel and will be accretive by the end of 2013.

13.  Philips Signs 200th Licensee for Its LED Luminaire Licensing Program - Royal Philips Electronics has unveiled Paulmann Light GmbH as the 200th licensee of its LED luminaire and retrofit bulb licensing program. The Philips licensing program was first launched in July 2008, and now includes a number of companies described by Philips as “key lighting players,” such as Cooper, Trilux, Acuity Brands, Cree, Osram, Neo-Neon and Zumtobel.  Through the program, licensees are given access to a wide range of basic LED control and system-level technologies available for use in branded LED-based luminaires and retrofit bulbs for general illumination, architectural, entertainment and theatrical markets. The royalty rates are 3% of the net selling price for a single-color luminaire, 4% for a tunable-white luminaire, and 5% for a color-changing luminaire or for a retrofit lamp. Luminaire makers do not pay a royalty if they have purchased all the components, including the LED light engine and driver, from a qualified supplier, namely Philips, Osram or Zumtobel. http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/9/5/16

14.  Peter van Strijp, Former Philips SSL CEO, Takes Helm at Planar LED Lighting Pioneer Oree - Oree announced that LED lighting veteran Peter van Strijp has been named as the company’s new CEO. Mr. van Strijp has served as Oree's Chairman of the Board. This move comes as Oree’s focus shifts into aggressive sales, while building new channels and acquiring new high-profile accounts. The company is increasing its emphasis on the general lighting market for its LightCell™ technology, with an emphasis on Europe and Asia. Mr. van Strijp is a former Exec Vice President at Philips Lighting, where he held senior management positions like CEO of the global Lighting Electronics business and later on he became the CEO of Philips Solid State Lighting business group as well as a board member at Lumileds. www.oree-inc.com