New application of a 15-year-old technology is creating a minor revolution in fluorescent lighting, enabling linear fluorescent lamps to be installed in applications once reserved to HID lighting and expanding retrofit opportunities. Amalgam technology is now available in linear T5HO, T5VHO and T8VHO lamps, enabling these lamps to extend into applications that get as cold [...]
Sustainable construction represents about 10% of the current commercial and institutional building market, according to McGraw-Hill, which predicts that demand will increase to 20-25% by 2013, or $96-140 billion. LEED has provided focus to the sustainable design movement and, to a significant extent, put a face on it. LEED 3.0, the latest version of LEED, [...]
An article I wrote about LED outdoor lighting was published in the August 2009 issue of TED Magazine. TED is the official publication of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) and is read by the nation’s electrical distributor community. A number of LED outdoor products, selected by the editors of TED for an attached [...]
An article I write about lighting and LEED 2009 was published in the January issue of TED Magazine. TED is the official publication of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) and is read by the nation’s electrical distributor community. Check it out here.
To strengthen user confidence in LED products, the Department of Energy established ENERGY STAR criteria for LED fixtures that went into effect last September. Recently, the first products were introduced. In this article I wrote for the July issue of TED magazine, the ENERGY STAR criteria are discussed along with several perspectives on its significance [...]
An article I wrote for TED Magazine recently describes the emergence of the NEMA Premium Ballast. Basically, this is a program, with a mark, that identifies the industry’s most efficient fluorescent electronic ballasts available for 4-ft. T8 lamps. It’s a great idea, even if simply to avoid confusion. Everybody calls their electronic ballasts “high efficiency” [...]
I recently wrote an article for TED Magazine about load-shedding ballasts, available online here. A building’s demand for electric power is the sum of the power required to run its electrical equipment in operation at any given time. Demand rises and falls as equipment is turned on and off. Peak demand is the highest level [...]
I recently wrote an article for TED Magazine about extended-life linear 4-ft. fluorescent T8 lamps. Industry averages: * 20,000 hours at 3 hours/start on instant-start ballast (the most commonly installed electronic ballast) * 24,000 hours at 12 hours/start on instant-start ballast * 24,000 hours at 3 hours/start on a programmed-start ballast * 30,000 hours at [...]
Last fall, TED Magazine published my column on fluorescent emergency ballasts, available here. A fluorescent emergency ballast is basically a ballast with a built-in battery that senses when power is cut to the unit, resulting in relays inside the ballast switching to battery power to operate the lamp(s) and produce code-compliant illumination during an emergency. [...]
In March 2008, TED Magazine, the NAED publication for electrical distributors, published my column summarizing the lighting changes of the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 energy standard. ASHRAE 90.1-2007 did not make power allowances more stringent, but did include a number of significant refinements. Click here to read the article. According to the Building Codes Assistance Project, as [...]
