News Updates for the Week of November 25

1.      LED Lighting Market Value in 2014 to Reach US$17.8 Billion, Says LEDinside - The total shipments of LED lighting products will reach 1.32 billion units, representing 68% on-year growth. LEDinside pointed out that the global LED lighting product replacement tide is caused by falling LED product prices. With replacement lamps being the most obvious, bulbs and tubes are the most popular ones in the market, which account for 38% and 24% of LED lighting product demand in 2013, respectively. In addition, the demand for LED luminaires in the future will gradually rise. According to the data, the growth rate of LED lighting market demand volume in North America is expected to reach 72% in 2014; in Latin America 64%; in Europe 69%; in China 86%. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20131120PR204.html

2.      Top-10 Vendors to Occupy 69% of 2013 Global LED Lighting Sales - The 10 largest vendors will together account for 69% of global LED lighting product sales in 2013, according to Taiwan's Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association (PIDA). The 10 largest vendors and respective global shares are Philips 20%, Osram 15%, Panasonic 8%, Toshiba 7%, Cree 4%, Endo 4%, Zumtobel 3%, Koizumi 3%, Iris Ohyama 3% and Sharp 2%, PIDA indicated. According to LEDinside, global LED lighting production value in 2014 will reach US$17.8 billion and corresponding shipments will increase 68% on year to 1.32 billion units. On-year growth in LED lighting sales volume in 2014 will be 72% in the North America market, 64% in Latin America, 69% in Europe and 86% in China. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20131118PD200.html

3.      OLED Lighting Opportunities 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players - OLED and LED lighting are both solid-state technologies and offer overlapping value propositions per market segment. They will therefore compete directly in many instances. This report is divided into two parts: (a) technology and (b) market assessment. The first offers a comprehensive yet detailed overview of both LED and OLED lighting, going through fabrication processes, material compositions, technology roadmaps, and key players. The device attributes of each technology are also critically assessed, examining parameters such as color warmth and controllability, flexibility, efficiency, surface emission, lifetime, wafer size, and luminaire design.  The second section offers a blunt market assessment. http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/clk772/oled_lighting

4.      Zhaga Publishes New Downlight and Rectangular LED Module Specifications - The Zhaga Consortium has published its Book 7 and 8 specifications for LED light engines (LLEs), essentially placing the standards into the public domain for usage by any company. The new specifications, for modules focused on linear/square fixtures and downlights respectively, join Books 1, 2, and 3 that Zhaga previously made available for public use. Modular solid-state lighting (SSL) technology in general, and Zhaga-based modules in particular, are meant to accelerate product development and in the case of Zhaga allow lighting manufacturers to choose from compatible LLEs offered by multiple vendors. There are now Zhaga specifications, that the consortium calls books, to serve in a variety of indoor and outdoor fixtures types. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/11/10

5.      DOE Publishes A Caliper Report and Subjective Study on LED PAR38 Lamps - The US DOE has published two reports on LED-based PAR38 retrofit lamps including an updated quantitative Caliper report on the lamps and a subjective report on light quality in which lighting designers rated various products. The Caliper report is an addendum to Report 20 in the DOE Caliper series that was initially issued in 2012, and the addendum covers six additional lamps and three additional benchmarks focused on the performance characteristics of the LEDs. The subjective report has been called Caliper 20.1 and covers the evaluation of beam quality, shadow quality, and color quality by lighting professionals. The report concluded that all 38 models of PAR38 lamps tested surpass halogen lamps in terms of energy efficiency. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/11/16

6.      ENERGY STAR® Center Beam Intensity Tool Update - The U.S. EPA has released an update to the Center Beam Intensity Tool for the ENERGY STAR Lamps specification to better reflect the Tool’s capabilities and limitations. The Tool was built using published data for common incandescent and halogen PAR and MR lamps in the market. The Tool’s underlying calculations remain unchanged, but now it will be clear when values entered are not supported by the underlying dataset. These updates were made to ensure that values generated by the tool reflect the intention of the tool and the incumbent technology dataset it was built from. Download at Light Bulbs for Partners

7.      Philips and Desso Announce Partnership to Develop Light Transmissive Carpets - Lighting maker Philips and carpet maker Desso said the partnership will further unlock the potential of LED integration into surfaces and will transform the way people interact with information and their environment in offices, hotels, conference centers and other public buildings. The LED light emitting carpets will provide many benefits in the areas of information, direction, inspiration and safety, such as guiding people around buildings, including safety exits and routes; enhancing the ambiance and atmosphere of the interior of buildings combining lighting with design and color; and helping to de-clutter spaces by making information visible only when needed. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20131119PR204.html

8.      LED vs. Everything Else: Interior & Exterior - Instructed by Stan Walerczyk, L.C., C.L.E.P.  Yes, LEDs are new, rapidly improving and have the 'wow' factor, but how do they currently compare with high performance incumbent technologies and some other new technologies in interior and exterior applications? How will these comparisons change in just one or two years? What are the best applications for currently available LED products? When should interim technologies be used before LEDs are really ready for prime time in some applications? 8-Hour Distance Learning Seminar; Earns 0.8 CEU / 8 PDH; Presented in four 2-hour live online sessions; New Program Starts January 13 AEE Seminars registrar@aeecenter.org

9.      History of the Light Bulb - http://energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb  Incandescents and existing lighting fixtures use designs that date back to Edison’s days. Replacing the old bulbs with LEDs is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to saving energy on lighting. LED lighting systems designed to take full advantage of LED’s strengths have even greater energy-savings potential than forcing LEDs into 19th century fixtures. It’s hard to tell where lighting technology will go in the future, but one thing is clear: it won’t be your grandfather’s light bulb. To learn how the Energy Department is working to accelerate the efficiency and quality of LEDs, visit the Solid-State Lighting Program’s website

10.  Price of Electricity Hit Record for October; Up 42% in Decade - The price of electricity hit a record for the month of October, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That made October the eleventh straight month when the average price of electricity hit or matched the record level for that month. The average price of electricity in October was 13.2 cents per kilowatt hour (KWH), up from 12.8 cents per KWH in October 2012—and up from 9.3 cents per KWH in October 2003. Americans now pay 42 percent more for electricity than they did a decade ago. - See more at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ap

11.  2013 SSL Market Introduction Workshop Presentations Posted - More than 200 attendees gathered to share the latest updates and strategies for successful market introduction of high-quality, energy-efficient SSL solutions at the eighth annual DOE Solid-State Lighting Market Introduction Workshop, held November 12–14 in Portland, OR.  The workshop presentations and materials have been posted on the DOE SSL website at www.ssl.energy.gov/portland2013_materials.html

12.  http://www.globalconevent.com/

 

News Updates for the Week of September 26

1.      Amid Paeans to Energy Efficiency, the World Is Getting Less Efficient - A new analysis by the Worldwatch Institute shows that global energy intensity—the amount of energy needed to produce a given unit of economic output—actually increased by 1.35% in 2010. The report notes that worldwide energy efficiency had been increasing steadily until recently. Between 2004 and 2008, global energy intensity experienced its sharpest decline in 30 years, with an average annual rate of decrease of 1.87 percent. Starting in 2008–09, however, energy intensity rose again, experiencing the first rise in three decades. This may just be a short-term bump in the road to a more efficient economy, due to the drop in energy and other commodity prices in the immediate wake of the 2008-09 global downturn.  In the U.S. and other developed countries, energy intensity has kept declining, in part because more mature economies have shifted from high-energy manufacturing to less energy-intensive service and digital industries. Still, Worldwatch believes that energy intensity on a global scale is likely to continue rising over the next few years, if only because of the amount of post-recession infrastructure development underway. In the U.S., we called it the stimulus. Building roads and bridges and airports is very energy-intensive in the short run, though it pays off later. 9/22 Time

2.      Two Million or More U.S. Buildings Could Benefit from Lighting-System Upgrades – More than 2.2 million of the nation’s 2.7 million older (pre-1980) commercial buildings have been using the same lighting for the past three decades, the National Lighting Bureau reports, citing data published by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Information Administration (EIA). The Bureau estimates that 3 million or more commercial and other nonresidential buildings are candidates for money- and energy-saving lighting-system upgrades. www.nlb.org

3.      Tax Plan to Turn Old Buildings ‘Green’ Finds Favor - A business consortium that includes Lockheed Martin and Barclays bank plans to invest as much as $650 million over the next few years to slash the energy consumption of buildings in the Miami and Sacramento areas. It is the most ambitious effort yet to jump-start a national market for energy upgrades that many people believe could eventually be worth billions. Focusing mainly on commercial property at first, the group plans to exploit a new tax arrangement that allows property owners to upgrade their buildings at no upfront cost, typically cutting their energy use and their utility bills by a third. The building owners would pay for the upgrades over five to 20 years through surcharges on their property-tax bills, but that would be less than the savings. The consortium is led by a company called Ygrene Energy Fund of Santa Rosa, CA. 9/19 NY Times

4.      Rebate and Incentive Programs Span the US - Buildings in thousands of municipalities across the US are now eligible for rebates, incentives and grants from state organizations and local utilities. These programs provide customers with incentives to upgrade inefficient lighting systems which significantly reduces the initial cost. Although there are programs in all 50 states, that doesn't mean all areas are covered by a rebate. Currently, incentives for energy efficient commercial lighting cover 79% of the US. http://www.briteswitch.com/newsletter/Sept11-1.html

5.      Existing-Home Sales Increased in August - About 25 hours after the release of a disappointing housing starts report, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said existing-home sales for August increased 7.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million. The August figure is 18.6% higher than the 4.24 million pace recorded in August 2010. 9/21 HCN

6.      August Housing Starts Slip, Again - The latest tally from the U.S. Department of Commerce showed housing starts in August at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571,000.The disappointing August rate -- analysts were expecting a pace of about 590,000 -- was 5% below July's downwardly revised figure, and 5.8% below the August 2010 rate of 606,000. On an unadjusted basis, there were 53,000 housing starts in August, and 38,300 single-family starts. Both are down from last month and last year. On the bright side, building permits in August were up 3.2% to a SAAR of 620,000. Compared with a year ago, building permits were up 7.8%. 9/20 HCN

7.      Rebates for Equipment Affected by Legislation - Rebates currently exist for many of the possible upgrades from the older inefficient lamps. As in the past, the incentive levels for the replacement products may fall or stop completely once the old technologies are phased out. http://www.briteswitch.com/newsletter/Sept11-2.html

8.      DOE Releases GATEWAY Report on LED Retrofit Lamp Museum Demonstration - The U.S. DOE has published the final evaluation report from a retrofit of track lighting used to illuminate a special gallery exhibition at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon. During the demonstration, 12W LED PAR38 lamps replaced 90W halogen PAR38 130V narrow flood lamps used for accent lighting, and a separate side-by-side comparison of three different LED PAR38 replacement lamps against the museum's standard halogen lamp was also staged. This GATEWAY demonstration report describes the process for the demonstration, the energy and economic results, and survey results from the PAR38 lamp comparison:  www.ssl.energy.gov/gatewaydemos_results.html

9.      Corporate and Institutional Procurement of Electricity - Electricity is a $360 billion per year market in the United States, with the vast majority of power sales still conducted through traditional regulated electric utilities.  Despite the failure of deregulation to take hold throughout the industry, as was expected in the 1990s, the past decade has seen tremendous growth in competitive electricity procurement by commercial, industrial and institutional purchasers in 20 states and jurisdictions that allow retail access to open markets. This Pike Research report examines the critical role that electricity plays in commercial and industrial operations, explores the motivations for seeking non-utility and green power among a variety of business types, and identifies existing policies that promote competition.  http://www.pikeresearch.com/research/corporate-and-institutional-procurement-of-electricity

10.  Investors to Spend Millions 'Greening' Commercial Buildings in Sacramento and Miami - Sacramento is one of two U.S. cities set to participate in a massive energy-efficiency project assembled by British business tycoon Richard Branson.  The plan would pour an estimated $100 million into retrofitting commercial buildings in Sacramento. The company running the project is Ygrene Energy Fund of Santa Rosa. The other participating city is Miami, which is in line for $550 million in improvements. The plan relies on AB 811, a three-year-old state law that sets up a funding mechanism called PACE to retrofit homes and businesses. In this new effort, private dollars provided by investors would generate upfront cash for the retrofits, with building owners paying the improvements over 20 years through a special assessment on their property taxes.  9/20 The Sacramento Bee

11.  WattStopper Publishes Best Practice Guide for Schools - WattStopper has published a set of best practice solutions for classrooms to help specifiers and facility managers quickly identify and implement energy-saving lighting control solutions for these high-value spaces, which account for approximately $8 billion in energy costs annually in the U.S. The new online tool offers users a range of design options to meet different energy-savings goals, and provides a wealth of detailed information from wiring diagrams to equipment schedules. Solutions feature WattStopper’s Digital Lighting Management controls, which offer superior flexibility in installation and performance. www.wattstopper.com

12.  Panasonic to Debut a New LED Lighting - Panasonic Electric Works Co. will debut a slew of new LED lights, starting Oct. 21. The subsidiary of Panasonic Corp. will increase its offerings 50% to 2,000 items this fiscal year, aiming to double LED lighting sales to about $650 million.

13.  U.S. General Services Administration Chooses Seesmart, Inc. for Massive Lighting Retrofit - GSA has selected the products of Seesmart, Inc. of Simi Valley, CA, www.seesmartled.com (a division of Seesmart Holdings, Inc., Frankfurt, Germany) for a $1.2 million order in LED tube lights. The order constitutes the single largest purchase of LED tube lights ever made by the GSA, whose latest lighting retrofit project will span 18 buildings across 2 U.S. States. In 3 years, Seesmart has delivered over 100,000 of their LED tube lights to the Administration. 9/7 BUSINESS WIRE

14.  Philips Hits the Road with 10-City LED Light Experience  -  Philips Lighting will be demonstrating to consumers what LED light can do for their homes and utility bills at the Philips LED Light Experience. A fun, educational and free interactive mobile exhibit, the tour will visit 10 U.S. cities with 24 tour stops this fall. The Philips LED Light Experience will make stops at retailers, trade shows, festivals and other events throughout the U.S. For a complete listing of dates and locations in your area or to register for the Home Lightover Sweepstakes, visit www.ledlightover.com

15.  RAB Lighting Introduces Affordable New 18 Watt LED Floodlight with Innovative Heatsink Design - RAB Lighting announced the company's introduction of an new 18 Watt LED Floodlight incorporating RAB's innovative heatsink technology. Designed to replace the 70 Watt metal halide floods found on many commercial building exteriors, RAB’s highly-efficient new "LFLOOD18" delivers an unprecedented combination of quality, long life, and affordability to a broad range of outdoor commercial LED lighting applications.

16. “Public Goods” Fee for State Energy Program to End - The California Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program that has generated billions of dollars in funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy research over the past 14 years is set to expire at the end of the year after lawmakers refused to renew it, and now state leaders are trying to find a way to replace it. The program is funded by a "public goods" fee that appears on the utility bills of most Californians and raises $356 million each year to provide rebates to customers who buy energy-efficient appliances and to contribute to renewable energy research, among other things. 9/23 San Francisco Chronicle