Craig DiLouie

NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) for current North American conditions edged slightly upward in July, rising 0.3 points to 41.7. This followed a retreat in June, which saw the index slip 6.6 points from May’s post-financial crisis high of 47.9. While the index has snapped back smartly from a cyclical low of 8 in [...]

Building Design & Construction’s July issue features an article by C.C. Sullivan and Barbara Horwitz-Bennett titled, “MEP Technologies for Eco-Effective Buildings,” includes several sections related to lighting. I was pleased to participate in the article as a source instead of an author this time, representing my client the Lighting Controls Association, for which I’m acting [...]

The stimulus plan appears to be having little influence on construction companies’ ability to expand payrolls to date, according to a new industry analysis of the impact of the federal program’s construction spending released by the Associated General Contractors of America. The disappointingly slow pace of construction spending outside of the transportation sector is one [...]

After a steep first quarter decline, NEMA’s Lighting Systems Index contracted an additional 4.3% during the second quarter of 2009. The drop marked the third consecutive quarter in which the index has fallen to a new all-time low reading. The index was down even more sharply on a year-over-year basis, plummeting nearly 25%, and has [...]

Sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 11% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000 units, according to the Commerce Department. Coming on the heels of an upwardly revised number for May, the gain marks a third consecutive month of improved sales activity. “The big gain in home sales last month was [...]

Four more designers at Schuler Shook are now LEED Accredited Professionals. Michael White, Senior Designer in the Minneapolis office; Paul Whitaker, Lighting Designer and Theatre Planner also in Minneapolis; Giulio Pedota, Principal in the Chicago office; and Miory Kanashiro, Lighting Designer in the Chicago office. This rigorous exam–and it is, ask anybody who has taken [...]

I got my hands on a very informative graphic from Lutron describing how LED drivers–electronic devices that conditioning incoming power to match the circuit design and configuration of the LED array in the light fixture–interact with the LED lighting system. Drivers may be integral to power supplies, separate of power supplies but integral to the [...]

Ron Arad: “No Discipline” August 2, 2009–October 19, 2009 Museum of Modern Art New York City Some architectural materials and structures just seem to lend themselves very naturally to lighting. This is not exactly a lighting story, but this photo caught my eye because of the way light so easily becomes part of the sculpture: [...]

Construction spending during June 2009 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $965.7 billion, 0.3% above the revised May estimate of $963.2 billion and 10.2% below the June 2008 estimate of $1,075.6 billion. During the first six months of 2009, construction spending reached $455.6 billion, 11.4% below the $514.4 billion for the same [...]