Craig DiLouie

Construction employment declined in all but 19 communities nationwide this June as compared to June-2008, according to a new analysis of metropolitan-area employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The analysis, which ranks the 12-month construction employment change reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 352 metro areas, shows that [...]

This is an amazing project. At the Goggleworks Center for the Arts, Color Kinetics‘ iColor Flex SLX strands were manually installed in the glass of the art center, creating the effect as if someone is drawing on the building. Check it out here:

The Department of Energy has completed Round 8 of product testing through its CALiPER testing program, available here. Round 8 focused mostly on replacement lamps, including MR16s, PARs and small omnidirectional replacements. Traditional sources were also tested in each application category for benchmarking and comparison with LED sources. Other products tested included three undercabinet fixtures, [...]

The IES Conference Papers Committee is seeking additional work to be presented in a Poster Session at the IES Conference in Seattle, WA on November 15-17, 2009. Topics of interest include early results of research work or studies; new technologies; novel lighting design solutions or product applications; concepts for improving measurement or the evaluation of [...]

After showing signs of stabilization over the last three months, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) plunged nearly five points in June. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate 9-12 month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the June ABI rating [...]

Here’s an article I wrote for the July issue of Electrical Contractor Magazine on the topic of a new residential lighting provision in the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), used by most states as the basis of their residential energy codes, that requires 50% of lamps in newly built homes to be “high efficacy”–that [...]

Over the last few years, AT&T Inc. re-branding efforts across the country included a redesign of the company logo that necessitated the replacement of 7,000 channel letter signs on more than 6,500 AT&T office buildings and retail locations. With a switch to an LED lighting system (GE Lumination’s Tetra), AT&T is expected to save more [...]

LED fixture manufacturer Renaissance Lighting has established a recycling program designed to keep Renaissance Lighting products out of the nation’s landfills. The company’s fixtures are nearly 100% recyclable, according to the company. From the reflector to the mounting frame to the LED light engine, most of the product can be recycled by returning it to [...]

Illumivision Incorporated, a Canadian manufacturer of solid-state lighting, has its new corporate identity, shown here.