This month’s LightFair conference in San Diego will be another measuring stick for LED lighting. It’s the sixth year since the show turned all-LED, pushing every other lighting technology off the convention floor.
A few years ago our team defined the concept Enterprise Smart Grid, recommending that to effectively manage energy consumption companies require visibility, control and management systems. We portrayed an overwhelming number of ESG vendors in our market landscape picture.
This time a few years ago our team met up with a customer to review an energy efficiency proposal planned for early the following year. Our HVAC and lighting upgrade was set to improve ventilation and lighting, while reducing the building’s annual energy consumption by 250,000 kWh. The local utility was prepared to contribute 30% of the project’s cost, producing a 28 month return on the potential investment.
Four years ago Nest introduced one of the biggest home energy efficiency devices since the on/off switch. And while many think the rounded iPhone-like thermostat with a Wifi-connection was the invention, its revolutionary feature was really the integrated motion sensor.
Many grocery chains have a history of making investments in sustainability. The industry’s Food Marketing Institute provides members guidance on a range of programs from agriculture to energy to recycling. Some join partnerships like the EPA’s Green Chill for managing refrigeration chemicals. Last week the USDA and the FDA gained industry support for their US Food Waste Challenge, which set the country’s first food waste reduction goals.
Last week our team was proud to see Groom Energy’s name again included on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list, this for our third year in a row.
Last week our annual Red Sox outing came close to being washed out. The first pitch was thrown with threatening clouds over Fenway, while our iPhones lit up with tornado warnings for Greater Boston. But we lucked out and the game played on uninterrupted, although the last place Sox did avoid the win.
Steam has long been an efficient way for manufacturing plants to deliver predictable, even heating to their production lines. Typically our customers use medium pressure steam in food processing, as an input for metal or rubber manufacturing or to purify vapor streams in the production of chemicals.
Last week’s annual LightFair conference was the fifth since the show turned into LEDFair back in 2010. At that event, for the first time, more than half of the show’s 450 vendors were displaying LED products. This year virtually all 500+ vendors in the Javitz Center were LED-centric.
Both Juno and Deflategate hit Greater Boston hard this past week. Fortunately we’ve dug ourselves out of Juno – but we’re still buried in the Patriots’ mess.