April 2009

Columbia Lighting has unveiled a new website at www.columbialighting.com. In addition to a brand new look and an easy-to-navigate interface, the site offers a variety of product search options including Quick Search, Products Menu, Search by Type, and Search by Feature. The product pages are also designed with four tabs offering the product’s overview, product [...]

Selux Corporation has announced that John McCartney passed away on March 27 at the age of 57. He was employed at Holophane for over 31 years, where he had the position of Director of Sourcing. Since February 2008, John had been working with the Selux Corporation in Highland, New York as a plant manager. He [...]

On the lighter side of things, here’s a fun little gadget: the “temperature controlled faucet light,” which activates based on water pressure and changes color based upon water temperature. Blue when the water is cold or simply turned on, and red when the water hits 89 degrees F. Would probably be a hit with kids [...]

The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is promoting BUG, a classification system for outdoor luminaires (PDF file). Based on the TM-15–the upgrade of the roadway shielding classification system by the Illuminating Engineering Society and the Lighting Research Center–the BUG system addresses light emitted from the luminaire in all directions, not just up into the sky. Called [...]

OSRAM SYLVANIA has opened an expanded clean room dedicated to solid-state lighting research and announced research and product development awards from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling nearly $2 million. “As the economic downturn threatens to slow the pace of green technology investments, I’m proud to say OSRAM SYLVANIA is steadfast in our dedication to [...]

Not exactly lighting related, but had to share this find. Kacie Kinzer built robots to explore how people interact with physical space and documented her work at www.tweenbots.com. These little cardboard robots, called Tweenbots, roll along at a constant slow speed, smiling and bearing a flag that says, “Help me!” Inevitably, the robot runs into [...]

I wrote the below column for the April issue of Illuminate, published by Architectural Products Magazine, about the Commercial Lighting Solutions program produced by DOE to support organizations seeking to generate energy savings beyond ASHRAE 90.1-2004 without sacrificing lighting quality. I was also honored to take part in a charrette in Washington, DC to contribute [...]

Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu have announced plans to invest $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects in U.S. cities, counties, states, territories and Native American tribes. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, funded by President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will provide formula grants for projects [...]

The keynote speakers at this year’s Lightfair Institute are: Live Simply So That Others Can Simply Live Ed Begley Jr. Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:00 pm – 1:45 pm “Our planet is an asset with value – let’s not treat it like a ‘going-out-of-business sale’!” This empowering and humorous message on sustainable living includes how [...]