2008 Chairman's Award Winner: Philips Electronics

This year’s Chairman’s Award, whose recipient is chosen by Alliance Board Honorary Chair Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), goes to Philips Electronics, which spearheaded the successful efforts of the Lighting Efficiency Coalition to develop and gain enactment of a revolutionary yet orderly industry-wide phase-out of inefficient lighting under the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. That group of lighting manufacturers and energy-efficiency advocates also included from its inception the Alliance, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Appliance Standards Awareness Project, Californians Against Waste, Earthday Network, and Natural Resources Defense Council, with lighting manufacturers GE and Sylvania joining at a later date. The law establishes technology-neutral, performance-based lighting-efficiency standards, as well as government incentives to accelerate the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and energy-efficient halogen lamps, which will result in significant economic, environmental, and energy-security benefits.

The coalition projects that the transition to more efficient lighting, in part due to the new EISA standards, will exceed the combined energy and money savings of all 21 federal appliance standards adopted since 2000. By 2020, the improved lighting is expected to lower consumers’ annual electricity bills by more than $13 billion and save more than 140 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) a year – an amount exceeding that used by all homes in Texas.

Says Philips Lighting North America Chairman Kaj den Daas of the honor, “We are delighted to be recognized by the Alliance to Save Energy for the landmark efforts of the Lighting Efficiency Coalition and to have worked so successfully with the lighting industry, the government, and the environmental community to enhance our nation’s sustainability, establish a precedent for the continued enactment of proactive energy legislation, and help drive a more energy-efficient future for generations to come.”