Craig’s Lighting Articles

For a feature to be published in Electrical Contractor’s April issue, I recently had the opportunity to interview Leendert Jan Enthoven, President, BriteSwitch, a rebate fulfillment firm, whose North American rebate database provided a look at some interesting trends in commercial lighting rebates.

In September 2022, California banned the sale and distribution of certain fluorescent lamps over the next few years. In doing so, the state joined Vermont, the European Union, and soon, possibly, Canada and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy is targeting CFLs with new energy standards.

This article describes the photometric report and what electrical distributors can learn from it at a glance, part of a new series at tED Magazine (NAED) that aims to explore lighting fundamentals and attract new distribution professionals to the category.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Chris Holstein, VP Product Management, Pricing, Marketing for Universal Douglas for an article I’m developing for the May 2023 issue of tED Magazine, the official NAED publication. The topic: opportunities for distributors serving the LED driver replacement market.

Among its many provisions, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 revamped the venerable Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction (CBTD), which incentivizes building owners to invest in energy-efficient interior lighting, HVAC/hot water systems, and/or building envelope.

Skyglow, light trespass, glare and color remain issues in outdoor lighting design. For the first time, the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) addressed them in technical requirements released December 2021, resulting in recent publication of a new Qualified Products List (QPL) as a subset of its QPL for solid-state lighting. LUNA version 1.0 identifies outdoor LED luminaires that save energy and promote responsible outdoor lighting.

My contribution to the June issue of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR describes two major Department of Energy rulings related to incandescent lamps–one that revises definitions to eliminate previous exemptions, and anohter that interprets the 2007 energy law’s backstop provision, which will eliminate a majority of lamps that previously complied.

My contribution to the May issue of tED Magazine evaluates luminaire-level lighting controls (LLLC) as a control solution and potential path for designing and installing networked lighting control systems.

Another of my contributions to the April issue of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR describes the field-adjustable luminaire trend.