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The agreement was reached by the National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association (NEMA); several energy efficiency organizations, namely the

• American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), 
  
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC),
  
• Alliance to Save Energy,
  
• Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP);
  
• and a major utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E).

Energy Efficiency Standards for Outdoor Pole-mounted Light Fixtures

The agreement establishes initial efficiency standards for outdoor pole-mounted lighting fixtures, then calls on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to quickly set revised standards. Covered fixtures primarily light roadways and parking lots.

In addition, the agreement requires double-ended halogen lamps (a type of high-wattage incandescent lamp that is used outdoors) to meet specific efficiency requirements and prohibits sales of mercury vapor lamps as of 2016. New mercury vapor fixtures and ballasts were prohibited in a 2005 law, so this next step completes the transition away from mercury vapor towards more efficient types of light.

DOE Lighting Efficiency Standards 

 “This agreement establishes modest initial standards for outdoor lighting equipment, but paves the way for big savings if DOE does a good job when setting revised efficiency standards,” stated Steven Nadel, ACEEE Executive Director.  “Only a minority of fixtures on the market today is affected by the initial standards; much larger savings will occur if the revised DOE standards move the average fixture to performance levels met by the better fixtures now on the market.”

Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas stated, "As both a Senator and the Honorary Chair of the Alliance to Save Energy, I appreciate the unwavering commitment made by manufacturers, consumer and advocacy groups, and utilities to negotiate this agreement. This public-private cooperation will help move our nation towards a more energy-efficient future."

Save Energy to Power 3.6 Million U.S. Households

ACEEE estimates that the initial standards will save about 12 billion kWh/year. 

The revised standards could increase savings by 12 to 30 billion kWh/year for total savings of as much as 42 billion kWh/year -- or roughly enough power to meet the total needs of more than 3.6 million typical U.S. households.

“The agreement will also improve lighting quality from outdoor fixtures, since the most stringent standards apply to fixtures with high glare and light trespass. Standards are less stringent for fixtures with better glare and trespass control,” said Jennifer Amann, the Director of ACEEE’s Buildings Program.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. ACEEE was involved in the legislation establishing federal efficiency standards, and has been active in all rulemakings since then. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, contact ACEEE, 529 14th Street N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20045 or visit aceee.org.

The Appliance Standards Awareness Project is dedicated to increasing awareness of and support for cost-effective appliance and equipment efficiency standards. Founded in 1999, ASAP is led by a steering committee that includes representatives from energy efficiency organizations, the environmental community, consumer groups, utilities, and state government. See standardsASAP.org.

The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, economy, and national security. See ase.org.

“There’s a massive misperception that incandescents are going away quickly,” said Chris Calwell, a researcher with Ecos Consulting who studies the bulb market. “There have been more incandescent innovations in the last three years than in the last two decades.”

The first bulbs to emerge from this push, Philips Lighting’s Halogena Energy Savers, are expensive compared with older incandescents. They sell for $5 apiece and more, compared with as little as $ .25 for standard bulbs.

But they are also 30% more efficient than older bulbs. Philips says that a 70-watt Halogena Energy Saver gives off the same amount of light as a traditional 100-watt bulb and lasts about three times as long, eventually paying for itself.

The line, for now sold exclusively at Home Depot and on Amazon.com, is not as efficient as compact fluorescent light bulbs, which can use 75 percent less energy than old-style bulbs. But the Energy Saver line is finding favor with consumers who dislike the light from fluorescent bulbs or are bothered by such factors as their slow start-up time and mercury content.

“Due to the 2007 federal energy bill that phases out inefficient incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012, we are finally seeing a race” to develop more efficient ones, said Noah Horowitz, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Some of the leading work is under way at a company called Deposition Sciences here in Santa Rosa. Its technology is a key component of the new Philips bulb line.

The big three lighting companies — General Electric, Osram Sylvania and Philips — are all working on the technology, as is Auer Lighting of Germany and Toshiba of Japan.

A third technology, bulbs using light-emitting diodes, promises remarkable gains in efficiency but is still expensive. Prices can exceed $100 for a single LED bulb, and results from a government testing program indicate such bulbs still have performance problems.

Read More:  NY Times

The Cree family of LED downlights excels in delivering beautiful, efficient LED light in a manner that surpasses even the most stringent ENERGY STAR standards, as set out in the SSL ENERGY STAR 1.1 criteria for Category A: Recessed Downlights.

To see the full list of ENERGY STAR-qualified LED fixtures visit the ENERGY STAR website:

·          Residential:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=ssl.display_products_res_html

·          Commercial
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=ssl.display_products_com_html

About Cree

Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and setting the stage to obsolete the incandescent light bulb through the use of energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting solutions, and semiconductor solutions for backlighting, wireless and power applications.

Cree's product families include recessed LED downlights, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and radio-frequency/wireless devices. Cree solutions are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, electronic signs and signals, variable-speed motors, and wireless communications.

For additional product and company information, please refer to www.CreeLEDlighting.com

Lighting manufacturers say LEDs last longer than incandescent bulbs and CFL bulbs and their energy consumption could eventually be less than fluorescent lights". They can also be made in many shapes and sizes and colors.

Unlike compact fluorescents bulbs, LED lights contain no mercury and they work well in cold weather. They also provide more pleasing light than fluorescents.

LED applications that already are capturing marketshare include large warehouses, garages and street-lighting fixtures, flexible light ribbons, and replacements for the halogen reflector lamps used in kitchens and offices.

Strips of flexible LEDs put light in places where it could not otherwise fit. Later this year, Osram will market tiny LED chandelier lights that use 6 watts instead of the 15 watts typical of an incandescent version.

Energy efficiency is a major driver of innovation and much of the industry's effort is aimed at making LED lamps that emit as much light as a 60-watt or 75-watt incandescent bulb.

Cree, a leading researcher and manufacturer of LEDs, has developed a new version of its LED ceiling fixture that uses 6.5 watts, compared with the 11 watts used by last year's model, to create the light of a standard 65-watt lamp.

Even with a wide range of LED products available, CFL bulbs will be the a popular consumer choice for many years because of LEDs' high prices  the challenge of delivering bright bulbs. Consumers like bright light!

But the sea change is coming -- GE Lighting, a division of General Electric, is devoting 50% of its research and development money to LED-related technologies.

Technology Change Brings With It Business Model Change

The industry is still reeling from the market's rejection of early CFLs that produced unacceptable quality. They are taking extra care that the same reaction doesn't happen with their introduction of LED lighting to the consumer marketplace.

Read the complete article at New York Times

In California, 90% of ceiling fans sold have light kits with incandescent sources and an average connected load of 120 watts.

Recent Title 24 changes marginally increase energy savings in these applications via dimmers but significant energy savings potential remains by shifting the fan lighting market towards energy efficient sources.

The California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) at the University of California, Davis and Hunter Fans have partnered to design and develop a ceiling fan system that optimizes a combination of emerging LED technology and commerciallyavailable lighting controls to create a cost-effective LED lighting kit for energy savings.

The LED ceiling fan light kit will serve as a direct bolt-on replacement for pre-existing fan systems providing a smart energy-efficient retrofit solution. The retrofit fan light kit will be comprised of an LED array, power supply, glass dome with a hanging tree, and a mounting plate.

• The LED light kit will be designed to have an output of 32 Lumens per watt (approximately 800 lumens at 25 watts). Typical incandescent kit systems usually produce less than 15 lm/W.
• Custom low profile LED driver developed by Hunter Fans and Texas Instruments.
• Pull Chain Switch allows for dimming, ON and OFF functions of the LED luminaire.

The project on LED Residential Fans seeks to develop and commercialize novel LED-based lighting kits for ceiling and exhaust fans in residential applications. Both retrofit and new construction residential applications are indicated with possible opportunities in commercial applications. Additionally, the project will explore the integration of controls systems to the LED fan systems to determine if additional energy savings can be achieved in a cost-effective manner.

The CLTC and Hunter Fan are project partners. This project is part of the latest PIER portfolio — Lighting California’s Future (LCF). LCF program information and reports: www.archenergy.com/lcf/LED-projects/ceilingfan.html

PLS - Personal Lighting System

Plus, this breakthrough system consumes about half the energy of the most efficient fluorescent task lights. It distributes light exactly where the user wants it and saves installation time and cost.

PLS was developed in conjunction with the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC), and partially funded through the California Energy Commision (CEC) Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program.

Choose from the following components to tailor your system.

• Desk lamp: Elegant, versatile, desk lamps let users quickly tailor illumination patterns and levels to specific tasks by simply moving the fixture's head-finger-touch adjustability. Interchangeable mountings provide maximum placement flexibility. These elegant desk lamps are available in three sizes. 3, 6, and 9 watts in a sleek silver or black finish.

• Undercabinet luminaire: At only 0.8 inches tall and 2.5 inches deep, PLS undercabinet fixtures fit seamlessly under binder bins, overhead cabinets and shelving. Each fixture reveals vertical textures while evenly distributing light on task surfaces. Available in 3, 6, and 9 watts, these fixtures can be used individually, joined in continuous rows or even relocated with plug-and-play simplicity

• System accessories: Your Personal Lighting System can be customized to fit individual work areas using any combination of multiple desk lamps and undercabinet units, in groupings of up to 60 watts total power. Systems are easily configured using a standard low-voltage cabling and include an optional occupancy sensor for maximum energy savings.

Multiple Patent-pending Features

http://www.finelite.com

The purpose of the  Lighting California's Future "Market Connection" effort is to shape and support technology development and early deployment efforts in order to accelerate the technology diffusion process and  help meet codes and standards including Title 24, IESNA, ASHRAE, and LEED.

The ultimate outcome of the market connections element is broad market adoption of the lighting products developed within the LCF program, including codes and standards covering qualified products. As technical projects become available for initial field pilots, team members will develop and provide project specific information to California utility emerging technology programs and the University of California/California State University Energy Efficiency Partnership Program, and other similar groups.

Led by New Buildings Institute with coordinated efforts from the California Lighting Technology Center, Architectural Energy Corporation, and SDV/ACCI.

Alliances and partnerships include:

•California utilities demonstration/evaluation/program support
•State/local agencies: UC/CSU system pilots
•Federal agencies: Federal Network for Sustainability
•Private sector- innovative business leaders
•US Green Building Council - LEED
•NBI- Advanced Lighting Guidelines

The program provides content for web sharing at the Lighting Portal, Design Lights, Lighting Lab.

The Technology Tranfer Plan business case

•Market and product definition
•Manufacturer business case
•Value proposition for the customer
•Supply chain requirements
•Key market barriers
•Key market messaging
•Energy/demand savings potential

The purpose of Technology Transfer Plans is to assist in building the business case for each project and cacilitate development of technology transfer plans (TTP)for each product to ensure that answers are provided to questions partners/investors/funding parties are likely to have about the product’s: Effectiveness in reducing/managing demand and Market feasibility.

This program also provides business case spreadsheet analysis tool, CO2 accounting, and connecions with the Navy and Bonneville Power, as well as the US DOE Commercial Lighting Initiative.

CONTACTS: Mark Cherniack, New Buildings Institute
Brian Fowler, SDV/ACCI

The IOLS developed through a partnership with Finelite, and funding from the California Energy Commission's PIER Program. The IOLS resulted an LED task lighting system consisting of a family of adjustable task lights and under-cabinet lights connected to a single power module that compliments reduced ambient lighting systems.

With the LED task lighting system, users can specify the appropriate number and size of task lights and/or under cabinet lights for their specific office layout and the nature of their work. The system is easy to install, and has low-voltage wiring.

Commercialized by Finelite as the Personal Lighting System (PLS), it has an easily configured custom approach that delivers uniform illumination to task planes in a work area or office. Demonstrations of IOLS proved a 25%-59% energy savings with 4-7 years simple payback.

The Personal Lighting System is now available on the Finelite website.

LED task light		LED task lighting system in an office setting		LED task light and undercabinet lighting

Finelite Wins Silicon Valley Environmental Leadership Award

On June 3, Finelite received the 2008 Business Environmental Award for best Environmental Enterprise from Acterra, a non-profit organization that recognizes innovative environmental programs.

Conceptual approaches, preliminary designs and lighting system prototypes are being developed for two applications: pole-mounted and wall-pack fixtures. The project team is working to refine the design of an HID exterior lighting system with integrated controls. Baseline evaluations of the field test site will be conducted with follow up field demonstrations of prototyped systems.

Wall-pack demo installation at CLTC lab		Installation of induction lamp		Induction lamp and sensor placement testing

Expected Completion Date: March 2008