Welcome to the LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter for June 30, 2021. We wish a happy Independence Day to all of our readers in the US and a great mid-summer weekend to everyone else. Note that we will not have a Monday vertical application newsletter on July 5 since that will be a holiday for most of the companies located in the US.
I’ve been wondering when the battle around replacement lamp efficiency standards would resurface given the changes in presidential administration the US underwent early this year. And now things are starting to happen, but I am not up to date on all current angles on the story so what I write here will be incomplete for now.
When last we covered lamp efficacy policy, the US Department of Energy (DOE), acting at the behest of the prior administration, had attempted to dodge a looming move to stricter efficacy limits by changing the definition of general service lamps. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and coalitions in 15 states later sued to block the DOE and demand that the agency enforce the stricter efficacy limits. I’d presume that skirmish remains within the court system.
Now additional groups are bringing pressure directly to new Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and 24 consumer groups from across the US have asked Granholm to implement the efficacy requirements mandated by Congress, including the sizes and form factors that the Obama Administration added to the list of lamp types classified as general service.
But looking into the matter, I learned that the DOE was already preparing to reevaluate the situation. The DOE published an RFI (request for information) in the Federal Register on May 25 seeking information from the public as to whether the 45-lm/W minimum efficacy backstop in the original legislation is reasonable in the case of products such as globe lamps and candle lamps. The NRDC and others support the action of the CFA and NCLC noted above and in fact also submitted a response to the DOE RFI. Generally, the theory remains that the US will miss out on a significant energy savings opportunity unless the stringent limits are restored.
Other news flow is slow heading into a major holiday. Of course you can’t time a crash-and burn story. And our Mark Halper reported that Internet-of-Things (IoT) specialist Gooee was going out of business. That startup company had always sought the spotlight and acted like industry leaders in a manner that far exceeded its actual stature and success. And I’ll repeat again what I’ve written regularly of late. Connected SSL must deliver ROI based on compounding energy savings before any of the more complicated IoT applications will ever pay off.
I know this is short notice, but hey, we all move at Internet speed these days. Actually, our webcast slated for July 8 featuring speakers from Alibaba and AEC Lighting will cover a lot of ground related to Internet speed. Listen to learn more about the supply chain, and especially a supply chain threatened by a pandemic.
You will find many more stories of interest in the body of today’s newsletter. And always feel free to contact me to discuss content we post or to pitch a contributed article.
- Maury Wright, (858) 208-9442, [email protected]