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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.
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
