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NEMRA Lighting Summit 26 – October 15th – October 17th – Hilton Anatole | Dallas, TX

William Attardi on May 20, 2026

The NEMRA Lighting Summit is designed specifically for Lighting Agencies and Representatives and Lighting & Controls Manufacturers. The summit provides an exclusive setting for structured business planning and strategy, with an emphasis on strengthening Manufacturer–Agent partnerships. Designed for high-value business planning, the Summit brings Manufacturer–Agent partners together to align strategy, strengthen relationships, and plan for 2027, all in one location. The cornerstone of the Summit is the One-on-One strategic planning sessions between Agencies and Manufacturers. These meetings are designed to review performance, set goals, and align on strategies for the coming business year. Home – NEMRA Lighting Summit 26

Bipartisan Infrastructure Funding Bill Introduced in Congress

William Attardi on May 20, 2026

On May 17, 2026, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced the BUILD America 250 Act – Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act. It is the Committee’s bipartisan, five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill that invests in America’s roads, bridges, transit, rail transportation, and highway and motor carrier safety programs. Fundamentally, the bill emphasizes moving people, goods, and freight safely and efficiently across the country. The legislation outlines approximately $580 billion in federal infrastructure funding over five years (FY 2027–FY 2031). It is designed to replace the expiring Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which sunsets on September 30, 2026. Bipartisan Infrastructure Funding Bill Introduced in Congress

Commercial Electricity Use Will Likely Surpass Residential in 2027: EIA

William Attardi on May 19, 2026

Commercial electricity consumption is likely to surpass residential use for the first time on record in 2027, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Tuesday in its Short-Term Energy Outlook. The commercial sector, which includes hyperscalers, bitcoin miners and cloud computing, is expected to see electricity sales grow 2.2% to about 1,530 billion kWh in 2026 — roughly the same as the residential sector — followed by 5.3% growth the following year, EIA said. Demand from the residential sector, which has historically accounted for the largest share of U.S. electricity use, will remain largely flat over the next two years, growing about 0.5% in 2026 and 2027. Total U.S. electricity consumption in 2026 will be almost 4,250 billion kWh, up 1.3% from 2025, and is expected to grow 3.1% in 2027. Commercial electricity use will likely surpass residential in 2027: EIA | Utility Dive

America’s Power Grid Can’t Keep Up with AI Demand by Ambia Staley

William Attardi on May 19, 2026

The U.S. needs about 5,000 miles of high-voltage transmission per year to keep pace with electricity demand. In 2024, just 888 miles were completed, according to an analysis by Grid Strategies. That gap is widening even as data center developers race to bring tens of gigawatts of new load online. The result is a structural mismatch between the speed at which demand arrives and the speed at which the grid can absorb it. Global electricity demand from data centers grew by 17% in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency, with AI-focused data center electricity consumption growing even faster, surging 50%. In the U.S., data centers now account for about half of the country’s incremental demand growth, according to the IEA’s global energy assessment. AI data centers have U.S. power grid struggling to keep up

NextEra, Dominion Merger Creates World’s Largest Utility

William Attardi on May 18, 2026

NextEra Energy will buy Dominion Energy in an all-stock deal valued at nearly $67 billion, uniting two leading players in the race to meet growing electricity demand from data centers that run artificial intelligence. NextEra Energy (NEE) to buy Dominion Energy (D)  The combination will create the world’s largest regulated electric utility business, fortified by North America’s premier energy infrastructure platform and developer. The combined company will be more than 80% regulated, serve approximately 10 million utility customer accounts across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and own 110 gigawatts (GW) of generation across a broad mix of energy sources. The combined company will drive affordability in the long term by leveraging scale and operating and capital efficiencies as the company makes smart investments on behalf of its customers to meet growing power demand. Additionally, the combined company is proposing $2.25 billion in bill credits for Dominion Energy’s customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina spread over two years post-close.  Business News Today – tEDmag

Wanted: Energy Savings: 2026 Lighting Rebate Outlook by Craig DiLouie

William Attardi on May 15, 2026

The commercial lighting rebate outlook for 2026 remains strong, with rebates available in about 75% of the United States and covering all popular LED and lighting control categories. About 7% of rebate programs started the year with bonuses already in place, according to rebate fulfillment firm BriteSwitch, Kingston, N.J., but many are taking a more strategic approach by aggressively promoting LED options most likely to produce high energy savings. Average rebates for LED products rose 17%, with larger increases—exceeding 30%—for products replacing HID luminaires. Meanwhile, the number of rebate programs incentivizing LED-to-LED upgrades increased by 22%. While still accounting for less than 10% of the total number of rebate programs, this is a trend worth watching. In 2026, 6% of programs shifted from basing incentives on a per-unit-installed basis to other metrics such as power or energy savings. This combines the flexibility and innovation of custom rebates with the relatively straightforward prescriptive rebates, promoting thoughtful design and product selection that maximize energy savings. Wanted: Energy Savings: 2026 lighting rebate outlook | Craig DiLouie – Electrical Contractor Magazine

The US Sets Record Energy Production in 2025

William Attardi on May 14, 2026

Total energy production in the United States increased to a new record of 107 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) in 2025, a 3.4% increase from the previous record set in 2024, according to new data in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Energy Review. Total production was driven by record-high production in natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), and renewables. This was the fourth consecutive year in which the United States set a record for total energy production. Coal accounted for 10% of domestic energy production in 2025. The US Sets Record Energy Production in 2025 – tEDmag

ABC: Nonresidential Construction Adds 19K Jobs in April

William Attardi on May 11, 2026

The construction industry added 9,000 jobs on net in April, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has expanded by 50,000 jobs, an increase of 0.6%. Nonresidential construction employment increased by 19,000 positions, with gains in all three subcategories. Nonresidential specialty traded added the most jobs, increasing by 12,600 positions. Nonresidential building and heavy and civil engineering added 5,600 and 800 jobs, respectively, in April. The construction unemployment rate was 3.8% in April. Unemployment across all industries remained unchanged at 4.3% and is 0.1 percentage point higher than it was a year ago.  ABC: Nonresidential Construction Adds 19K Jobs in April

EPIC | Electrical Power Innovations Conference, October 13-15, Dallas

William Attardi on May 11, 2026

EPIC will bring together organizations and professionals engaged in exploring future trends that will shape the power industry over the next 5, 10, and 20 years, with an eye on improving power resiliency and safety. Twenty of the industry’s top experts will deliver presentations on emerging technologies, smart grid modernizations, and electrical power service futures. Subject matter experts and conference attendees will collaborate on strategies and pathways for advancing the electrical power systems industry. Home – EPIC26 Conference

EPIC26 – Electrical Power Innovations Conference | Register Now

SpaceX Wants to Blast Data Centers Into Orbit. Here’s What It May Take by Claire Hogan

William Attardi on May 5, 2026

Earlier this year, SpaceX filed an application with the FCC petitioning to launch up to a million satellites as part of an “orbital data center.” It has also become a big part of Elon Musk’spitch to investors ahead of his massive SpaceX IPO. We asked an engineer to break down the biggest technical hurdles and costly barriers to putting data centers in space. Watch the video to see what it would actually take to make it work.  SpaceX Wants to Blast Data Centers Into Orbit. Here’s What It May Take. – WSJ

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind – The last time human beings headed moonward was on the Apollo 17 flight that launched Dec. 7, 1972—before any of the Artemis II crew members were born. Today’s crew will not land on the moon—they won’t even orbit the moon. But they will whip around the lunar far side, on a shakedown mission test-flying the Orion spacecraft. This is essential preparatory work for achieving NASA’s bigger lunar goals. Next year there will be another test flight in low Earth orbit during the flight of Artemis III, followed by up to two moon landings by Artemis IV and V in 2028, and annual landings thereafter. Unlike the Apollo program, Artemis aims not just for the so-called flags-and-footprints model of short, one- to three-day stays on the moon, but for a long-term presence at a long-term moon base in the south lunar pole, where deposits of ice can provide drinkable water, breathable oxygen, and oxygen-hydrogen rocket fuel. Very much like the Apollo program, Artemis finds itself in a closely watched moon race, not with the old Soviet Union this time, but with China, which has announced its intention to have astronauts on the moon by 2030. The U.S. is not going it alone this time, however. While Apollo was an entirely American enterprise, Artemis flies under the flag of 60 countries, signatories to the Artemis Accords, an international pact whose members vow to support the peaceful exploration of space and contribute money, modules, and astronauts to the Artemis cause. Artemis II Has Launched. Here’s Everything You Need to Know