A great article at The Verge about ewaste recycling. Stunning is the complexity and thin margins associated with recycling electronic waste. How is the lighting industry going to respond? What is the end of life scenarios for our products? I … Continue reading ewaste empire
I find this humorous on so many levels… The City of Holland (that’s in Michigan…not the Netherlands) has a fantastic marketing campaign going for energy efficiency. Recalling classic tropes of American television advertising throughout the decades, the ads are really … Continue reading holland energy prize
Ouch! Some tough love from analysts covering the Philips Lighting IPO. Continue reading welcome to the stock market…
An interesting software cross-platform partnership announced by Digital Lumens: In a nutshell, Schneider’s system can talk to Digital Lumens’ system. As part of the partnership, Schneider Electric will add support for Digital Lumens’ sensors and software to its SmartStruxure offering, … Continue reading digital lumens connects its software with schneider electric
I updated my spreadsheet tracking investment, revenues and exits for venture-capital backed startups in the lighting industry. You can download the Excel file here: BK_InvestmentRevIPO List Since most of these companies are privately held, the data is scattershot. Nevertheless, it paints an … Continue reading vc-backed lighting startups, update
Another superb presentation on green building strategies from Owen Zachariasse. I encourage all of my friends in design, architecture and construction to find an hour and listen to Delta Development’s philosophy and amazing success. You can find my older posts … Continue reading owen zachariasse at light + building
According The Verge, Apple recovered $40m in gold and $6m in copper from its recycling program. How much value is out there from dead light fixtures??? The circular economy can generate incredible value if implemented correctly. Continue reading apple recovered $40m in gold
Not strictly lighting related — but interesting nonetheless: Understanding How Dilution Affects You At A Startup Continue reading venture capital dilution
LED Linear announced today that is has been acquired by Fagerhult for €40m initial payment and €21m conditional payout through 2018. The Business Wire announcement also discloses that LED Linear was founded 10 years ago, currently has 110 employees and revenue of €21m … Continue reading led linear acquired by fagerhult
To all my friends in the lighting specification world, I strongly urge you to include language in your boilerplate specs for your project clients that reserves ownership of any data generated by the lighting system, privacy of that data, and … Continue reading data ownership
According to the NY Times, apparently the US government killed the Lumileds deal over potential military applications of gallium nitride (GaN), one of the key ingredients in LED technology. At the center of the committee’s concerns on the Philips deal, according to Mr. Lewis, was a little known but increasingly important advanced semiconductor material called gallium nitride. Though not a household name like silicon, gallium nitride, often referred to by its abbreviation GaN, could be used to construct a new generation of powerful and versatile microchips. It has been used for decades in the low-energy light sources known as … Continue reading GaN killed the Philips Lumileds deal
I’ve been searching for data on funding and revenue for high-growth, VC-backed lighting startups. Here’s a spreadsheet of data I found via web and anecdote. Update 1: Added Ketra to the list. Continue reading lighting startups funding and revenue (updated)
Maury Wright from LEDs Magazine gave Luminous Patterns some nice coverage in a recent post. Thanks Maury! Continue reading philips luminous patterns: LEDs Magazine
According to Bloomberg: Royal Philips NV’s lighting division is attracting interest from a number of the world’s largest private-equity firms, in a deal that could value the unit at about 5.5 billion euros ($6 billion), Continue reading the sharks are circling…
When you are either specifying or engineering a light fixture, I implore you to think about the broader issues of sustainability and the lighting industry’s impact on our tiny planet. There are many sustainability certification programs out there and frankly, I … Continue reading beautiful factories
Lux Review posted a nice article profiling Philip Lighting’s recent arrangement with Schiphol airport to provide “light-as-a-service”. Here is the text of the article for posterity: Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport won’t be paying for its new light fittings. It will just pay for the light that … Continue reading light-as-a-service at schiphol airport
Fascinating story on the history of Joel Spira, who invented the modern switching dimmer and founded Lutron. Plus an earlier article with some fun anecdotes, too. Continue reading lutron founder joel spira dies at 88
The large Integrated Systems Europe expo is a crazy mish-mash of professional grade audio systems, display technologies, video processing technologies, a smattering of lighting controls, plus a host of ancillary accessories and supporting companies. The show is held every year here in … Continue reading the future of architectural lighting experiences: integrated systems europe 2015
According to Dezeen: Italian decorative lighting company Flos is being sold to a private equity investment firm for 400m Euro. The article also mentions that Flos reportedly earns about 150m Euros a year. The Dezeen article includes a brief history of the company. Continue reading flos being sold for 400m euros
Nice article in Fast Company introducing the principles of Circular Economy strategies, mostly taken from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. A circular economy is one where goods are restored and regenerated more widely, moving from a system of virgin inputs and piles of waste to one that returns used products to a useful state. It is also an economy that minimizes resource use by moving away from individual ownership towards more leasing, renting, and sharing. The aim is to cut environmental damage and allow companies to keep control of the value in their products. Continue reading how to build a circular economy
