David Shiller

  Energy efficiency in buildings has become the leading infrastructure priority for corporations, driven by cost pressures, regulatory demands, and decarbonization commitments, according to new survey data from Siemens’ Infrastructure Transition Monitor 2025 study. Organizations increasingly see upgrades to existing building stock—rather than new construction—as the fastest, most financially compelling route to cutting emissions and [...]

  Big picture The Department of Labor’s rule (effective March 11, 2024) replaced the 2021 Trump-1.0‑era independent contractor rule and restored a broader, six‑factor “economic realities” test to decide whether a worker is an employee or a genuine independent business under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rule makes it generally harder to classify [...]

  The IES is publishing nine new or revised standards in Q1 2026: ANSI/IES RP-43-25 Recommended Practice: Lighting Exterior Applications Pedestrian-oriented illumination recommendations for the reassurance, safety, comfort, amenity, and enjoyment of people in outdoor environments in lighting zones LZ-1 through LZ-4. This updated standard includes content from LP-2 Designing Quality Lighting and LP-11 Environmental Outdoor [...]

Typical solar lighting is completely off-grid, relying entirely on solar panels and a battery to power the street or area light. A more recent variation that is gaining traction is hybrid solar street and area lights. These lights contain the solar panels and battery, but also have a grid hook up for backup power, when [...]

On January 23, 2026, President Trump signed a bipartisan fiscal 2026 funding bill (H.R. 6938) into law that secures roughly $33 million for the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program, ensuring its operation despite earlier efforts by the administration to eliminate it. The funding level remains relatively flat, providing a key reprieve for the efficiency program. Funding Details: The [...]

  The field of optogenetics is moving from a research tool toward a potential therapeutic strategy for neurological disease, especially chronic neuropathic pain. Optogenetics works by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins (opsins) into specific neurons so their activity can be turned up or down with precisely delivered light, more like a targeted dimmer than a [...]

  Google is promoting a new wave of “agentic commerce,” where AI agents not only answer questions but help shoppers to complete tasks and transactions end to end. Google’s new Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and related tools are being adopted by major retailers like The Home Depot and Lowe’s to enable more seamless, personalized, and [...]

  The Q4 Pulse of Lighting reports that 2025 was a disappointing, essentially flat year for the lighting industry, with tariffs hurting project activity and masking weak unit volumes behind modest price-driven revenue stability. The quarterly Pulse of Lighting reports are produced by Channel Marketing Group (CMG). For Q4 2025, the Pulse of Lighting surveyed [...]

  Flying cars have been a sci-fi staple for almost a century. There is a type of small flying vehicle that is now very close to commercial production. An eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) is a new type of aircraft that uses electric power for vertical flight, allowing it to take off, hover, and land [...]