July 2015

I wrote this article for the July issue of tED Magazine. Reprinted with permission. LED performance continues to increase, making it increasingly competitive with traditional lighting, while costs continue to fall, making it increasingly attractive for purchase. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), between 2005 and 2013, average efficacy of cool-white LED packages [...]

Construction activities are expected to grow at 5% in 2015, leveling off from the previous forecast of 8 percent in Q1 2015, according to FMI Corporation’s Q2 Construction Outlook. Although the prediction is significantly lower than last quarter, the outlook reports the highest total for construction put in place since 2008. “Construction spending continues to [...]

The Lighting Controls Association recently published a whitepaper I wrote about the 2012 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, published in stages this year by the Department of Energy. The 2012 CBECS provides an estimated profile of the U.S. commercial building stock based on an interviewed sampling. Information includes number of buildings, floorspace, age, building type, [...]

Prudential Lighting’s Bionic and P40 Series utilize the company’s FusionOptics technology to give both lines very good optical control, shaping light in new ways while maintaining efficacies as high as 100 lumens/W. Promising an end to mechanical kickers and makeshift solutions, FusionOptics–incorporated into wall wash, wall graze, perimeter fill and batwing/ceiling wash options–delivers good optical [...]

Republication of Postings from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solid-State Lighting Program by Jim Brodrick, SSL Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy There’s a growing awareness of glare these days, both within and beyond the lighting community. Glare can be a problem with any lighting technology, but the nature of LEDs as point sources [...]

Last November, ASHRAE published an updated version of its green building standard, ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. My lighting column in the June issue of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR covers the lighting requirements of the standard. Check it out here.

From Mark Eubanks, president of Eaton’s Lighting Vision (formerly Cooper Lighting): In the nearly three years since Cooper became part of Eaton, a worldwide leader in power management, we have been gradually transitioning from the Cooper Lighting name to the Eaton brand. This month, as Eaton’s Lighting Division, we take the next step in brand [...]

The Illuminating Engineering Society recently announced the retirement of Rita Harrold, Director of Technology. I was pleased to work with Rita on the development of various IES publications. Her shoes are going to be very hard to fill. Wishing her the absolute best in her next stage of life. Rita was the first woman elected [...]

Hubbell Lighting’s all-in-one LED commercial downlight, Prescolite’s LBSLEDA, is designed to fit a standard 4×4 J-Box, providing an alternative to recessed products in settings where plenum height is challenging or where fire codes restrict the use of recessed luminaires. Available in a 7-inch round and square (LBSQLEDA) version, the LBSLEDA features an intuitive snap-in system [...]