September 2009

The Department of Energy has awarded the ENERGY STAR qualification to Renaissance Lighting Inc. on 11 of its newest all-white solid-state LED downlight fixtures. The ENERGY STAR qualification helps consumers identify the most energy efficient products on the market. ENERGY STAR qualification currently requires an LED recessed downlight fixture to deliver an efficacy of at [...]

Lightfair has announced that trade show floorspace is more than 92% sold for the 2010 show in Las Vegas. Net year, the show floor will be supported by four pavilions—two of which will be familiar to Lightfair attendees, and two that will debut: the Building Integration Pavilion and the Global Light + Design Pavilion—known since [...]

NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) for current North American conditions jumped nearly 12 points to 53.3 in August, an indication that the business environment facing electrical equipment manufacturers improved during the month. This is the highest rating for the EBCI since April 2007. Meanwhile, the North American future conditions EBCI also climbed in August, [...]

Another stall in the recovery for the construction industry as the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) dropped to its lowest level since June. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine- to 12-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the August [...]

LED company iLight Technologies, Inc. has announced that Federal Court rulings confirmed its victory in a patent infringement litigation case against sign company Fallon Luminous Products Corporation. The Court awarded to iLight $5 million in damages plus attorney fees, according to iLight.

BSR/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1P, Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings is now in its fourth review draft and available for public review. This standard provides minimum criteria that apply to new buildings and major renovation projects (new portions of buildings and their systems) and cover sustainable sites, water use efficiency, [...]

The Department of Energy’s Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition has received its first entrant: a product from Philips Electronics. Philips has developed, manufactured and will bring to market an LED replacement for the common 60W incandescent light bulb. Philips developed this product in response to DOE’s industry-wide challenge, and was today recognized by [...]

To strengthen user confidence in LED products, the Department of Energy established ENERGY STAR criteria for LED fixtures that went into effect last September. Recently, the first products were introduced. In this article I wrote for the July issue of TED magazine, the ENERGY STAR criteria are discussed along with several perspectives on its significance [...]

NEMA recently launched the re-designed LampRecycle.org site to better provide a one-stop source of information about recycling mercury-containing lamps. One of the new features allows visitors to find CFL drop-off locations near them with the help of Earth911.com. Mercury-containing lamps can be recognized by the Hg symbol on the lamp—the universally recognized elemental symbol for [...]