David Shiller

  Researchers at Linköping University and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, have created the first functioning transistor made of wood. This represents an early step in the development of biodegradable electronics. The researchers started with balsa wood and removed the lignin that makes wood strong and rigid. This created cellulose fibers with [...]

The National Retail Federation (NRF) released it’s annual State of Retail & the Consumer forecast. Here are the highlights: The retail sector is expected to grow 4-6% in 2023, to $5.13-$5.23 Trillion. 2022 saw 7% growth over 2021. 2023’s forecast is higher than pre-pandemic growth of 3.6% E-commerce sales expected to rise 10-12% in 2023, [...]

SKYX is the company that owns SkyPlug, a luminaire receptacle platform for ceilings, and has just acquired Belami, an e-commerce company that owns 64 lighting and home décor websites. Belami has $88 Million in revenue, and $4.3 Million in EBITDA, in 2022. SKYX is now claiming to own nearly half of all US lighting e-tail [...]

I had the pleasure of interviewing Kassim Tremblay, V.P. of Business Development at Sollum Technologies about their approach to smart horticultural lighting for greenhouses and other CEA facilities. They’ve integrated some interesting capabilities. Shiller: Some readers know that Sollum Technologies is an LED grow light manufacturer. Can you please share what makes Sollum unique in [...]

An increasing number of manufacturers of Bluetooth® wireless lighting control components have recently released long-range / outdoor components. Some examples include: LiteTrace Casambi McWong in partnership with Silvair These long-range components can include: fixture controllers, sensors, and signal boosters. Most of these manufacturers utilize external antennas to achieve ranges between 500 to 1,000 feet between [...]

  I wrote about ENERGY STAR’s plan to sunset the Luminaire and Lamp programs here, in late March. Part of that plan was to create a new ENERGY STAR recessed downlight specification because recent DOE general service lamp (GSL) regulations excluded recessed downlights and downlight retrofit kits. On March 23rd, ENERGY STAR released their first [...]

CORRECTION: NFPA published a Temporary Interim Amendment to the 2023 NEC that now allows some battery-only wall light switches IF they incorporate a positive means of notification of impending battery depletion. This Temporary Interim Amendment to the 2023 NEC can be found here. (updated May 15, 2024) The 2023 National Electric Code (NEC) has a [...]

California’s energy code, Title 24 2022, became effective January 1st, 2023. In it were new code requirements for indoor horticulture spaces, including grow light requirements. This was in part motivated by a large surge in energy use after the 2018 legalization of recreational cannabis in the State. Urban indoor grow facilities took off and energy [...]

The American Lighting Association (ALA) has shared information about a China tariff exclusion that has been reinstated by the Biden Administration. This exclusion for passive infrared (PIR) sensor luminaires could reduce tariffs on certain fixtures depending on the light source (socketed vs. integrated). As part of the Section 301 tariffs on goods imported from China, [...]