Grayton Beach, FL—Your humble editor unexpectedly ran into one of the great researchers of our industry at RedBar in Florida’s panhandle. This source is one of the giants in research but has always had tremendous knowledge on the business side of the industry as well.
He wants to remain anonymous, but over mojitos and key lime pie, I learned the following:
- Probably at the tipping point now for LED in Roadway lighting.
- Industry would be better served if DOLED (my term) would focus more on infrastructure.
- Once the existing sockets are changed to LED, what will be the source for future technologies? The industry will be smaller with fewer players and less margin dollars. This is primarily due to the long life of LED. This will affect all channels in the industry. Reps will make lower commissions on fewer sales to electrical distributors, who will have fewer sales to electrical contractors. There will be less money for future research.
- Likes the EMerge Alliance—an open industry association, which promotes DC power in commercial buildings.