December 2009

Don’t know about you, but this song from my childhood always gets me in the mood for Christmas.

More than 400 lighting professionals met November 15-17 in Seattle, WA for the 2009 Annual Conference of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES). The theme of the three day event was “Realizing the Future—Research to Applications.” Presenters focused on both recent developments and some of the big ideas that will affect the future [...]

On Business Week Magazine’s website, this interesting item: East Japan Rail spent $170,000 in October to install special LED lighting on 29 station platforms along one of its busiest routes. The reason? They believe the blue light will reduce suicides of people jumping on the tracks. Check it out here.

In the wake of an extended global economic slump, local communities are pushing ahead and expanding their green building programs. More than one in five U.S. cities with populations greater than 50,000 surveyed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) report having a policy to promote green buildings, accounting for more than 53 million people. [...]

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Philips and Acuity Brands, Inc. recently announced that they have entered into a license agreement allowing Acuity Brands to access Philips’ LED-based patent portfolio. Philips makes its patent portfolio for LED systems and controls available via a licensing program to third parties in order to foster industry growth. The agreement will apply to worldwide sales [...]

A team of leading architects and engineers has unveiled designs for The Cloud–a landmark structure to commemorate London’s role as host of the 2012 Olympics. The lightweight transparent tower, composed of a “cloud” of inflatable, LED-light-emitting spheres, would create a spatial, three-dimensional display in the skies of London, fed by real time information from all [...]

Chain Store Age’s Marianne Wilson produced a very well-written story about the new DOE energy standards for general-service fluorescent and incandescent reflector lamps and how these standards will affect retailers. I was pleased to represent the Lighting Controls Association in the article and give my two cents. Check it out here.

The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) announced that the organization will cease to license and support MasterFormat 95 as of December 31, 2009. The CSI Board of Directors voted to stop licensing and supporting MasterFormat 95 during its June 16, 2009, meeting at the CSI Annual Convention in Indianapolis. As a result, CSI and Construction Specifications [...]