“I think we’re seeing that when asked, China does offer some of those alternatives, but they’re actually mostly not asked,” he said.

Naturally, most of the focus on the pot industry is with the direct players. In other words, marijuana growers, cannabis distributors, and vertically integrated dispensary operators have been garnering most of Wall Street’s and investors’ attention.

Encore has installed over 60 solar projects in Vermont. This is the Company’s first commercial-scale project in New Hampshire. The 140-kilowattpeak (kWp) roof-mounted solar array was made possible in part by a Commercial & Industrial (C&I) Solar Incentive Program Grant designed to increase the deployment of non-residential “net-metering” projects in New Hampshire that put clean energy onto the grid. Encore secured the grant to increase the appeal of the investment to Tousley.

Ironclad and Vibram partnered together, integrating Vibram shoe sole technology into the palm of an Ironclad engineered glove. This resulted in a glove with unparalleled durability, grip, and fluid channeling characteristics, which can be used in a wide variety of industrial safety applications.

Utilities can use their expertise as energy providers and managers to help develop and operate the EV charging infrastructure needed for the global transition to EVs. European utilities and energy companies have already been particularly active in the industry, making notable acquisitions to bolster their EV charging market position. For example, Engie acquired EVBox in 2017 – a Netherlands-based company with more than 40,000 charging stations in service. In addition to Engie, several European utilities are becoming significant players in the EV charging market, including Enel X (the new business arm of Enel), EDF (through its Sodetrel division), and Eon (through its 77 per cent stake in Innogy).

Looking at the Smart Cities Mission projects as old city versus added areas is not right for works like development of the smart city mobile application, establishment of an integrated command and control centre, or two solar energy parks of 1MW each as these will help the entire city.

“Clear Blue’s Illumient product line has always offered customers the ability to customize the lighting systems to fit their location, budget, and aesthetic requirements,” said Miriam Tuerk, CEO and Co-Founder, Clear Blue.  “Our new Illumient Lithium Series and Illumient Concrete Series offer our customers even more options for off-grid street lighting.  In addition, all of our lighting systems are remotely managed and controlled with our Smart Off-Grid technology, enabling us to anticipate, detect and diagnose issues over the Internet, reducing the cost of maintenance and delivering the highest level of reliability.”

This takes place alongside a growing crowd of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite operators financing and launching new space constellations, with some specifically oriented towards IoT. So, it is a timely moment to consider how these same networks might evolve and scale-up to meet the future aspirations of 5G mMTC.

As an example, a single CAT-7 cable of good quality, terminated by a skilled SI, can deliver the highest PoE power level, which is, in turn, distributed on multiple cables over shorter distances to end-devices. This is a significant cabling and labor savings for the customer while creating a specialized service delivery for the integrator.

Next up: fully integrated autonomous cars, smart streetlights, and possibly becoming a test site for the Virgin Hyperloop One high-speed train. (And who knows? If the train takes off, we may see a Hyperloop travel rewards credit card.)

There’s no doubt that innovation abounds in the LED and SSL industry. But each year places new expectations on technology specialists to ‘level up’ in order to win a Sapphire Award. Carrie Meadows reports on the Illumineer…

“Is it fun to operate a boat near the dam? No,” he said. “I’m sure some of the guys were more tense than others. But nobody got hurt They just got wet feet.”