National News

This week I’m excited to be reporting to you from the AASHE 2011 Conference. AASHE (The Association for the Advancement for Sustainability in Higher Education) holds the country’s biggest annual sustainability conference; this year it’s in lovely Pittsburgh! I’m here representing my nonprofit organization, RuckusRoots. We’ll be presenting about TRASHformation, an interactive, collaborative art program Learn More

LEDs Magazine recently reported on Lightfair International 2011, the world’s biggest annual architectur al and retail lighting trade show: “LEDs again stole the show at the annual Lightfair International (LFI) tradeshow. While you could find plenty of conventional lighting on the exhibit floor, it was solid-state lighting (SSL) products that were prominent in most booths, Learn More

Sin City is looking to clean up its reputation. Don’t worry, you can still count on the desert oasis for gambling, hangovers and whatever comes in between, but you’ll have to do it under the energy-efficient glow of LED streetlights. Crews are starting  this week to retrofit 6,600 conventional streetlight bulbs with LED outdoor fixtures. Learn More

Like many cities in the US, Seattle recently installed energy efficient LED street lights. The first phase of the retrofit included 6,000 new LED fixtures placed between the Ship Canal and North 65th street. The second phase of the plan, which will include 12,000 more LED lights installed in the north side of the city, Learn More

President Barack Obama recently toured American factories to call attention to the great potential of forward-thinking US manufacturing in the 21st century. And guess which LED lighting company was first on his list of places to visit? Cree Inc, in Durham, North Carolina. Elemental LED has long been a fan of Cree LED chips for Learn More

Unless you live in Miami, you were probably celebrating with the rest of the country when the Dallas Mavericks, a team of older “outcasts,” beat the Miami Heat in the NBA finals game on Sunday. But Miami fans, here’s hoping you can find some consolation in the fact that even though your team lost, you Learn More

We’ve heard a lot over the last couple of years about different US cities “going green,” but greening the Big Apple? That seems like biting off more than even a doctor would recommend. The city has, however, begun the process of cutting energy costs in office buildings, which eat up 80 percent of the city’s Learn More

Los Angeles is slated to join the ranks of LED-adorned cities (think: Tokyo), thanks to a decision made by the LA City Council on Tuesday, March 29th. The vote comes in response to a proposal to reconstruct the Wilshire Grand Hotel, replacing it with two towers that would become the tallest buildings in the city. Learn More

BizBash, a leading trade magazine for the events industry, named LEDs as a top lighting trend for 2011 in its February issue. “LEDs have been around for a decade or so, and we’ll be seeing even more of them. In fact, for some events, they’ll be the only kind of lighting,” states Lisa Cericola, staff Learn More

The Make-a-Wish Foundation sure knows how to throw a party. Its 16th annual fundraiser was decked out in an Asian theme, complete with twenty live taiko drummers, geisha models and ribbon dancers, and a huge artificial cherry tree lit with color-changing LED lights as a centerpiece. And, it worked—the event had 850 guests, raised $900,000, Learn More