Orion Energy Systems Inc. said Tuesday that its sales for the fiscal year that started April 1 would be lower than it forecast earlier.

The Plymouth company also announced the appointment of a chief financial officer and a chief operating officer. Orion forecast in May that it would have 50% revenue growth during the fiscal year, but it is now forecasting sales growth of 25% to 28%. Sales are expected to be $16.1 million to $16.3 million for the quarter that just ended, Orion said.

Orion sells high-efficiency energy-saving lighting systems used primarily in warehouses and factories.

We got a wake-up call when copper’s per-pound price topped $3.95 in late June. Oil (dealt with last week) has surged, too. If you check TedMag’s weekly Commodity Watch, you know that some items we track have maintained relatively high levels (e.g., natural gas and the euro)—and others have not (zinc and the Japanese yen, for example).

Is there a recession going on, or isn’t there? Is it limited to the United States? Is it a slow-developing national or global pull-back? And: What’s going to happen in the rest of 2008, and beyond?

We’ll tackle these questions, with some expert testimony, in the next few columns.