77% of the US has a commercial lighting rebate

This is up from 74% in 2021. Still, some parts of the US have little or no rebate coverage. Notable standouts are Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, and West Virginia, with no active rebate programs. Ohio is also remarkable. While the major utilities in the state provided rebates for many years, they were forced to discontinue those programs in 2020 due to a ruling in the state legislature, and unfortunately, the incentives have not returned this year.

LED Rebate Amounts Are Flat for a Second Year

For years, LED rebates reliably decreased 10 – 20% annually depending on the product category. A large part of this decline was to match the incentive levels to the falling prices of LED solutions. It left many wondering when it would bottom out.

Last year, for the first time ever, the rebates for LED solutions were flat year over year. That trend continues in 2022, with only a 1% decrease across all product categories. This pattern makes sense when you look at the industry. 2021 saw a record number of price increases due to supply chain issues and inflation, so it’s no wonder rebate amounts have stayed pretty stable. The higher levels are needed to make the project paybacks favorable enough for reluctant customers who have not yet upgraded.

Number of Horticulture Rebates Nearly Triples While Amounts Decrease

Incentives for horticulture lighting have been very strong, with the number of rebates tripling in the last year. These incentives have also become much more standardized in 2022. Previously, most rebates for horticulture lighting were custom, often based on kWh saved. This year, that shifted and now over 60% of the rebates for horticulture lighting are prescriptive.

While the number of rebates for horticultural LEDs grew, the average prescriptive incentive amount decreased by roughly 25% in 2022. This change is primarily due to the introduction of new, lower rebates where no previous rebates existed which brought down the average. Still, at an average incentive of $102 per fixture, horticulture lighting is one of the highest rebate product categories currently available.

Networked Lighting Control Rebates Continue To Grow

Rebates for these NLC systems have been around for several years. It’s exciting to see the number of utilities incentivizing these systems has increased by 16% this year.

In contrast, the average rebate amounts for NLC have stayed the same this year. It mirrors the trends seen in traditional controls like occupancy sensors and photocells. The incentives for all these control technologies have remained remarkably stable over time, with little change in the incentive amounts or availability. While there are a lot of rebate programs out there for NLC, the biggest challenge the programs face is the market’s knowledge of these systems.

Read the full article in Briteswitch.com, here.

Korrus, the lighting group that includes Ecosense, Lumium, Soraa, and Skuva has acquired architectural lighting manufacturer, Tempo Industries. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Tempo’s product portfolio brings some unique architectural linear solutions to complement the already broad offering in the Ecosense brand. Tempo’s portfolio includes cove, accent, wall-wash and grazer products, as well as some unique products for theater house lighting applications.

In 2020, Tempo Industries reported having 72 U.S. employees. Tempo President, Michael Bremser, will reportedly remain as President of Tempo and will continue to lead the organization in Irvine, CA. Both Korrus and Ecosense are headquartered in nearby Los Angeles.

Read the full article in inside.lighting here.

Hello fellow LightNOW readers! We are so excited to be the new editor & publisher of this very well respected and highly valued industry resource. We are committed to continuing the tradition of delivering quality lighting news, that Craig has established and that we have relied upon and used in our consulting business. The best news is that Craig will continue contributing his exceptional quality articles and thought leadership to LightNOW.

You may already receive our firm’s monthly newsletter, Market Intelligence for Lighting Developers.  Please know that we will continue to publish that resource, and that the content you receive in our monthly publication will be complimentary to the articles, news notes and original content published in LightNOW.

While the content of LightNOW will continue to be carefully curated to be of the most use to you in your work, you will see some changes in the appearance of the site and the newsletter. Let us know what you think of the changes, through our email on the contact page.

Also, send us your ideas for content, press releases and white papers. We will carefully consider every submission. We look forward to hearing your ideas.

Best regards,

Suelynn & David Shiller

Hello, reader! Okay, this isn’t strictly a farewell, as I’ll still be contributing to LightNOW, but I have stepped down as its editor.

It has been my privilege and honor to deliver lighting news and opinion for the past 20 years at LightNOW, one of the first things I started doing after leaving ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING back in 2001. During that time, LightNOW chronicled major changes in the industry, notably a technological shift to LED lighting and advanced controls. It’s been a wild ride for a previously staid industry, and staying informed has never been more important.

Codes, standards, regulations, products, people, metrics, construction news, awards, opinion, how-to guidance, it’s all here at LightNOW, every day, archived. Since 2013, when we switched to WordPress, LightNOW posted more than 4,250 times, each item something useful for lighting practitioners.

As for me, again, I’ll remain a contributor to LightNOW while also continuing to support other industry stalwarts such as the Lighting Controls Association, NALMCO, ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, tED Magazine, and other organizations, publications, and manufacturers. But I’m excited about Suelynn and David Shiller taking the editorial and publishing reins and guiding the site and newsletter to new heights with fresh insight and energy.

So thank you for visiting and reading LightNOW, and congratulations to Suelynn and David!