Sonepar
buys in Canada
Just
before Christmas, Sonepar Canada announced the purchase of Dixon Electric of
North Ontario, a company in business for more than 50 years. The company has
offices in North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, and Timmins, according to a news release.
Separately,
in its home country of France, Sonepar replaced a $442 million credit facility,
signed in 2008, with a $650 million-euro resource “to replace existing
facilities and fund its business,” according to BusinessWeek.com.
Electrical/Datacom
Honor
from supplier: Gamewell-FCI
bestowed its Outstanding Achievement Award on Crown Supply Inc. of Rhode Island.
Obsolete
circuit breakers were promoted in news release from Breaker King.
Street
retrofitting project: The Dublin, Ohio city council accepted a bid for $235,000 for an LED retrofit
from Consolidated Electrical Distributors, ThisWeekNews.com reported.
Lighting
Sales Notes
Capitol
Lighting: Capitol
Lighting announced that customers can donate old or unneeded lighting at the
company’s retail locations in Florida and New Jersey. Habitat for Humanity will
reuse or sell the donated items as part of the its “Making Lives Brighter” program.
50
years in Sacramento: According to a local newspaper, in November, Lofings Lighting celebrated 50
years of business in Sacramento, Calif. The article
in The Sacramento Bee noted that Roy Lofing, 90, is still active in
the business, along with three third-generation participants.
Vegas
display: TransAKT
Ltd. said recently that it opened a showroom in Las Vegas “to demonstrate
innovative LED lighting and ZigBee smart lighting adapters in a real-life
application.” In a news release, the company identifies itself
as “a global VoIP hardware and network provider.”
The
Home Depot and light bulb legislation
- In a National
Public Radio (NPR) interview, Bill Hamilton, merchandising vice
president for electrical at The Home Depot, said, “On compact fluorescent
technology, it's really evolved into a very good light source. When it was
originally introduced, it had a lot of problems. There was tremendous consumer
dissatisfaction, and rightfully so. They hummed. They didn't have good color.
They weren't instant on. Today all of that's gone.”
- In another
NPR story, Hamilton said, "I think
one of the portions that's not being told by our legislators is the importance
of really using energy-efficient lamps. You know, up to 20 percent of a
consumer's cost of operating their home comes from their lighting.”
- A recent NY
Times article, says The Home Depot’s bulb sales were 60% standard incandescents,
25% CFLs, 10% halogen incandescents, 5% LEDs.
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