Energy + Environment

    Companies are beginning to produce fiber textiles, also known as biofabric, from fungus mycelium and plant roots. The following are two interesting examples. My Glo produces luminaires (light shades) and other home décor items from fungus mycelium. See the image above and directly below. The mycelium light shades are flame resistant, help clean [...]

  An interesting article by Trane lays out the basics of Building Automation System (BAS) communications and then addresses four common misconceptions. We should first define the protocols and mediums. Protocols are the language in which the building is speaking—BACnet® over MS/TP, BACnet over IP, Modbus, and LonTalk are some of the non-proprietary languages used [...]

  Clifton Lemon Associates today announced that Pacific Gas & Electric will present a free webinar on the growing importance of building controls integration in the process of building-grid connection, load management, decarbonization, and electrification. Titled Lighting and Smart, Grid-Integrated Buildings, the webinar presents a history and overview of building controls integration in both commercial [...]

  Rural Energy for America is a new program of the US Department of Agriculture. The program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses, for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers may also apply for new energy efficient equipment and new system loans [...]

  LightNOW has recently covered advances in green aluminum, copper, and textiles. There has now been a large advancement in creating more environmentally friendly glass. Researchers at Penn State University have created what they’re calling LionGlass, a new type of glass that cuts the carbon footprint in half and increases the strength by ten fold. [...]

By Jeffrey R. Dross, Principal, Lighting by Jeffrey Change occurs in every industry. Social and aesthetic trends drive much of it. Consumers are always looking for something “different;” the architecture changes, related interior industries (furniture, floor covering, window dressing and appliances) shift and society reacts to the needs of the community and its people. Trends [...]

  In a previous post, I’ve discussed sustainable aluminum as a path to further improve the sustainability of lighting. Another important metal to the lighting industry is copper. Copper is also critical for electrification, electric motors, electric vehicles, and many renewable energy technologies. The Copper Mark is a labeling program for copper producers to demonstrate [...]

  In the lighting world, we usually think of reducing carbon by increasing efficiency of energy use. However, there is a new push to reduce the carbon used to create construction materials, known as embodied carbon. This matters in the fight against climate change. Building materials and construction comprise about 11% of global energy carbon [...]

  Before a tsunami, the ocean withdraws out to sea. Similarly, the signs are growing that a new tsunami is about to hit the lighting industry. That is the integration of lighting controls with HVAC controls. Why? It’s well known that LED “socket saturation” as well as diminishing returns when LEDs are combined with advanced [...]