April 2012

LEDs are currently dominating product development in the lighting industry, but still only represent about 5-10% of luminaire sales, and only 1% of the installed base of lamps in the United States, as shown below. And most of that is traffic signals and exit signs. This is a sobering reminder that LED lighting is still [...]

Litecontrol’s newest additions to the Concealed Cove family, Cove-15 and the surface-mounted Cove-16, are LED fixtures that represent the smallest cove luminaires in the family. Measuring only 1-1/2” high and 4-1/2” wide, both the Cove-15 and <a href="Cove-16“>Cove-16 offer replaceable LED modules, four color temperatures, three lumen and power choices and a five year warranty. [...]

Pure Edge Lighting’s new showroom at the Dallas Market Center features LED products and innovative and artistic installations. Pure Lighting and Edge Lighting, both owned by Gregory Kay, recently merged to become distinct brands under the company Pure Edge Lighting. Due to growth, the company moved from a shared space to its own expansive showroom [...]

The discussion about LEDs as an energy and environmental cure-all has led to some skepticism about whether LEDs are truly big energy-savers and green when one considers the total lifecycle energy and environmental cost of the product, including manufacturing and transportation. To its credit, DOE took this seriously enough to commission a study. The first [...]

Led by the commercial sector, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has remained in positive territory four months in a row, according to the American Institute of Architects (AIA). 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. AIA reported the [...]

FMI’s forecast for total construction put in place in 2012 is a 5% increase compared to 2011, or $826.3 billion. The last time construction put in place was at this level was 2000-2001. Economic Indicators: Despite slow growth projections and rising gasoline prices, the GDP is still growing and consumers are still spending, reflected in [...]

Following a run-up of more than 20 points in January and February to its highest level in more than six years, NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) for current North American conditions retreated slightly in March, slipping 0.5 points to 72. The survey’s measure of the degree of change in current North American conditions remained [...]

Dal Beat, designed by Sejung Oh, an industrial design major at Pratt Institute was awarded the grand prize at the Illuminating Engineering Society’s New York City Section’s (IESNYC) 12th annual student lighting design competition held on February 29, 2012. In essence, the winning project–constructed of acrylic, an LED strip, and MDF–is a drum filled with [...]

On April 19, the U.S. Department of Energy will host a 90-minute live webcast on a new lighting specification that sets performance requirements for high-efficiency LED and fluorescent troffer products in 2’x4′, 2’x2′, and 1’x4′ configurations. Developed by DOE’s Commercial Building Energy Alliances (CBEAs), High-Efficiency Troffer Lighting Specification v3.0 was released in February and expands [...]