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2024 State of the Cannabis Lighting Market by Jolene Hansen

There’s no doubt that the relationship between cannabis and light is one of the most crucial aspects of cannabis cultivation and ultimate success. From light intensity to spectral properties, to light uniformity, to dimming technology and much more, every new discovery in the cannabis industry opens another door for growers, researchers, and lighting manufacturers to explore. In this 2024 “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” report, you’ll find exclusive data revealing practices of your cannabis cultivation peers, with valuable insights into the evolution of cannabis lighting trends through the years. The study behind this report was made possible with support from Fluence and was conducted by third-party research organization Readex Research on behalf of Cannabis Business Times. Click here for a PDF of the full report. 2024 State of the Cannabis Lighting Market report on lighting trends and benchmarks among commercial cultivators | Cannabis Business Times

Lighting Revolution in Two Graphs: LED Distribution In Residential And Commercial Applications by Craig DiLouie

As the LED revolution achieves increasing adoption, a recent report by the Department of Energy illuminates the growth. Published in April 2024, the “2020 U.S. Lighting Market Characterization” https://tinyurl.com/3fczwe9s estimates technology distribution among the U.S. installed base of units (lamps/luminaires), along with energy consumption. Residential sector: Let’s start with the residential lighting sector, where an estimated 6.5 billion units are installed, accounting for 80% of lighting installations. LED was the most popular light source in 2020 with 3.1 billion units installed or 48% of the total, nearly 50% less energy than in 2015.  Commercial buildings: In the commercial building sector, with its estimated 1.6 billion installed units, we see a similarly striking snapshot of LED earning virtual parity with other light sources. In 2020, LED reached an overall share of 48% of the installed base and a rough parity with fluorescent, nearly 30% less energy than 2015 and 57% less than 2001. Again, LED adoption is today the majority light source in commercial buildings.  Lighting Revolution in Two Graphs: LED distribution in residential and commercial applications – Electrical Contractor Magazine

RESEARCH: Commercial Lighting Market to Reach $56 Billion by 2030

Research and Markets has published a new analysis, Commercial Lighting Market……Forecast 2025-2030. The 187-page document covers key factors driving the growth of the commercial lighting market sector (including fixtures for hospitality, retail, workspaces, and more applications), which reached over $17 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 20% in the coming years. The analysis forecasts that the market will reach over $56 billion by 2030 due to increased sustainability efforts, including a focus on human-centric adaptive lighting, adoption of smart lighting and retrofitting infrastructure, as well as the acceleration of urbanization. The analysis provides information on market restraints, such as the maintenance of fixtures, as well as market opportunities, such as solar lighting solutions, in addition to the PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental) factors that influence market data. To find the full report, visit Commercial Lighting Market by Offering, Installation Type, Communication Technology, End-use Application, End-User – Global Forecast 2025-2030

TRAINING: How to Design a Lighting Control System by C. Webster Marsh and Craig DiLouie

Based on EE105: Lighting Control System Design, a new course in the Lighting Controls Association’s Education Express program provides detailed information about designing an effective lighting control solution. In Part 1 of this Lighting Controls System Design series, we learned about key documentation including the Content Intent Narrative (CIN), Sequence of Operations (SOO), and Owner Project Requirements (OPR). The next step in design development in Part 2, is to turn these requirements and conceptual design into a realized design. In Part 3 of this series on how to design a lighting control system, we will discuss installation and post-occupancy. You will learn about bidding, responding to questions from installers, reviewing submittals and defending your design, following-through with the installation of the equipment, functional testing, training essential staff, and ultimately ensuring the owner is satisfied. How to Design a Lighting Control System

RESEARCH: Tracking the Sun by Berkeley Lab

Berkeley Lab’s annual Tracking the Sun report describes trends among grid-connected, distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) and paired PV+storage systems in the United States. For the purpose of this report, distributed solar includes residential systems, roof-mounted non-residential systems, and ground-mounted systems up to 5 MW-AC.  Ground-mounted systems larger than 5 MW-AC are covered in Berkeley Lab’s companion annual report, Utility-Scale Solar.  The latest edition of the report is based on 3.7 million systems installed through year-end 2023, representing roughly 80% of systems installed to date. Tracking the Sun | Energy Markets & Policy (lbl.gov)

WHITE PAPER: Using Smart Technology to Control Building Energy Use

Have you asked if your facility is working as hard for you as it could? While staff training and workforce development are key to preparing your organization for decarbonization, so is optimizing building systems to work smarter, not harder. Smart building systems use sensors and monitors to collect real-time energy usage data that’s leveraged to achieve more efficient building operations. Whether installing occupancy sensors to switch lights off in areas of a building that aren’t in use or using heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controllers to fine-tune air flow and humidity in different zones, there are numerous ways to automate energy savings. Commercial, industrial, and multifamily buildings may be eligible for New York State and utility incentives to support adoption of energy management systems, smart technologies, and other energy efficiency improvements. nyserda_cisponcon_article_august_facilityexecutive_smarttechnology_8.16.24-3.docx (live.com)

RESEARCH: U. S. Lighting Market Analysis Published

Research and Markets has published the 18thedition of its United States Lighting Fixtures Market report for 2024. The seven-chapter report states that while the market slowed to pre-COVID-19 levels in 2024, estimates show market expansion is expected for the next two calendar years due to an expected increase in construction of non-residential projects. The analysis covers topics such as basic data and trends, the U.S. market structure, demand determinants and insights into international trade. For example, the report indicates that China continues to be the largest lighting fixture import partner of the U.S. while imports from Canada, Cambodia, Mexico and Vietnam are also significant. Lighting brands such Acuity, LEDvance, Signify and Zumbotel along with many others are included in the analysis.  To find the full report, visit: www.researchandmarkets.com

Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Hire – While most of us have heard the term artificial intelligence, few could predict the explosion of GenAI technologies in the public sphere over the last two years. In the work setting alone, Microsoft and LinkedIn reported that “75% of knowledge workers use AI at work” and “66% of leaders say they wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills”.                 

So how did this all happen:

1956, August: At the Dartmouth Conference, researchers discuss creating machines capable of intelligent behavior and the term “Artificial Intelligence” is introduced.

2017, June: Google researchers introduce the Transformer architecture, the foundation for generative AI (GenAI) models. (GPT = Generative Pre-trained Transformer)

2022, November: OpenAI unveils ChatGPT, a conversational GenAI model, marking a tipping point in public access and accelerated adoption.

2024 NOW: Commercialization is accelerating. Globally, the GenAI solutions market is expected to exceed $50 billion by 2028 with over 60,000 GenAI companies already doing business (Horban, 2024).  The biggest tech/communications companies are all involved in a very big way to drive and influence our lives now and in the future with their GenAI models:

  • OpenAI’s ChatGPT
  • xAI’s Grok
  • Google’s Gemini
  • Microsoft’s Copilot
  • Anthropic’s Claude
  • Apple’s Apple Intelligence
  • Meta’s Llama
  • Coming: Orion by OpenAI 

Plan for your future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life. Mark Twain