August 2009

Construction employment declined in all but 19 communities nationwide this June as compared to June-2008, according to a new analysis of metropolitan-area employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The analysis, which ranks the 12-month construction employment change reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 352 metro areas, shows that [...]

That’s the title of this article by The Wall Street Journal, which reveals how difficult credit conditions have become for some developers. The developer of Destiny USA, a shopping mall in Syracuse, NY, recently won a lawsuit against Citigroup to preserve its previously approved loan. Citigroup had been trying to cancel the loan, citing weak [...]

This is an amazing project. At the Goggleworks Center for the Arts, Color Kinetics‘ iColor Flex SLX strands were manually installed in the glass of the art center, creating the effect as if someone is drawing on the building. Check it out here:

The Department of Energy has completed Round 8 of product testing through its CALiPER testing program, available here. Round 8 focused mostly on replacement lamps, including MR16s, PARs and small omnidirectional replacements. Traditional sources were also tested in each application category for benchmarking and comparison with LED sources. Other products tested included three undercabinet fixtures, [...]

The IES Conference Papers Committee is seeking additional work to be presented in a Poster Session at the IES Conference in Seattle, WA on November 15-17, 2009. Topics of interest include early results of research work or studies; new technologies; novel lighting design solutions or product applications; concepts for improving measurement or the evaluation of [...]

After showing signs of stabilization over the last three months, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) plunged nearly five points in June. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate 9-12 month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the June ABI rating [...]

Here’s an article I wrote for the July issue of Electrical Contractor Magazine on the topic of a new residential lighting provision in the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), used by most states as the basis of their residential energy codes, that requires 50% of lamps in newly built homes to be “high efficacy”–that [...]