Education Resources Archives

Powering the Future: Insights on the Growing Electrification Market

William Attardi on August 14, 2025

As electricity demand continues to grow, the electrical distribution industry is uniquely positioned to help lead the transformation of the energy landscape with the services, materials, and solutions needed to support its customers and drive progress. To help members navigate this shift, NAED’s Education & Research Foundation, in partnership with Ducker Carlisle, presents the research study: Electrification Drivers, Disruptors, and Scaling Your Business. This study delivers valuable insight into:

What’s driving electrification—and what may disrupt it
The most promising project areas for distributors
How to strategically scale and prepare your team

NAED Electrification Research

Scaling Intelligence: The Exponential Growth of AI’s Power Needs

William Attardi on August 12, 2025

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI)—particularly the training of large-scale “frontier models”—is driving renewed growth in electricity demand. This report analyzes the technical drivers of AI power consumption, projects future demand trajectories for individual training sites and broader AI needs, and highlights energy sector implications. Their analysis found not only that the power demands of AI have increased steadily, but also that they will keep increasing. While training large, advanced AI models currently requires between 100 and 150 megawatts each, they are projected to require more than four gigawatts apiece by 2030.This Product is publicly available at Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI): Scaling Intelligence: The Exponential Growth of AI’s Power Needs

DesignLights Consortium Opens Comment Period for Second Draft of Technical Requirements for LED Lighting: SSL V6.0 & LUNA V2.0

William Attardi on July 28, 2025

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) today released the second draft of major updates to its Solid-State Lighting (SSL) technical requirements for indoor and outdoor non-residential LED lighting, as well as revisions to LUNA, a dark sky solution. Draft 2 will have a six-week comment period through September 5. Reviewers can provide feedback via email to comments@designlights.org using the comment form. The final policy will be released in early November. Other changes in Draft 2 reflect feedback the DLC received from stakeholders relative to clarifying various aspects of the technical requirements. These changes are meant to streamline the qualification process for manufacturers while advancing the essential goals of SSL V6.0 and LUNA V2.0. Full details of all proposed revisions are available on the DLC’s website.

Welcome to the NEMRA Lighting Division

William Attardi on July 19, 2025

NEMRA Lighting Division is dedicated to empowering independent lighting representatives and their manufacturing partners. Membership in NEMRA Lighting Division connects you to a powerful network of professionals, programs, and resources powered by three core pillars: Advocacy, Education, and Networking. NEMRA Lighting champions the voice of independent lighting agencies and manufacturers, empowers members by building capabilities, and fosters connections for strong partnerships. Through Advocacy, Education, and Networking, your NEMRA Lighting Division membership equips you with professional development, relationships, and business strategies to give you a competitive advantage. NEMRA Lighting Division

Electrical Wholesaling’s 2025 Market Planning Guide

William Attardi on July 8, 2025

Forecasting can be a tricky business. Your winning bet to succeed boils down to a rather simple, three-step approach:

Work with your management team to gather all the facts you can find about your market of interest
Develop forecasts for which way you think the market is headed
Figure how to maximize the revenue potential

That’s a pretty basic strategy that works most of the time – until the basic facts in your forecast change and need be updated. That’s where we are at right now with the electrical wholesaling industry. It looked like 2025 might be year of moderate growth a point or two better than inflation for the electrical market – until tariffs came on the scene and scrambled some basic assumptions about material costs. We don’t know when or if tariffs will dramatically impact electrical product pricing, but we do expect the electrical industry to get hit by some degree of tariff-induced prices increases, along with the rest of the U.S. economy. To manage your way through this uncertainty, it helps to have a consistent, tried-and-true planning tool to develop a realistic growth. Electrical Wholesaling’s 2025 Market Planning Guide | Electrical Wholesaling

DOE: Why Tunable? A Look at Schools Using Tunable Lighting

William Attardi on June 27, 2025

LED technology enables dynamic lighting solutions that can adapt to the occupants, tasks, and daylight in a space. Tunable lighting systems can alter the intensity and/or spectral characteristics (color) of the source. As more schools across the U.S. transition from fluorescent to LED technology, many are likely to consider tunable lighting. This case study aims to help decision-makers by looking at past and current tunable lighting projects.

- Why did schools choose tunable lighting?
- What features were selected?
- How was tunable lighting implemented?
- What was the teacher feedback?

This case study examines tunable lighting installations at eight school districts across the United States. Why Tunable? A Look at Schools Using Tunable Lighting

WAC GROUP Joins the Light and Health Research Center’s Lighting Education Partnership

William Attardi on June 12, 2025

The Light and Health Research Center (LHRC) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is pleased to announce that WAC Group, an innovative lighting manufacturer located in Port Washington, New York, has joined the LHRC’s Lighting Education Partnership. The Partnership is a collaboration among businesses, organizations, government agencies and other entities interested in promoting meaningful and effective education in lighting. Beginning in August of this year, the LHRC will be partnering with WAC Group to deliver a series of webinars providing education on how light impacts the health and well-being of people in a range of residential and commercial spaces. Contact: Christopher Pica at Christopher@cpmediarelations.com

DALI Alliance and IES Collaborate for Lighting Standardization and Education

William Attardi on May 10, 2025

The DALI Alliance and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) are pleased to announce a strategic collaboration aimed at advancing the development, adoption, and harmonization of educational initiatives around global lighting standards. Through this collaboration, the DALI Alliance and IES will coordinate on activities such as education and training programs, and outreach to designers, engineers, and specifiers. The goal is to create greater alignment across lighting technologies and accelerate the deployment of intelligent and sustainable lighting solutions worldwide. DALI Alliance and IES Collaborate for Lighting Standardization and Education – tEDmag

BriteSwitch: LED-to-LED Upgrades and Rebates

William Attardi on May 2, 2025

Early adopters who first transitioned from fluorescent and HID to LED lighting a decade ago are discovering that it’s time to replace their early-generation fixtures. Traditionally, rebate programs haven’t supported LED-to-LED upgrades, but that’s starting to change. As LED technology has evolved, both light quality and efficacy have significantly improved. One effective way to measure these advancements is by examining the Design Lights Consortium’s (DLC)technical requirements. Increased efficacy basically means that new LED fixtures have to use fewer watts to get the same light output, providing an opportunity to realize additional energy savings. RebatePro makes it easy to sort through all the commercial lighting rebates in the US and Canada. LED-to-LED Upgrades and Rebates

DarkSky Approved Luminaires

William Attardi on April 23, 2025

The DarkSky Approved Luminaires program provides objective, third-party approval for manufactured luminaires (light fixtures) that meet our strict guidelines for responsible outdoor lighting. Developed by industry professionals—including lighting engineers and designers—in collaboration with experts in the fields of wildlife biology, ecology, and human health, these guidelines ensure outdoor lighting minimizes light pollution while maintaining and improving functionality and safety. Luminaires that meet our rigorous criteria, based on the Five Principles of Responsible Outdoor Lighting, earn the DarkSky Approved seal—a trusted mark among the lighting community and consumers as the industry standard for dark sky-friendly lighting. DarkSky Approved Luminaires | DarkSky International