Energy + Environment

CORRECTION: The study cited below focussed on trees that were all exposed to High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps. Therefore, the findings can not be generalized to LED streetlights. Special thanks to Jim Levecchi at AECOM for sharing this detail of the study. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have published research showing exposure to [...]

  Streetleaf is a Tampa Bay, FL-based startup producing solar streetlights. Earlier this month, they formalized a nationwide partnership with the largest home builder in North America, D.R. Horton. The sustainability story for solar streetlights is pretty well known; like most solar streetlights, Streetleaf operates off the grid using solar power and a battery. Streetleaf [...]

Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) is the first utility in the country using EV batteries to help power homes. The utility is paying Ford F-150 Lightning owners to run their homes using their truck batteries during peak periods to help balance grid supply and demand. Other electric utilities around the country are talking about creating [...]

Networked lighting controls (NLC) enable many useful functions, including dimming, high-end trim, occupancy/vacancy sensing, scheduling, and daylight harvesting. A recent article by Levin Nock of the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) in EC&M argues that a NLC function of growing importance is demand response (DR). Demand response is when end-users voluntarily reduce electricity usage at peak [...]

iLamp is a self-powered, feature-packed, smart streetlight and pole, manufactured by Conflow Power Group. Functions include: Solar self-powered, off-grid or on-grid. Lights stay on when the grid goes down. Wi-Fi hotspot built in, and 4 & 5G towers optional. iLamp can become a communications hub for the community. 360 degree camera produces a live feed [...]

  The US General Services Administration (GSA) announced on July 18th that its Green Proving Ground (GPG) program collaborated with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to select 17 emerging sustainable technologies for installation and evaluation. 2 of the 17 technologies are lighting related: A wearable light exposure measurement system from Blue Iris Labs, and [...]

The Global Lighting Association (GLA) has published a white paper, Implementing Internationally Harmonised Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) & Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) For Lighting Products. The international drive for product sustainability has created LCAs and EPDs as tools for quantifying and communicating the environmental impacts of many types of products. LCAs and EPDs are now [...]

  LumiAdd is a UK-based manufacturer of 3D-printed luminaires. The company has recently pioneered the use of discarded coffee grounds as a raw material for making spotlights and downlights. The waste coffee grounds are combined with polylactic acid (PLA). The company uses plant-based polymers, primarily PLA, to print all of its luminaires. 3D printing on [...]

  A former SpaceX executive plans to keep solar farms running at night, using sunlight from space, reflected off an array of orbiting satellites. The startup is aptly named Reflect Orbital, and the company would provide short periods of “Sunlight-as-a-service from space.” Ben Nowack is the CEO of Reflect Orbital, a former propulsion engineering intern [...]