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The Argus Leader has reported that South Dakota’s Energy Management Office has created a revolving $2.8 million loan fund that can be used to purchase and install energy-efficient lighting (in addition to HVAC, windows, insulation, renewable energy) for K-12 school districts, state tech schools and nonprofits. The fund is part of the Federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. The 0% loans, available from $10,000 up to $500,000, are available with terms up to 10 years based on simple payback, with the loan paid by energy savings.

Read the article here.

To learn more about the program and access eligibility requirements and application forms, call 605.773.3899 or click here.

Note there is a time limit. Applications must be received by April 12, 2010!

Construction spending during January 2010 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $884.1 billion, 0.6% lower than the revised December 2009 estimate of $889.6 billion and 9.3% below the January 2009 estimate of $974.3 billion, according to new Commerce Department figures. (Note these are estimates and subject to change over the next several months.)

Private residential spending increased 1.3% from $257.5 billion in December 2009 to $260.9 billion in January 2010, which in turn was 6.4% lower than January 2009, when spending was estimated at $673.9 billion.

Nonresidential construction declined 1.4% from an estimated $623.4 billion in December 2009 to $615 billion in January 2010, which in turn was 10.6% lower than January 2009, when spending was estimated at $687.9 billion. Private nonresidential construction declined 2.1% from $323.2 billion in December 2009 to $316.4 billion in January 2010. Public nonresidential construction declined 0.6% from $300.3 billion in December 2009 to $298.6 billion in January 2010. While private nonresidential construction spending in January 2010 was estimated at 19.9% lower than the January 2009 rate, public nonresidential construction was up 2% over January 2009.

For the first time, GE Appliances & Lighting will announce finalists in its prestigious and long-running annual GE Edison Award global lighting design competition.

GE will reveal the list of finalists as part of its participation in Light+Building 2010, one of the world’s leading trade fairs for architecture and technology, held April 11-16, 2010, in Frankfurt, Germany. GE’s presence at the show in Booth D20 of Hall 4.1 will showcase numerous advanced lighting technologies, including LED systems and components.

American Electric Lighting, a division of Acuity Brands, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has announced a voluntary recall of its model AVL outdoor luminaires intended for use in parking lots, roadways, commercial environments and office communities and sold by the company during the period September 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. “AVL” is printed on the reflector of each luminaire. An estimated 900 units are affected.

The problem is improper wiring in the luminaires, which pose a shock hazard to consumers. No incidents or injuries have been reported. Consumers should immediately disconnect power to the luminaires and contact American Electric Lighting (for any AVL luminaire purchased after September 1, 2008) to schedule a free inspection and repair.

Click here for more information or contact American Electric Lighting at 800.754.0463 between 8 AM and 5 PM EST Monday through Friday.

Beginning its third year of negative conditions, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) had a drop of almost three points in January. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate 9- to 12-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the January ABI rating was 42.5, down sharply from a revised reading of 45.4 in December. This score indicates a continued decline in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry score was 52.5, down more than seven points.

“Projects are being delayed or cancelled because lending institutions are placing unusually stringent equity requirements on new developments,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “This is even happening to financially sound companies with strong credit ratings. This serious situation is being compounded by a skittish bond market, decreased tax revenues for publicly financed projects and declining property values–all which serve as deterrents for construction activity. Until these factors are resolved, the design and construction industry–which accounts for roughly 10% of GDP and is facing unemployment figures in excess of 20%–will continue to face deteriorating market conditions.”

Key January ABI highlights:

Regional averages: Midwest (48.0), Northeast (45.7), South (41.32), West (40.5)
Sector index breakdown: multi-family residential (50.1), commercial / industrial (44.9), institutional (43.1), mixed practice (40.3)
Project inquiries index: 52.5

Omega Lighting has combined MesoOptics optical technology from Ledalite with the power of a high-performance LED light engine and Omega Lighting’s optics to produce the 25W Revelation LED Downlight.

Check it out here.

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working on the technological equivalent of putting sunglasses on buildings with a new generation of insulated “dynamic windows” that change color to modulate interior temperatures and lighting.

NEMA’s got the story here.

BACnet International and the EnOcean Alliance, an international consortium of 130 companies from the building sector, today announced its cooperation with BACnet’s Wireless Networking-Working Group (WN-WG) to develop a vendor independent gateway specification for integrating EnOcean-based wireless energy-harvesting nodes into the world’s leading data communications protocol for building automation and control.

As the only wireless standard offering self-powered operation, EnOcean technology requires neither batteries nor maintenance, thus opening the floodgate to wide-scale deployment of wireless sensing-solutions in commercial buildings, including BACnet-based building automation systems.

Recent meetings between the two organizations have opened the door to the full integration of wireless EnOcean and wired BACnet-enabled technologies, with the result that an EnOcean interoperability proposal has been drafted for the BACnet committee meeting at AHR Expo in Orlando, Florida. BACnet – a data communication protocol for building automation and control networks is defined in the ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135 – 2008 and also the international standard ISO 16484-5.

The working group’s current standardization efforts aim to ensure the interoperability of multiple EnOcean and BACnet solutions available today or in development, as well as future implementations.

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Cooper Lighting recently announced that its Halo brand of recessed and track lighting has once again been named by Builder Magazine as the Brand Leader in lighting. Sweeping all four categories for the eleventh consecutive year, Halo was awarded first place in the lighting categories of Brand Familiarity, Brand Used in Past 2 Years, Brand Used Most, and Quality.

The Builder 2009 Brand Use Study by Readex Research, an independent research company, surveys in depth the brands builders know best, the ones they use the most, and the ones they rate the highest in quality.