News Updates for the Week of January 28

1.      America's Top 5 Energy-Efficient Football Stadiums - With Super Bowl Sunday fast approaching, it seems like an ideal time to take a look at how the football industry is advancing energy efficiency.
Here are America’s Most Energy-Efficient NFL Stadiums:

1st) MetLife Stadium: New York Giants and New York Jets

2nd) Lincoln Financial Field: Philadelphia Eagles

3rd) CenturyLink Field: Seattle Seahawks

4th)  Soldier Field: Chicago Bears

5th) Georgia Dome: Atlanta Falcons

http://ase.org/efficiencynews/americas-top-5-energy-efficient-football-stadiums

2.      2013 Rebate Programs Have Started - Electric utilities and government organizations across the nation have been busy updating their rebate programs for 2013. A majority have already released their new programs, with others to have them by the end of the month. While every program is different, some of the most common changes we have seen this year are T12 rebate amounts being reduced or removed and more programs adding new incentives for LED lighting solutions.  At this time, incentives for energy efficient commercial lighting cover 71% of the US. http://www.briteswitch.com/newsletter/Jan13-1.html

 

3.      LED Rebates - More Opportunities Than Ever - As LED lighting solutions have continued to penetrate the market, rebate and incentive programs in North America have taken notice and revised their program offerings. Over the past few years, these programs have added new incentives for many types of LED solutions and worked to refine requirements for these products. In fact, according to our North American Rebate and Incentive Database, the number of rebate programs for LEDs has increased by 54% since January 2012. http://www.briteswitch.com/newsletter/Jan13-2.html

4.      New Construction Can Get Rebates Too - Although a lot of people are aware of rebates for installing energy efficient equipment in older facilities, few people realize that rebates and incentives may also be available for new construction projects. Unlike retrofit projects which base rebates on how much energy is saved compared to the old equipment, new construction programs often base the incentives on the savings over a building code, most commonly a version of ASHRAE 90.1. Programs can cover equipment such as HVAC systems, interior lighting, exterior lighting, refrigeration, and water systems. http://www.briteswitch.com/newsletter/Jan13-3.html

      5.  Professor Invents the Best New Lightbulb in 30 Years - So far the main alternatives to the common bulb have been CFLs and LEDs. Soon, a fourth lighting option will be thrown into the mix. It's called the FIPEL, which is short for field-induced polymer electroluminescent technology. The new light source is made of several layers of very thin plastic. Each sheet is about 100,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair. The plastic is inserted between an aluminum electrode and a transparent conducting electrode. When a current is passed through the device, it stimulates the plastic to light up. It works like a microwave oven but instead of giving off heat, it gives off light.  Dr. David Carroll, a professor of physics at Wake Forest University in North Carolina developed the new light source.  
http://www.businessinsider.com/fipel-lighting-technology-david-carroll-wake-forrest-2013-1

6.      2013 Is Full of Opportunities and Risks for LED Lighting - Sales of LED lighting have been growing annually by 17% on average since 2011. In 2013, the global LED lighting market output will likely reach US$15 billion, including replacement and non-replacement light sources.. The market ratio of lighting fixtures and replacement light sources should be 8:2, according to Robert Yeh, chairman of Taiwan-based Everlight Electronics.  According to statistics, the penetration rate of LED lighting in 2013 will reach 25%. "According to the numbers I have," said Yeh, "currently the top 10 LED lighting firms in the world account for 37% of the market and in particular, Philips has a global market share of around 10%, ranking at number one. Japan-based Panasonic has a global market share of around 7.9% while Toshiba has a market share of 5.6%. Osram and Cree have market share of 4.6 and 2.4% respectively. On the other hand, the combined market share of other firms is around 62.7%, meaning the lighting market is very localized with low industry concentration." http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130115PD203.html

7.      DOE Unveils Building America Solutions Center - The Building America Solution Center Website http://basc.pnnl.gov/ offers a range of interactive resources including guides on critical industry topics as well as easily searchable images, CAD files, and case studies to help train and support home builders, remodelers, architects, designers, researchers, and code officials. Users will have access to proven innovations and best practices from Energy Department-approved building science research for hundreds of high-performance home technologies. The BASC allows users easy access to information on integrated energy systems that dramatically reduce annual energy use.

8.      California to Invest $2.5 Billion to Retrofit Energy-Wasting Schools - On November 6, 2012, California voters approved two measures: Proposition 30 http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/30/ increased income taxes on high earners for seven years and raised the sales tax by a quarter-cent for four years; Proposition 39 http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/39/ closed a tax loophole that favored out-of-state corporations, costing the state around $1 billion annually. Prop 39 stipulates that over the next five years half of the recovered revenue be spent on clean energy and energy efficiency projects in public buildings. After five years, all of the revenue flows to the state’s General Fund. Budget analysts expect Prop 39 to make available an estimated $2.5 billion for clean energy and energy efficiency projects. 1/22 Forbes

9.      LVIA Strikes $4.5 Million Energy-Saver Deal - The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority is about to embark on a terminal renovation project that has the perfect price tag: free. Well, sort of. The authority that runs Lehigh Valley International Airport agreed Tuesday to a deal to have Baltimore-based Constellation Energy install $4.5 million in new lighting, climate controls, power generators and other energy-saving devices. In return, Constellation will guarantee the airport enough annual energy savings to pay off the loan needed to fund the work. Nearly $1.2 million will be spent to replace fluorescent lighting with LED lights that are projected to save the airport $93,000 a year. 1/23 The Morning

10.  Lighting Coalition Asks EPA to Lower Energy Star Efficacy Specs for High CRI Lamps - Soraa is spearheading an effort, involving a number of major players in the SSL industry, asking the US EPA to lower the efficacy requirements in the evolving Energy Star Lamps version 1.0 specification--only impacting products with a CRI of 90 or better. The group believes that more users will adopt LED-based retrofit lamps if Energy Star-recognized options are available with a higher CRI, and therefore the net energy savings throughout the potential US customer base will increase even though the lamps in question use marginally more energy. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/1/16

11.  DOE Finds Up to 76% Energy Savings with Occupancy Sensors - The U.S. DOE has published a GATEWAY demonstration report that summarizes and compares experiences from field installations of occupancy sensor-controlled LED lighting in two parking structures and two parking lots. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/2012_gateway_sensors.pdf

12.  IKEA Announces 'All-LED' Lighting Agenda - The Swedish home furnishings giant announced its’ intent to sell only LED lighting in its stores by 2016. Come February, IKEA stores here and globally will be glowing with a much broader array of LED based fixtures, floor, table and desk lamps and portable illuminators. Soon you’ll start to see more LEDs designed into IKEA furniture, included in the flat packs and ready for assembly. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/gizmo/187891491.html

13. Lime Energy Exceeds Energy Efficiency Program Goal for National Grid - Lime Energy Co. http://www.lime-energy.com announced they have met both their original and revised annual savings goals set by National Grid, for their small business Direct Install Program. Lime Energy is the exclusive provider for the Western New York and Frontier regions of National Grid’s upstate New York State service territory, and delivered $11 million in National Grid incentive monies to customers in 2012. National Grid provides rebates of up to 70 percent of the project cost for small business customers to upgrade to more energy efficient equipment. National Grid also offers interest-free, on-bill financing. https://www.nationalgridus.com/niagaramohawk/business/energyeff/3_small.asp

 

14.  USGBC Releases 2012 List of Top 10 States for LEED – Today 1/23, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released its annual list of the top 10 states for new LEED certifications in 2012, highlighting those regions that are transforming buildings and communities across the country. The full ranking, which includes 10 states plus Washington, D.C., can be found here: http://new.usgbc.org/articles/usgbc-releases-2012-list-top-10-states-leed

15.  LEDs Emerge as a Popular ‘Green’ Lighting - The lighting industry has finally come up with an energy-efficient replacement for the standard incandescent bulb that people actually seem to like: the LED bulb.  Among A-type bulbs, LEDs will outsell incandescents in North America in 2014, according to projections by IMS Research. And LEDs will become the most popular A-type technology by 2016, with North American shipments reaching almost 370 million, a more than tenfold increase from the roughly 33 million shipped last year, the firm estimates. 1/21 NY Times

16. DOE White Paper: Keeping Manufacturing in the United States - Over the last eight years, the U.S. DOE has directly worked to accelerate the growth of the emerging solid-state lighting industry, primarily through research, development and demonstration efforts. This support has led to numerous technological and market advancements that have supported the growth of U.S. industry and a distinct international lead in the production of quality products. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_whitepaper_july2010.pdf 

17.  IMARK to Enter Utility Market - IMARK Utility will focus on REA, co-ops and municipal utilities that buy their electrical supplies through electrical wholesalers. It will not target investor owned utilities (IOUs). The company said it has several members that conduct business in the utility market and also noted a shift in this market segment, which is resulting in a higher volume of electrical supplies being purchased through electrical wholesalers. http://www.imarkgroup.com/

 

18.  Expert Sees $2 Trillion Benefit for Country in Smart Grid - It will take much money and effort to create a nationwide "smart grid"--a modernized electricity grid that is finely monitored and run by state-of-the-art cyber-systems--but the eventual economic benefit to the nation could approach $2 trillion according to George Arnold, national coordinator for smart grid interoperability with the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Techology. 1/16 The Blade

19.  Existing-Home Sales Slip in December - Total existing-home sales declined 1.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million in December from a downwardly revised 4.99 million in November, according to the National Association of Realtors. They are 12.8% above the 4.38 million-unit level in December 2011. The preliminary annual total for existing-home sales in 2012 was 4.65 million, up 9.2% from 4.26 million in 2011. It was the highest volume since 2007 when it reached 5.03. 1/23 HCN

20.  New-Home Sales Slip 7.3% in December - Sales of new single-family homes in December slipped 7.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 369,000, according to data released Friday morning by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. An estimated 367,000 new homes were sold in 2012. This is 19.9% above the 2011 figure of 306,000. 1/25 HCN

21.  What Makes Strategies in Light Different - The world’s largest and longest-running conference and exhibition covering the LEDs and Solid-State Lighting sectors, Strategies in Light’s 14-year tradition of educational excellence provides an platform for information exchange, networking and new business development. Join us as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the invention of LEDs. http://www.strategiesinlight.com/register.html

News Updates for the Week of November 26

Important message:  we have made it easy to subscribe to EnergyWatch and it even applies to those who may have hit the unsubscribe button and want to get back in the game.  Click on: http://www.attardimarketing.com/energywatch/ on the right side of the website, click on Constant Contact List Signup. Enter your email address, hit subscribe and you are all set. As a service to you, there is no charge…tell your friends and customers.

1.      Philips Lighting’s CEO Bruno Biasiotta Announces Reorganization - With greater attention to the customer experience, Philips Lighting is creating a one lighting go to market organization focused around geographies and differentiated by channel.

• They will begin to move towards a single Professional sales team by providing access to the entire Philips portfolio, also maintaining partnerships with independent agents. Leading this division is Ed Crawford. 
• The Consumer sales team, led by Kerry Vachon, will represent the full portfolio for the Consumer channel.
• The OEM sales team will report into the Lighting NA market organization. 
• The National Accounts and Services group will expand its activities and establish and invest in Turnkey Projects & Solutions (TP&S) to build solutions selling capability as a growth platform. Bill Schoettler is in charge here.  
• Danny Garst will head up a centrally led Customer Fulfillment and Sales Support Centers. Customer Fulfillment to offer a one Philips point of contact, while continuing to focus on forecast accuracy and on time order delivery. Sales support to focus on functional excellence and capabilities.  

2.      FMI Releases 2013 Construction Outlook - FMI, the Raleigh, N.C.-based provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, has forecast an 8% increase in construction activity for 2013. Robust growth in residential construction, as well as a few strong markets in nonresidential and non-building construction, will contribute to the expansion, the report said. http://www.fminet.com/resources

3.      City Announces $10 Million Available for Energy Efficiency Loans - A new public-private initiative is offering Knoxville businesses a funding source to help finance energy efficiency improvements such as heating system upgrades and building retrofits. Through the city's partnership with Pathway Lending, a total of $10 million in loans will be available for businesses in Knoxville and Knox County.  Low-interest loans from $25,000 to $2.5 million are available through a the "Mayor's Energy Efficiency Challenge." Details are available at www.pathwaylending.org

4.      Incandescent Lamp Shipments Index Remains Resilient Through Third Quarter - NEMA’s index for traditional A-line incandescent lamps increased 20.2 percent during Q3 2012 rebounding from a slide of 18.2 percent in Q2 2012. Meanwhile, the CFL index registered a decline of 3.3 percent compared to the previous quarter. Halogen A-line lamp shipments gained momentum, increasing by 83.3 percent on a quarterly basis. The index for halogen A-line lamps has increased in 7 out of the last 8 quarters. http://www.nema.org

 

5.      Nexxus Lighting Changes Name to Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. - Nexxus Lighting, Inc. (NEXS) announced that the company has changed its name to Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. (RVLT), effective November 15, 2012. www.rvlti.com

6.      DOE Updates the Latest L Prize Lamp Test Results, Rebate Offers - The US DOE continues to test the Philips Lighting LED 60W-equivalent retrofit lamp that won the L Prize with no failures reported over more than 20,000 hours of operation. The full lot of 200 sample lamps are all still operating. The tests have reached what the agency considers the equivalent of 18 years of household use with no failures. Moreover, the average lumen maintenance remains above 100% of their initial output. The DOE also released a summary of rebates available for the solid-state lighting (SSL) product that range as high as $20 per lamp. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/9/11/13

7.      Existing Home Sales Rise in October - According to a report from the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales in the U.S. rose 2.1% in October.  Existing home sales grew to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million units, according to a report issued Monday morning. The figure is up 2.1% from September’s rate, and up 10.9% from the 4.32 million level in October 2011. 11/19 HCN

8.      Housing Starts Rise Again - The residential construction surge from September stayed the course in October, as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts increased to 894,000. The figure is up 3.6% from a downwardly revised September estimate of 863,000. More impressive, it is up 41.9% from the October 2011 rate of 630,000. Like the September figure, the October figure is the highest since July 2008. 11/20 HCN

9.      Daimler to Introduce Luxury Car Lit Entirely with LEDs - The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class will be the first car to be fitted completely with LEDs as standard, while optional extras will include adaptive LED headlamps that adjust according to other road users. The car will use over 190 LEDs that will illuminate the road ahead, as well as the vehicle’s exterior, interior and luggage compartment. Of course, Daimler’s rivals have also been hard at work introducing LED lighting into their vehicles. http://ledsmagazine.com/news/9/11/15

News Updates for the Week of September 24

1.      Number of LED Rebates Increases by 51% - Over the past year, rebate and incentive programs have caught up to the growing number of LED lighting solutions being used in the market today. Today, thousands of programs are available for LED solutions. An interesting trend is that while the number of rebates has steadily grown over the past year, the average rebate amount has actually gone down. For LED replacement lamps, the average rebate has decreased by 4% since January 2012. Incentives for LED recessed down lights have also decreased by 29% during the same time period. These reductions are mostly due to the cost of LEDs coming down over the last year, which means less incentive money is needed to make these solutions financially attractive. http://www.briteswitch.com/newsletter/Sept12-1.html

2.      The Current US Lighting Rebate Climate - As we enter the final stretch of the calendar year, an increasing number of rebate and incentive programs are exhausting their funds. According to our North American Rebate and Incentive Database, 9% of all US commercial lighting rebate and incentive programs are currently out of funding. This situation is mainly due to increased participation in the programs. Locations that would have previously qualified for rebates may no longer be eligible because the rebate organization has no money left.

http://www.briteswitch.com/newsletter/Sept12-2.html

3.      Forces of Change by Mark Lien - A recent DOE study projects that the LED market share will total just 9.5% by 2015 and 35.8 % in 2020. Innovation is often stifled because the concept is embraced but new ideas are not. Lighting products and applications will not be the same in 10 years. New industry leadersd will emerge with their success being in large part by how they define LED innovation. 8/’12 LD&A 

4.      Builder Confidence Continues to Rise - Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose for a fifth consecutive month in September to a level of 40 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. The three-point rise brought the index to its highest point since June 2006. Any number higher than 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. 9/18 HCN

5.      Housing Starts Improve in August - Government data released Wednesday morning show residential construction climbing slowly out of an historically deep hole. Housing starts increased in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 750,000--that’s up 2.3% from the July rate and up 29.1% from the August 2011 rate. To put the numbers in an historical context, a full year with 750,000 starts would be the fourth lowest year since the government began keeping track of the statistic in 1959. However, an end-of-year figure of 750,000 would be an increase of 39%, 28% and 23% when compared with the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. 9/19 HCN

6.      Existing-Home Sales Rise 7.8% - Existing-home sales continued to improve in August, according to the National Association of Realtors. The NAR’s tally shows existing-home sales in August increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million, up 7.8% from 4.47 million in July. Compared with a year ago, the rate of sales is up 9.3%.  9/20 HCN

7.      Half Of Chinese LED Chip Makers Predicted to Go Bust - Half of all LED chip making companies in China will go bankrupt owing to a slump in global demand and cuts in subsidies to certain manufacturers, according to a piece of research by Reuters. Analysts say oversupply and the economic downturn has depressed prices to below production levels, meaning large numbers of small companies have already closed their businesses. Under a new government resolution to reduce subsidies, these businesses may be left with no choice but to integrate or declare bankruptcy. Due to government support, global share of the market for packaged LED components rose from 2 per cent in 2010 to 6 per cent in 2011. But the boom years are coming to an end, with many of China’s LED chipmakers operating their factories at 50 per cent capacity. Around half of the 700 or so factories that received government help have been left idle. http://www.lighting.co.uk

8.      Energy Efficiency Initiative Putting NY on the MAP - The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has launched a $30 million initiative to accelerate the market utilization of emerging, cutting-edge energy-efficiency technologies. The Energy Efficiency Market Acceleration Program (EE-MAP) will fund research and development activities and demonstration projects to help leverage investments and promote business development opportunities for emerging energy efficiency technologies. This will be done in coordination with state agencies, authorities and electric utilities to improve industry access to investments made at public facilities. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/energy-efficiency-initiative-putting-ny-map/2012-09-18

9.      NYSERDA Announces $1.1 Million Equipment Rebate Program to Help Small Municipal Governments Reduce Energy Use - The “Buy Green, Save Green Rebates for New York State Local Governments” program is available to encourage small municipal governments to replace inefficient appliances and equipment with energy-efficient models. The program begins Sept. 25, 2012. The rebates will pay 75 percent of the purchase price of eligible products, which include ENERGY STAR® refrigerators, dehumidifiers, commercial dishwashers, room air conditioners, imaging equipment (including copiers and fax machines; digital duplicators; printers, scanners and all-in-one devices; and mailing machines), as well as CFLs and LEDs in quantities of 10 or more.  www.nysappliancerebates.com 

10.  Newly Remodeled New Jersey Energy Data Center Website - The NJEDC is funded by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and is a data collection and processing tool for New Jersey policy makers, businesses, educators, and citizens. The website includes links to electricity, natural gas, petroleum, energy efficiency and renewable energy data for the State, as well as many other energy-related links. The purpose of the site is to help promote public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. http://www.njenergydatacenter.org/

11.  Five Connecticut Colleges Sharing $1M Loan to Boost Energy Efficiency - Connecticut's Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority is making a $1 million loan to help a group of Connecticut colleges become more energy efficient. The money will be used to launch "Campus Efficiency Now," a program that will allow participating schools that are members of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges to implement energy-saving measures with no upfront costs. The money will be repaid by the five schools participating in the program--the University of Hartford, Mitchell College, Connecticut College, University of Saint Joseph and the University of New Haven--using the energy savings yielded over five years. 9/19 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional

12.  Oregon Becomes Energy Special Improvement District - Oregon City Council has established the city as an energy special improvement district, a move that will enable businesses to draw on a federal grant to make energy efficiency improvements and repay the money as a special assessment with property taxes. Businesses taking advantage of the district can get financing for their improvements from a $15 million U.S. Department of Energy Better Building Program grant awarded to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and the city of Toledo in 2010. 9/18 McClatchy-Tribune Regional News

13.  Local Governments Launch Ambitious Energy Efficiency Program - Under the auspices of California's largest statewide joint powers authority, 14 California counties and 126 cities are today launching the nation's largest PACE program, an innovative financing tool to help commercial property owners reduce their buildings' energy and water use. The CaliforniaFIRST program, which is a program of the California Statewide Communities Development Authority, allows commercial property owners to use municipal bonds to finance energy efficiency, water efficiency and renewable energy upgrades–which the owners repay through a special assessment on their annual property tax bill. http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/09/18/4272526/local-governments-launch-ambitious.html