February 2014

The Lighting Controls Association (LCA) has updated EE203: Lighting & Commercial Energy Codes, a course in its popular Education Express program. Residing at the Association’s website, Education Express provides in-depth education about lighting controls and controllable ballast technology, application, system design and commissioning. Commercial building energy codes regulate the designed energy efficiency of nonresidential buildings. [...]

Cooper Lighting recently announced the release of the 2014 SOURCE calendar of educational classes for the lighting and design community. The SOURCE, located at Cooper’s Peachtree City, GA office, offers a wide variety of seminars designed to broaden the understanding of lighting and its many different applications. Most classes are offered multiple times throughout the [...]

Cree has introduced SmartCast Technology, a self-programming wireless lighting control system for its LED luminaires. Designed to be intuitive and easy to use, luminaires enabled with Cree SmartCast Technology create their own secure network, learn about their environment and form groups to maximize savings, all with the push of a single button. Cree SmartCast Technology [...]

Philips Lighting’s InstantFit LED T8 offers a “click to fit” LED retrofit alternative for linear electronic instant-start fluorescent lighting, offering up to 40% energy savings. The Philips InstantFit LED replacement lamp requires no re-wiring as it includes a smart electronic design that is compatible with existing electronic instant-start ballasts and sockets. The result is a [...]

My contribution to the Lighting Controls Association’s blog this month is a summary of indicators of current economic conditions in the construction industry, along with the latest AIA Consensus Construction Forecast. In short, overall nonresidential construction is projected to strongly rebound in 2014. Read it here.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published the findings of a new study utilizing a highly accelerated life-test method (called the “hammer test”) intended to produce failures in SSL luminaires in a reasonable test period, with the goal of providing insight into potential failure modes. Entitled Hammer Testing Findings for Solid-State Lighting Luminaires, the [...]

NEMA’s index for LED A-line replacement lamps increased for the second consecutive quarter in Q3 2013. Shipments during the quarter registered a gain of 71.9 percent compared to the previous quarter. Shipments rose 60.2 percent on a year-over-year basis. Halogen A-line lamp shipments improved as well, eclipsing the level during the same period last year [...]

Cree recently demonstrated an LED concept luminaire operating at 200 lumens/W, which is more than twice the efficiency of the best linear fluorescent luminaires. The prototype leverages Cree’s vertical integration with innovations in LED chips, optics, materials technology and novel system design to deliver unprecedented performance. The 3,200-lumen concept luminaire delivered greater than 200 lumens/W [...]

Hubbell Lighting recently launched three new LED luminaires from Columbia Lighting—the LWC Premium Wraparound, LPT Premium Lensed Striplight and LRO Lensed Striplight, well suited for lighting kitchen or dining areas, work or utility spaces, hallways, restrooms, and other areas with lower ceilings. Columbia Lighting’s LWC Premium Wraparound fixture is available in lumen packages ranging from [...]