2025

  The integration of bird-friendly measures into the widely recognized Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system is both progress and controversial in protecting avian species from building-related threats. LEED, managed by the U.S. Green Building Council, has been a global standard for sustainable architecture since 1998, with more than 100,000 certified properties [...]

The American Lighting Association (ALA) sent out a good summary of last week’s tariff escalations by the Trump Administration. President Trump is invoking his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) to, as the White House puts it, “address the national emergency posed by the large and persistent trade deficit that [...]

The ORB3 and ORB5 LED drivers from Arkalumen offer intelligent tunable spectra control within compact Zhaga-standard dimensions. These drivers are designed to provide lighting designers and fixture developers with greater flexibility through their modular architecture, enabling a wide range of customizations for various lighting applications. Product Overview The ORB family includes two main models: ORB3: [...]

  Researchers from the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a cutting-edge humidity sensing system capable of monitoring human behaviors in real-time through the detection of respiratory patterns. This innovative system combines a highly sensitive humidity sensor with a thermistor, micro-heater, and machine learning algorithms, achieving an impressive 96.2% accuracy [...]

Terry McGowan announced that he will be retiring as the Director of Engineering at the American Lighting Association (ALA). McGowan has had a distinguished 60-year career in the lighting industry, marked by innovation, education, and leadership. He began his career at GE Lighting, where he worked for 38 years in roles such as lighting application [...]

  When I entered Lutron’s booth at LEDucation, I expected to be overwhelmed by endlessly complex control options and a dizzying assortment of products and components. I was wrong. The Lutron booth was a master class in presenting highly technical and complex products in a simple to understand story. Some of the credit goes to [...]

  Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has spun off its laser-based internet company Taara from its “moonshot” incubator X, positioning it as an independent entity and a potential competitor to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network. This move allows Taara to attract external funding and pursue more aggressive growth strategies. Taara employs free-space optical communication [...]

  The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) has released a new NLC-HVAC toolkit to improve collaboration between building operators, lighting professionals, and HVAC engineers. DLC claims integrating networked lighting controls (NLC) with HVAC can save over 20% of the whole building load. The toolkit helps building professionals: Understand the benefits of integrating Networked Lighting Controls (NLC) with [...]

An enjoyable surprise at LEDucation last week was the Avenue Lighting booth. This company has slowly transformed over the past 10 years from a basic residential lighting manufacturer into an innovative, decorative, specification-grade lighting manufacturer. Perhaps the most startling find was their Monaco Collection. This collection of pendants have medium-based sockets, but are delivered with [...]