Energy + Environment

  Artificial light at night can disorient sea turtles, and send them into car traffic, instead of the ocean. Sea turtle hatchlings are born on sandy beaches at night and must find the ocean by the light of the horizon. The problem isn’t new. Many coastal areas have enacted lighting regulations to protect sea turtles, [...]

  Leather is not a dominant material in light fixtures, but it is sometimes used in decorative lighting. For several years, articles have been published about alternative leathers coming to interior design (furniture) and industrial design, but none of these alternative leathers have been commercially available for production until now. First  though, what is alternative [...]

  A street light has just set a new record for the highest TM66 product circularity score, in the UK. It is the Oaken street light, manufacturered by Thorlux Road and Tunnel (TRT) Lighting, in the UK, with a TM66 score of 3.1. The CISBE TM66 circularity standard is designed to measure the carbon footprint [...]

Three recent announcements involve biomimicry to improve propeller and wind turbine designs. They all raise the question of whether these types of innovations could make their way to ceiling fan blade designs? Judge for yourself. ABB Dynafin Propeller Switzerland’s ABB Marine introduced a multi-blade Dynafin propulsion concept (see above). The innovative concept mimics the motions [...]

By Clifton Stanley Lemon and David Shiller LightNOW published the story, Here Comes The Lighting-HVAC Integration Tsunami, on October 6th 2023. It generated a number of responses, including the beginning of a longer conversation with LightNOW contributor Clifton Stanley Lemon. The salient points of that conversation are below. Clifton What jumped out at me immediately [...]

  The US Department of Energy (DOE) has recently published an 83 page report titled, DECARBONIZING THE U.S. ECONOMY BY 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector. The new report defines a path to transition buildings to clean energy sources and reduce overall energy consumption in order to address not just climate risks but [...]

  More midstream utility lighting rebates are becoming available through online commercial lighting sales. Two examples are EncentivEnergy’s UtilityGenius Commercial Storefront, as well as Bulbs.com. Commercial Storefront is the latest service from EncentivEnergy, the company behind UtilityGenius, an online utility rebate finder / searchable database. Commercial Storefront has negotiated arrangements with ConEd (in NYC) and [...]

  Superdupertube is a linear LED luminaire with a housing made of hemp, considered a highly sustainable fiber. The product is a collaboration between a Swedish lighting manufacturer named ateljé Lyktan, and the product design firm Snøhetta. Hemp ended up being selected because of its durable fibers and minimal environmental impact, reducing CO2emissions by over 50% compared [...]

    Soon California will be banning most petroleum-based plastic packaging from being shipped with products into the state. Five other states have EPR or packaging laws. More information here and here. This will require alternatives to most plastic packaging and foams. I’ve begun covering some bio-based plastic alternatives. See here. In this context, meet [...]