Energy Star: Lighting Update
Effective Oct. 1, to qualify for the Energy Star label, light fixtures will
need to increase efficiency 30% above currently qualified fluorescent-based
fixtures. In 2013, performance requirements will increase further, providing
40% higher efficiency compared to currently qualified models.
More here.
UL On Ground Rods (April 14)
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is notifying Authorities Having Jurisdiction
(AHJs), electrical contractors, electricians, and retailers that the ground
rods identified below bear unauthorized UL Marks for the United States and Canada.
These products have not been evaluated by UL to the applicable Standard for
Safety for the United States and Canada and are not authorized to bear the UL
Mark.
From the release: The ground rods may have been sold by electrical distributors
throughout the United States.
More
here.
Tyco & Schneider???
Make no mistake: The company electrical people formerly knew as “Tyco” is not
what it used to be. This does not lessen (well, not much) the news last week
that Schneider Electric might be interested in buying Tyco International (stock
symbol TYC).
To review:
- Tyco Electronics is a separate company (stock symbol TEL). It was
spun off from the parent company in June 2007—as was a healthcare subsidiary,
Coviden.
- Tyco’s Electrical and Metal Products business is 49%-owned by Tyco
International. The majority stake is owned by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice,
the private equity company that also owns a piece of HD Supply & Rexel.
If you missed this more-recent development, see
this brief December 2010 report.
Developments in the week of April 11-15:
- Schneider was said to be offering roughly $30 billion to buy Tyco (according
to Bloomberg.com, April 12).
- Schneider said that it’s “not currently” talking to Tyco about buying it
(Bloomberg.com, April 13). Much was made of the two words in quotes.
- Chances that Schneider will buy Tyco “are declining, according to people
close to the situation”—as reported April 13 by David Faber of CNBC.
- If Schneider can’t or won’t do the deal—or even if it will—someone else
might come out of the woodwork, according to an April 12 Reuters report. Who?
Honeywell, Siemens, and United Technologies were named.
- Are Tyco shareholders excited? Maybe. More than 100 million shares of TYC
stock changed hands last week, according to data published on Yahoo! Finance.
Average daily volume (averaged over a three-month period) in the stock was
usually around 5.5 million shares.
- Shareholders of Schneider reacted negatively, dropping the stock down to
110 euros on the Paris exchange as of Friday April 15. Schneider’s stock closed
out March around 120.
Factolitos floating around:
- The acquisition of Tyco by Schneider would be the largest takeover—ever—by
a European industrial company.
- Assuming the deal went through and Schneider didn’t sell off pieces and
parts of Tyco (probably a bad assumption), Schneider’s sales in North America
would more than double.
- ADT, a unit of Tyco, “estimates that it has 11% of the $68 billion global
[security] industry,” Bloomberg.com reported.
- Note that Tyco’s home country (where it is “domiciled,” as is commonly said)
is…Switzerland.
- What about GE? According to Reuters, it (and United Technologies) “have
made clear they do not have the appetite for huge deals right now.”
ManuFacts
Coleman acquires—is this a repeat of the moldy-oldy news that
Coleman Cable
had acquired Technology Research? Nope: On April 4, Coleman said it had
acquired The Designers Edge at a cost of $10.9 million cash. The purchase, Coleman
said, expands its portfolio across a wide range of lighting product categories,
including industrial, work and utility, as well as products for security and
landscape applications.
Incidentally, the stock market likes what it sees from Coleman
Cable (stock symbol CCIX). It closed out 2010 with shares at $6.28. Since April
started, the stock’s price has been bobbing up above the $9 mark—even crossing
$10 for a moment on April 4.
Cree & OSRAM—they’ve signed “a comprehensive, worldwide patent
cross-license agreement” that “underscores each company’s commitment to speeding
the adoption of LED lighting while respecting the value and importance of each
company’s intellectual property.” More.
Schneider did buy something—in an all-cash deal announced as
March ended, Schneider Electric paid $111 million to acquire Digilink from owner
Smartlink Network Systems of India. With a manufacturing facility in Goa (India)
and 92 employees, Digilink’s sales of structured cabling products were said
to total roughly $34 million in 2010.
Some reports and headlines have stated that Schneider acquired
Smart Link outright (such as this
one, from Greentech Media)—but that’s not what has happened. The piece may
be worth reading, however, as it compares Schneider’s strategy with those of
ABB, GE, Honeywell, and Johnson Controls.
[See also Greentech’s March
24 report on Schneider’s acquired of Summit Energy.]
LED Notes
Cheaper?—from Technology
Review (MIT’s magazine): LEDs are conventionally made on a relatively
costly substrate of silicon carbide or sapphire. Bridgelux has come up a new
process that takes advantage of existing fabrication machines used to make silicon
computer chips, potentially cutting LED production costs by 75%, according to
the company.
Firefly—no, not Rufus T.,but Firefly LED Lighting, a member of the Austin, Texas, Technology Incubator.
In March, it obtained $3 million from the State of Texas Emerging Technology
Fund. More.
“Freedom from binning”—that’s what Philips Lumileds is promising
(release).
Hybrid—the new “Advanced Hybrid Lighting Platform,” from Orion
Energy Systems, reportedly “combines the best of both high-intensity fluorescent
and LED technologies in one fixture.”
License for LED fluorescent tube replacements—ilumisys granted
the license to Lumenor Energy Services (Bay Harbor Island, Fla.), described
as a “qualified LED lighting retrofit company.”
LED litigation—there’s nothing new
here, tedmag.com is just catching up: In August, Altair Engineering (parent
of ilumisys) brought a patent infringement suit against LEDS America. According
to a Cleantechies.com
blog, the suit alleged that the LED-O T8 Replacement Tube product infringed
on two Altair-owned patents.
More: If you have enrolled on
Scribd.com, you can take a look at the six-page Altair complaint, here.
OSRAM buys Siteco—this German company (acquired from Barclays’
Private Equity) “was originally part of Siemens” (parent of OSRAM), according
to LEDS Magazine.
Six-inch wafers reduce costs—so says Gerson Lehrman Group, here.
OSRAM will move from four-inchers later this year.
Target: Large LED installations—Elemental LED (release)
claims to offer “installation tutorials and products for larger LED lighting
installations.”
U.S. can keep LED manufacturing home—so claimed this
article in Crain’s Cleveland Business.
© 2012 The Electrical Distributor. All rights reserved.