March 2010

Beginning its third year of negative conditions, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) had a drop of almost three points in January. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate 9- to 12-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the January ABI [...]

Omega Lighting has combined MesoOptics optical technology from Ledalite with the power of a high-performance LED light engine and Omega Lighting’s optics to produce the 25W Revelation LED Downlight. Check it out here.

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working on the technological equivalent of putting sunglasses on buildings with a new generation of insulated “dynamic windows” that change color to modulate interior temperatures and lighting. NEMA’s got the story here.

BACnet International and the EnOcean Alliance, an international consortium of 130 companies from the building sector, today announced its cooperation with BACnet’s Wireless Networking-Working Group (WN-WG) to develop a vendor independent gateway specification for integrating EnOcean-based wireless energy-harvesting nodes into the world’s leading data communications protocol for building automation and control. As the only wireless [...]

Cooper Lighting recently announced that its Halo brand of recessed and track lighting has once again been named by Builder Magazine as the Brand Leader in lighting. Sweeping all four categories for the eleventh consecutive year, Halo was awarded first place in the lighting categories of Brand Familiarity, Brand Used in Past 2 Years, Brand [...]

A new standard for the design of high-performance green buildings is set to revolutionize the building industry. Published by ASHRAE in conjunction with IES and the U.S. Green Building Council, Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is the first code-intended commercial green building standard in the United [...]

This video shows three examples of how light and shadow can be used to create works of art. These include Kinetic Sculptures, Chinese Shadow Art Show and a compilation of shadow sculpture. Enjoy!

Another installment in Rosco’s very clever marketing campaign showing how lighting designers used their products to solve challenging problems in theatrical lighting: Lighting designer Jeffrey E. Salzberg was engaged to light a collaborative theater piece combining puppets, aerialists and circus techniques. It also demanded compelling visual imagery to create the Sahara Desert, a sunrise and [...]

It’s that time of year again … Hope to see you there! I’ll be speaking at two sessions, including the What’s New in Lamps and Ballasts seminar on Thursday afternoon. Click anywhere on the image below to register today.