On Spec

Sixteen stores operated by Hannaford Bros., Scarborough, Maine, have received Energy Star designations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for demonstrating superior energy performance. The majority of the locations use 40% less energy than similar buildings with average energy performance, according to the EPA. Hannaford cut consumption via such tactics as using more efficient lighting, including T8 fluorescent lamps, skylights and LEDs, and by improving efficiency in refrigeration systems.

idX Corp., St. Louis, has launched idX London. The new branch is a joint venture between idX and its U.K. fixture-manufacturing partner, Leicester-based Clements Retail Innovations.

Nature’s Lighting, Park City, Utah, has changed its name to Ciralight. The company provides advanced daylighting systems.

Richter + Ratner has moved to 1370 Broadway, New York, N.Y.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo is moving to Chicago for its 2007 show, which will be held Nov. 7-9, at McCormick Place (www.greenbuildexpo.org).

A dramatic fixture grouping of an ebony table and mirror-tiled showcase at Lily Simon, a high-end fashion retailer in Montreal, took top honors as Fixture of the Year in the 2007 National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers Retail Design Awards.

The table, 19-ft. long and 2-ft.-6-in. wide, meanders up the steps and cuts across the space, whose minimalist design provides an ultra-modern atmosphere. The table leads shoppers to a showcase where jewelry and accessories are displayed under sparkling glass.

A coalition that includes Philips Lighting, energy specialists and environmentalists are pressing for efficiency standards at the local, state and federal levels that would phase out incandescent lamps and replace them with compact fluorescents, LEDs, halogen devices and other efficient technologies.

The members of the coalition have committed to seek a “market phase-out” of incandescent lamps by 2016. The members say that a complete phase-out would save businesses and consumers $18 billion annually on electricity bills and substantially reduce mercury emissions from coal plants.

The coalition will also advocate for wider use of higher-efficiency fluorescent lighting in commercial buildings and more energy-efficient street lighting systems. To back up these incentives, it will support performance standards that work along with market forces to move the U.S. lighting market away from inefficient products and towards adoption of these and other energy-efficient alternatives.

“The Alliance to Save Energy is pleased to be part of this new coalition committed to advocating for public policies to speed the phase-out of inefficient lighting products by 2016,” said Kateri Callahan, president, Alliance to Save Energy. “The economic, environmental and national security benefits of such a market transformation include lower energy costs for consumers and businesses, less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and extension of our nation’s limited energy supplies.”

The Australian government recently announced it would seek to ban incandescent bulbs. And in California, a bellwether state for energy and environmental matters, an assemblyman has introduced a bill that would ban the sale of general-source incandescent lamps in the state by 2012. Connecticut and Rhode Island are also considering banning incandescents.