David Shiller

Sea, air, and trucking models all predict dropping freight volumes in 2023, which would lead to lower shipping costs and could make some goods more affordable. This is according to a trio of forecasts released last month. Those three forecasts found a “severe rate of contraction” in transportation prices measured in November, according to the Logistics Managers’ [...]

The United Kingdom has joined the growing list of governments working to eliminate fluorescent, halogen, and other HID sources. Last week, the UK government published its proposal to raise lighting product efficacy requirements, using a technology-neutral set of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS). The proposal would impact residential, commercial, and industrial lighting products. Specifically, the [...]

ABI Research expects 6.4 million smart hotel room devices to ship worldwide in 2027. That’s double the smart hotel devices that shipped in 2022, with a CAGR of 24.6% between 2021 and 2027. Some of the early adopters are Mandarine Oriental Hotel Group and Hilton. Many more brands are expected to adopt smart hotel technology [...]

A group of dark sky advocates in New Zealand is actively advocating for a national law to promote dark skies and reduce light pollution. They recently published a document explaining dark skies and making the case for a national law in New Zealand. This month they launched a parliamentary petition to advocate for national legislation [...]

Kudos to Al Uszynski of inside.lighting for breaking this story about the Canadian government’s proposal to ban the sale of most mercury-containing lamps. Fluorescent lamp bans are already occurring in California and Vermont, and are under consideration in other US states. The Canadian proposal goes significantly further, to ban most HID lamps. It’s noteworthy that [...]

Factory activity in China is expected to show extended declines in December, according to a Reuters poll, as the end of the country’s “zero-COVID” policy and rising infections began to affect production lines. Some analysts anticipate labor shortages and increased supply chain disruptions. Fears of a global recession due to rising interest rates, inflation, and the [...]

There has been a lot of buzz from CES, last week, about the new BMW concept car, the i Vision DEE. It sports AI, voice assistant, head’s up display, AR, and many other bells and whistles, but what’s really turned heads is its color-changing paint. A mobile app allows the user to electronically change dozens [...]

There are increasing signs of rough times in the horticultural lighting industry, including cannabis, food, flowers, and other Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) crops. Some examples include: Osram suggesting that growers cannot currently afford the expenditure on LED lighting because rising energy prices are consuming their budgets. Read more here. Signify’s CEO is also seeing a slowing [...]

Both business owners and employees should be aware of the new HR trend called “quiet hiring.” Quiet hiring is when an organization acquires new skills without hiring new full-time employees. Sometimes, it means hiring short-term contractors (external quiet hiring). Other times, it means encouraging current employees to move into new or additional roles within the organization [...]