Craig DiLouie

NEMA LSD 27: Best Practices for Operating Fluorescent Lighting Systems, recently published by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), summarizes information and recommendations found in more detailed NEMA papers on individual topics, as well as additional information and recommendations, about how to optimize the fluorescent systems. Click here to download it free.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: “A rising number of manufacturers are canceling new investments and putting off new hires because they fear paralysis in Washington will force hundreds of billions in tax increases and budget cuts in January, undermining economic growth in the coming months.” Read the story here, then contact your representatives in Congress and [...]

Even with the myriad of obstacles preventing a full-scale recovery for the overall U.S. economy, the design and construction industry appears to have reasons to be at least modestly optimistic in the coming months and into next year, according to the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) mid-year Consensus Construction Forecast, a survey of the nation’s [...]

Cooper Lighting’s io Tile Gen II LED luminaire, which recently won a Best of NeoCon Award, is a luminous, clean, geometric form that can be surface-mounted, pendant-mounted or recessed into walls and ceilings. An anodized aluminum frame, less than ¾-inches deep, houses LED linear strips that serve to edge-light the optical waveguide acrylic, which directs [...]

Energy efficiency programs have been helping electric utility customers reduce and manage their energy costs for 30 years or more in many states. Born out of the energy crises of the 1970s, these customer programs have grown and matured to become a low-cost, high-value energy resource for electric utilities and their customers. Three Decades and [...]

The United Kingdom comes in first in a new energy efficiency ranking of the world’s major economies, followed closely by Germany, Japan, and Italy, according to the first-ever International Energy Efficiency Scorecard published today by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The report finds that in the last decade the U.S. has [...]

The Department of Energy has published the first evaluation report from a GATEWAY demonstration on NE Cully Boulevard, a residential collector road in Portland, OR. Six different types of roadway luminaires were installed in side-by-side groupings and evaluated for initial performance: three LED, one induction, one ceramic metal halide, and one baseline high-pressure sodium. In [...]

Acuity Brands, Inc. has developed a financial tool that allows users to determine the true economic value of a lighting system, greatly exceeding the simple data output found on many industry “payback” calculators. The Visual Economic Tool is a free tool that uses recommended industry practices (IESNA RP-31-1996, Recommended Practice for the Economic Analysis of [...]

Lighting Analysts, Inc. has announced the availability of ElumTools 2013, an enhanced and updated software add-in to Autodesk Revit 2013 MEP or Architecture. ElumTools 2013 contains several user-driven enhancements such as dedicated emergency calculation mode, support for luminaire dimming and switching, and a more accurate treatment for transmission of electric light through glass.