Research

The electrical contracting community experienced significant economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic but is somewhat optimistic about 2021. That is one key finding from the 2020 Commercial/Industrial/Institutional (CII) Lighting Trends Survey, conducted by ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR in October among the magazine’s Subscriber Research Panel. The survey and article were my contribution to the magazine’s December 2020 issue.

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently published a new report analyzing the energy impact of lighting designs that satisfy three prominent circadian lighting guidelines. The researchers discovered a potentially significant increase in light levels and associated energy consumption.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, 2020 Annual Update of Global LED Lighting Market, finds that the increasing demand for energy-efficient lighting, the rising number of smart city projects and overall infrastructure development are driving the LED lighting market across the globe.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released a study investigating age-related changes in LED device efficiency and optical performance.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Services (WS) program recently applied for a patent (U.S. Patent Application No. 16/668,253) for a new vehicle-based lighting system to prevent deer-vehicle collisions during low-light conditions.

Researchers at the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) have produced a method of using light to induce high-frequency sound waves, which in turn are used to reveal the internal structure of opaque materials in very small structures such as semiconductors.

Researchers from Israeli’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered a new technique for long-distance eavesdropping on voice conversations by observing tiny vibrations these sounds make on the glass surface of a visible lamp.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred fresh interest in UV-C as a way to disinfect objects and surfaces. Signify and the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at Boston University conducted research that demonstrates effectiveness of the company’s UV-C light sources on the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently released the results of a U.S. Department of Energy-funded study, Measuring Light Exposure and its Effects on Sleep and Behavior in Care Center Residents.