IBM and Johnson Controls recently announced a new relationship to create a new era of smarter buildings. Together, the companies will team to provide a Smart Building Solution that can improve operations and reduce energy and water consumption in buildings worldwide. Building on an existing relationship formed between the two organizations in 2007 to create energy efficient datacenters, this new offering benefits any building or portfolio of buildings. Johnson Controls will combine its global leadership in energy efficiency and sustainable services and technologies with IBM’s global leadership in software, hardware and services. The result will help clients address the growing pressure they face to improve energy and asset management performance across their enterprises. http://www.energyvortex.com/

A new study suggests supermarket lighting helps spinach stay fresh, and may actually increase its nutritional value. U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists said in a statement that spinach stored in clear plastic packages in fluorescent light for 24 hours for three to nine days has significantly higher levels of vitamins C, K, E and folate than when kept out of the light.  Levels of these nutrients have also shown to increase under lighted conditions. During continuous fluorescent light exposure, for example, levels of folate increased between 84 and 100 percent.  In addition, the vegetable has higher levels of healthy carotenoids like lutein and zeaxantin when kept in lighted conditions, especially at a temperature of 39 degrees Fahrenheit. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/

The energy retrofit program “Homestar”, first mentioned in the President’s State of the Union address and later referred to as “Cash for Caulkers,” has now evolved into a proposal that would provide work for unemployed contractors and offer homeowners up to $3,000 to insulate their houses, replace their leaky doors and windows, replace their old water heaters and roofs, and generally cut down on their consumption of energy. As it stands now, the Homestar program will offer rebates to consumers at the point of sale, to be paid by independent building material dealers, home improvement chains, contractor/installers and utility companies, all of whom would seek reimbursement from the federal government. The White House plan must ultimately be approved by Congress, which will also set the funding and duration of the program.  http://www.homechannelnews.com/story.aspx?id=132395&menuid=267

Forget those compact fluorescent bulbs, or even fancy LED lighting. Scientists in Sweden and the USA say they have developed lighting panels using the wonder material graphene, which one day could make the basic lamp redundant. The material can be fashioned into large energy efficient flexible sheets called LECs (light emitting electromechanical cells) that can cover an entire wall or ceiling, filling the room with an adjustable and even source of light. We’ve seen how OLED technology promises a similar approach to lighting, but the scientists say the graphene panels are much cheaper to produce, and don’t contain the metal alloy indium tin oxide that makes OLED panels tricky to recycle.  No word on how long we’ll need to wait before you can buy LEC panels at your local hardware store. http://dvice.com/archives/2010/02/glowing-walls-m.php\

There are different types of lighting retrofit projects: fixture replacement, relocation, repair, ballast retrofit, clean and relamp only, and various other fixture-related tasks; some projects may not even involve working with existing luminaires. As green building takes an even stronger hold of our industry, the focus of most projects will likely be adding to or enhancing the lighting control systems. So along with swapping out ballasts, replacing fixtures and reconfiguring overhead circuitry, there may be many new switches, sensing devices, signal cabling and control panels with which to deal. The success or failure of your estimate will depend strongly on how much information you have about the existing fixtures, circuitry and your knowledge of the new control systems. Perhaps most importantly, it will depend on how you labor it all.  2/’10 Electrical Contractor