Energy + Environment

Over the past couple of years, LED manufacturers have introduced field-adjustable LED fixtures into the market. They are different from the traditional controllable/dimmable fixtures most people are familiar with; rather than the user dynamically adjusting the light level or color temperature, these field-adjustable fixtures are typically set once during installation and left that way. With the rapid growth of this category of LED products, utility rebate fulfillment provider BriteSwitch looked into how rebate programs treat them.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute recently announced the launch of the new Rensselaer Institute for Energy, the Built Environment, and Smart Systems (EBESS).

David Morris was on the Cornish coast when he saw an astonishing sight: a ship seemingly floating in the air above the water.

In this post at Signify’s blog, CEO Eric Rondolat describes major lessons learned by Signify in its efforts to become a carbon-neutral company.

More U.S. states have adopted or advanced new energy-saving targets and vehicle and appliance rules, but COVID-19 slowed other efficiency efforts, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s (ACEEE) 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard. For the first time in four years, California took first place nationwide, edging out Massachusetts, the leader in the Northeast. Rounding out this year’s top 10 are Massachusetts (#2), Vermont (#3), Rhode Island (#4), New York (#5), Maryland (#6), Connecticut (#7), Washington, DC (#8), and Minnesota and Oregon (tied for #9).

In February 2020, the Design Lights Consortium finalized the technical specifications for the next generation of LED products. These new requirements, versions 5.0 and 5.1, are designed to help usher in new levels of energy efficiency, light quality, and controllability. The DLC started certifying products under the new v5 spec earlier this year, and they will remove older products that don’t meet this certification on December 31, 2020. This change can have a significant impact on the potential rebates a project may receive.

Signify has announced that it has achieved carbon neutrality for all its operations across the world as well as using 100% renewable electricity. While the company progresses towards its remaining commitments for 2020, it will already embark on a new five-year journey in which it will focus on doubling its impact.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has been watching the Sun non-stop for over a full decade, gathering 425 million high-resolution images now viewable as a time-lapse video.

In my May 2020 lighting column for ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, I covered the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) free design guides for buildings that achieve net-zero energy consumption without compromising quality.