News Updates for the Week of May 13

1.   One World Trade Center Gets Spire, Bringing It to Its Full, Symbolic 1,776-Foot Height - Now that the 408-foot spire is atop One WTC, the building is the tallest in the United States. The 408-foot spire, weighing 758 tons, will serve as a world-class broadcast antenna. An LED-powered light emanating from it will be seen from miles away and a beacon will be at the top to ward off aircraft. It opens for business in 2014. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/1-wtc-spire-bringing-full-height-article-1.1340224

2.    DOE Report Estimates LED Savings in Common Lighting Applications - The U.S. DOE has released a report analyzing markets where LEDs compete with traditional lighting sources (e.g., incandescent and fluorescent). The report, “Adoption of Light-Emitting Diodes in Common Lighting Applications,” provides estimates of current energy savings, plus potential savings if these markets switched to LEDs overnight. Nine markets were analyzed: four indoor lamp applications (A-type, directional, MR-16, and decorative); three indoor luminaire applications (downlight, troffer, and high-bay); and two outdoor luminaire applications (streetlight and parking lot/garage). http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/led-adoption-report_2013.pdf

3.    NEMA Publishes ANSI/ANSLG C78.43 - NEMA, on behalf of the American National Standard Lighting Group (ANSLG), published ANSI/ANSLG C78.43, “American National Standard for Electric Lamps - Single-Ended Metal Halide Lamps.” This standard sets forth the physical and electrical requirements for single-ended metal halide lamps operated on 60 Hz ballasts to ensure interchangeability and safety. The standard also provides the basis for electrical requirements for ballasts and ignitors, as well as the lamp-related requirements for luminaires. Also included are lamps whose arc tubes are made of quartz or ceramic materials. http://www.nema.org/Standards/Pages/American-National-Standard-for-Electric-Lamps-Single-Ended-Metal-Halide-Lamps.aspx

4.      Shaheen-Portman Bill Approved by Senate Energy Committee - The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (S. 761) was appreoved by a bi-partisan voice vote.  The bill now moves to consideration by the full Senate.  The Shaheen-Portman bill will spur the use of energy efficiency technologies in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.   Of course the measure can’t become law unless it is approved by the U.S. House of Representatives along with the Senate. http://www.ase.org/resources/summary-energy-savings-and-industrial-competitiveness-act-shaheen-portman

5.      LED Component News:  http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/5/

• Everlight is specifically targeting standard and omni-directional retrofit lamps and light bars for linear applications with the new 62-217D family of mid-power LEDs.
  
• LG Innotek has been supplying LEDs more into the backlighting market in the past but intends to make a major push into general illumination. In the mid-power area, the company has qualified LEDs to LM-80 across a range of 50 to 280 mA drive currents.
• Philips Lumileds used LFI to makes its first push into COB arrays. The company had focused on smaller point sources that allow for better beam control. But many solid-state lighting (SSL) manufacturers find a single COB LED array much easier to work with, prompting Lumileds' entry. 
• Samsung has realized 129-lm/W efficacy in its COB LED products. 13W, 26W, and 40W LEDs are offered across a range of 2700K to 5000K with a CRI of 80. It also announced a high-efficacy mid-power product that it said at the time was the most efficient on the market at 160 lm/W.

6.      The Top 10 Cities for Green Jobs - Here are the top cities for green jobs right now, according to job aggregator site SimplyHired.com  The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines green jobs as those in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources, as well as jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources. The number is the open positions that meet this description:  5/07 Forbes

No. 1 San Francisco Bay, CA: 4,758

No. 2 Houston, TX: 3,830

No. 3 New York, NY: 3,221

No. 4 Washington, D.C.: 3,207

No. 5 Los Angeles, CA: 2,179

      No. 6 Chicago, IL: 2,165

      No. 7 Boston, MA: 2,130

      No. 8 Philadelphia, PA: 1,838

      No. 9 Denver, CO: 1,343

      No. 10 Dallas, TX: 1,261

7.      Graybar Named “Greenest of the Green” - tED magazine, the official publication of NAED, is pleased to announce that St. Louis-based Graybar has received the 2013 “Greenest of the Green” award. The award recognizes NAED distributor member companies that have implemented energy-efficiency solutions in their own operations. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/4/prweb10584799.htm

8.      Four SBIR Grants Awarded for SSL Technology - The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science has awarded four Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants targeting advances in solid-state lighting (SSL) technology:

• Litecontrol Corporation: A Novel OLED Luminaire System for Specialty Lighting Applications
• Plextronics, Inc.: Low Cost Printed Electrodes for OLED Lighting
• InnoSys, Inc.: Highly Efficient and Smart Power Supplies to Drive Phosphorescent OLED Lighting Panels
• Universal Display Corporation: Novel Energy Saving Phosphorescent OLED Lighting Products

To learn more about this program, visit http://science.energy.gov/sbir/

9.      How to Select a Lighting System Designer - Most lighting-system consultants have specialties. As such, prospective clients would be well-advised to inquire about a consultants’ pertinent experience. But there’s more to it than that, as is explained in a guidance document, “ How To Select a Lighting-System Designer ,” available for free on the National Lighting Bureau (NLB)'s website. To date, some 300 lighting-system designers have taken advantage of this opportunity and are listed on the site.  http://www.nlb.org/index.cfm?cdid=10499

10.  Special Assessments Allow Businesses to Finance Energy-Saving Upgrades - The project is one of four being funded this year though a special assessment district set up by the city of Ann Arbor, MI that allows businesses to get long-term, lower-cost loans to make energy improvements. including lighting, insulation, heating and cooling systems, reducing water use and adding renewable energy sources, such as solar and geothermal. Kerrytown Market & Shops is replacing lighting fixtures, adding occupancy sensors to storage rooms and offices and installing light switches in areas that didn't have them so lights are not on continuously.  5/06 Detroit Free Press

11.  City Energy Benchmarking Law Provides Real Benefit - Last year, Philadelphia joined a growing number of cities—including New York, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington—that have adopted laws requiring commercial building owners to gather and report data on energy use in their buildings. Though Philadelphia is still developing final regulations for what is known as the Energy Benchmarking Law, the law applies to any building with 50,000 square feet of interior, commercial-use space. Building owners will need to collect data (including from tenants) on electric, oil, natural gas, steam, and water usage, and upload that data into the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager system. 5/09 Philadelphia Business Journal

12.  Detroit Lighting Authority to Get First $600,000 Next Week - The authority will get $600,000 on May 15 and another $600,000 in both June and August. The authority, approved by council in February, is charged with crafting a new plan to better illuminate the city as key to improving public safety. 5/06 Detroit Free Press

13.  31st Annual Energy Management Congress West June 19-20, 2013 Las Vegas Convention Center - Taking place at the magnificent Las Vegas Convention Center, the Energy Management Congress (EMC) West is the largest energy conference and technology expo held in the western U.S. specifically for business, industrial and institutional energy users. It brings together the top experts in all areas of the field to help you set a clear, optimum path to energy efficiency, facility optimization and sustainability, as well as innovation solutions to improve your ROI. http://www.energyevent.com/

News Updates for the Week of May 6

1.      The Path to 80 Percent Market Share for LED Lights - Increased competition, steady cost reductions and improved technology performance are putting the LED lighting industry on a path to securing an 80 percent market share for lighting by 2020.With revenues flattening out in the broader LED market, lighting technologies will become a more important focus for manufacturers. This will put pressure on traditional lighting companies like Philips and Osram, which are also investing heavily in LEDs. The lighting industry has been relatively stable for the last 100 years. But the emergence of cost-competitive LEDs has caused a "paradigm shift" in the lighting industry that has "changed everything." Historically, the incumbents had an edge in lighting manufacturing because of the specialized glass furnaces needed for traditional bulbs. But high-volume LED production has allowed new entrants to enter the market, eating away at the share for traditional lighting companies. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/The-Path-to-an-80-Percent-Market-Share-for-LED-Lights

2.   High-Performance LED Street Lighting Using Microlens Arrays - An efficient LED lamp that illuminates the street with high quality is presented. The luminaire shows high optical efficiency, high optical utilization factor, low glare, and illuminates the street with high uniformity. The concept is simple but effective: a cluster of LEDs with TIR lenses are put inside a reflective box, which is covered with a microlens sheet; the reflective cavity improves efficiency by light recycling; each TIR lens collimates the LED light for the microlens array; and the microlens sheet uniformly distributes light only into the street. In this context, LED luminaires have the potential to deliver precise light patterns to maximize illumination performance by directing light to the appropriate area. http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-21-9-10612&id=253009

3.     LIGHTFAIR^® International Presentations Posted - 2013 DOE training session presentations:  http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/news_detail.html?news_id=19174

4.    DOE Publishes Updated SSL R&D Plan - The U.S. DOE has published the April 2013 edition of the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP). This year's new, streamlined edition provides a description of the activities the Department plans to undertake over the next several years to implement its SSL mission, and informs the development of annual SSL R&D funding opportunities. The MYPP reviews SSL technology status and trends for both LEDs and organic LEDs (OLEDs) and offers an overview of the current DOE SSL R&D project portfolio. Significant updates to the Technology Research and Development Plan include revised efficiency projections, priorities, task descriptions, and metrics to align DOE targets with progress made to date and industry trends. To download a PDF of the 2013 MYPP:www.ssl.energy.gov/techroadmaps.html

5.   DOE Report Estimates LED Savings in Common Lighting Applications - The U.S. DOE has released a report analyzing markets where LEDs compete with traditional lighting sources (e.g., incandescent and fluorescent). The report, Adoption of Light-Emitting Diodes in Common Lighting Applications, provides estimates of current energy savings, plus potential savings if these markets switched to LEDs overnight. Download a PDF of the report: www.ssl.energy.gov/tech_reports.html

6.   US Survey: Nearly Half of New Lighting Projects Use Automated Controls - All the major LED companies are focusing on implementing intelligent platforms for controlling lighting fixtures in industrial and commercial buildings. A range of new partnerships are being formed to make it easier for LED manufacturers to produce "intelligence-ready" products, which may also create new opportunities for setting modern communications standards in lighting. Lights offer the perfect entry point for building intelligence. They see themselves as far more than lighting companies. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/survey-nearly-half-of-new-lighting-projects-use-automated-controls

7.    Reminder: Webinar on LED Street Lighting Case Studies - On Wednesday, May 8, DOE's Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium will host a 90-minute live webinar entitled Member Case Studies: LED Street Lighting Programs in Algona (IA), Asheville (NC), and Boston (MA).The webinar will begin promptly at 1:00 p.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. PDT) and will include a 60-minute presentation, followed by a 30-minute question-and-answer session with attendees. IES continuing education credits will be offered. To register, visit the DOE SSL website

8.   Armstrong-Area PA Small Businesses Plug in Energy Savings - Area grocery stores have brightened up by going green thanks to a cost and energy-saving program offered throughout the region by West Penn Power. The program has helped small businesses reduce energy costs while increasing efficiency with new LED lighting in all the refrigerated cases and new interior and exterior lights. Under contract with West Penn Power, it pays up to 80 percent of the project cost to area grocery stores through the Small Business Direct Install Program. The Ecobrite LEDs lining the refrigerated cases don't emit any heat and are 28 watts compared to the old tubes which were 110 watts. 4/26 Leader-Times

9.   Intelligent Efficiency: Innovations Reshaping the Energy Efficiency Market - This new paradigm is already reshaping the way we think about energy efficiency. All around us, embedded in every commercial building, manufacturing facility and corporate campus, is a vast, untapped energy resource: efficiency. In the past, that resource was hidden, ignored or misunderstood by the companies sitting on the potential, and recognized only by a small group of energy professionals. But with dramatic advances in web-based monitoring, real-time data analytics and utilities using peak pricing, that hidden resource is now becoming something tangible--an asset that companies can measure, manage, procure and sell. This emerging approach to energy efficiency is information-driven. It is granular. And it is empowering consumers and businesses to turn energy from a cost into an asset. We call this new paradigm "intelligent efficiency."  http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/intelligent-efficiency-innovations-reshaping-the-energy-efficiency-market

News Updates for the Week of April 29

1.      Sensity’s Smart Lights – As many of you know, one of my best friends and mentor was Jack Briody CEO/President of Advance, God rest his soul. After every Lightfair show he would ask us, “what is the one thing that impressed you most at Lightfair?” Think about it. A great way to get everyone thinking about this as we tried to absorb the plethora of information presented at the most innovative lighting show in America.  I even use this today when I see my grandkids…."what’s the one thing in class you learned today?" 

Anyway, this year for me it was Sensity Systems because it was more than just LED lighting…

Many companies and communities are upgrading their lighting to save energy. A Silicon Valley startup company, Sensity, www.sensity.com thinks they should also install arrays of sensor devices, for purposes such as improving safety, tracking retail traffic and even finding parking spots. Changing its name from Xeralux Inc. to Sensity Systems Inc. in order to reflect plans to offer light fixtures equipped with processors, sensors and wireless networking. The light system can provide video surveillance, weather data, traffic monitoring, parking information; carbon monoxide levels, or it can be programmed to recognize the sound of breaking glass, gun shots or even screams. And all the data will be uploaded to the cloud where it can be stored and endlessly crunched for trend-spotting. Its fixtures can be equipped to monitor ambient light, temperature, humidity, motion and other phenomena. Lampposts will have nodes in a smart network that not only illuminate spaces but visually monitor them, sense heat and communicate with other nodes and human monitors. In addition to such functions—which could raise privacy concerns, though perhaps less so after the Boston Marathon bombings—the new LED systems could sharply cut the cost of street lighting. The data could be sold to app developers who could create, say, an app to help find parking spots. Leading the company's shift is Hugh Martin, its chairman and chief executive and a veteran of companies such as Apple  Inc. AAPL  +1.52% and videogame maker 3DO Co. The idea, says Hugh Martin, is “wherever there’s a light, there’s data being generated.”   Times, they are a changin!  4/17 WSJ, 4/18 San Jose Mercury News and 4/25 NY Times 

2.      DOE Publishes LED Lighting Facts^® Snapshot Report on Indoor Ambient Lighting - The U.S. Department of Energy's LED Lighting Facts^® program has released a Snapshot Report on indoor ambient lighting, which utilizes the program's extensive database of more than 7,000 products to help industry stakeholders understand the current state and trajectory of the market for LED downlights, troffers, and T8/T5/T12 lamps. For a copy of the full report, please visit: www.ssl.energy.gov/ledlightingfacts.html

3.      NEMA Publishes NEMA SSL 7A-2013 Phase Cut Dimming for Solid State Lighting: Basic Compatibility - This standard provides compatibility requirements when a forward phase cut dimmer is combined with one or more dimmable LED Light Engines (LLEs). An LLE comprises one or more LED modules, LED control gear (integral or remote), and a connection to the mains circuit. This includes both screw-in integrated LED lamps, as well as fixtures which contain separate LED drivers. NEMA SSL 7A-2013 is meant to reduce the testing burden by utilizing synthetic loads and waveform generators to represent LLEs and dimmers during testing. http://www.nema.org Thanks to Ethan Biery, Design and Development Leader, Lutron Electronics for the heads-up…

4.      State of the Lighting Industry: 2013 by Precision-Paragon [P2] - This year, 68% of the survey takers said that they expect Linear Fluorescent lighting to be the dominant lighting technology they install in 2013. This number might come as a surprise where LED lighting seems to get all the news coverage. LED lighting has made advances in the past year, and that’s reflected by our survey takers, 26% of which expect it to be the dominant light source they install in 2013.  However, it’s also true that fluorescent lighting has made significant advances in the past year. Just recently, major lamp manufacturers began to release lamps with 80,000 hour rated lives. For a lamp that operates 12 hours a day for 365 days a year, that’s a rated lifespan of over 18-years. http://www.p-2.com/helpful-information/blog/437-state-of-the-lighting-industry-2013/

5.      Leviton Receives $1 Million Funding to Install Electric Vehicle Charging Stations throughout New York - Utilizing the company’s Evr-Green™ Dual Port Level 2 Charging Stations, Leviton will help enable electric vehicle charging at various workplaces throughout Upstate New York, New York City and Long Island. The total $3.6 million project, with funding from the NYSERDA and the New York Power Authority (NYPA), seeks to build a network of 3,000 public and workplace charging stations across the state over the next five years.  www.leviton.com/evrgreen

6.      Digital Lighting Management Is Smarter Than the Average Lighting Control System - An all-digital suite of plug-together lighting controls, DLM automatically configures to the most energy-efficient sequence of operation based on installed components. The result is that DLM meets and exceeds energy code requirements, saves more energy than conventional controls, and provides an unprecedented return on investment for both new construction and retrofit projects.  The new switches and occupancy sensors available as part of WattStopper’s Digital Lighting Management (DLM) control solution: Video: http://www.wattstopper.com/resources/multimedia-center.aspx http://www.wattstopper.com/products/digital-lighting-management.aspx#.UVsN1leU-cw

7.      Energy Measures Save Green Bay Schools $10 Million - The Green Bay School District officials said using energy-efficient light bulbs, turning off or dimming lights, maintaining heating and cooling systems in good condition and avoiding heavy energy use during peak times saved them about $10 million. Green Bay spends about 60 cents per square foot on energy in its high school buildings while many other districts in the state spend more than $1 per square foot. 4/22 AP