The National Retail Federation (NRF) released it’s annual State of Retail & the Consumer forecast. Here are the highlights: The retail sector is expected to grow 4-6% in 2023, to $5.13-$5.23 Trillion. 2022 saw 7% growth over 2021. 2023’s forecast is higher than pre-pandemic growth of 3.6% E-commerce sales expected to rise 10-12% in 2023, [...]

By Clifton Stanley Lemon This is the second post in a four-part series on Lighting and Innovation. The first post can be read here. It’s supremely ironic that we are, ostensibly, in a state of stagnating innovation in lighting today, given that the universal symbol of innovation and inspiration is…the light bulb. Of course, the [...]

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Alp Durmus, Assistant Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). Many in the lighting industry know this department as a top academic lighting program in the US, but fewer know about its lighting lab. My tour of the lab’s capabilities was very [...]

By Clifton Stanley Lemon Series Description In the lighting industry, we suffer from a collective lapse of imagination – where are the real innovations driven by the most compelling capabilities of SSL? We’re still chasing energy efficiency even though lighting long ago became by far the most energy-efficient of all building systems. We have a [...]

Scandinavian countries have greater acceptance of circadian light therapy for psychological disorders. A hospital in Norway, Valen Hospital, has incorporated circadian light therapy into the emergency treatment of bipolar patients with positive results. Chromaviso is a Danish manufacturer of circadian lighting and light therapy luminaires. The Valen Hospital results have been peer-reviewed and published in [...]

  There is a growing list of sustainability labels and certifications to be aware of. Some are for products, some for buildings, and some for business operations. Here are three to be aware of: Declare. Manufacturers voluntarily disclose product information on easy-to-read Declare labels. These labels report all product ingredients and use a simple color [...]

  An area of growing research and practice is using lighting to help control agricultural pests. This can include horticultural lighting in indoor growing facilities (aka controlled environment agriculture or CEA) or nighttime treatment with specific wavelengths on outdoor crops. Greenhouse growers have long known that introducing supplemental grow lights to greenhouses can dramatically change [...]

New research from the University of Zaragoza in Spain quantifies how the aging eye restricts the amount of circadian light reaching the retina based on photopic illuminance reaching the corneal plane and considering the optical density of an aging crystalline lens. As the researchers state: “As a result of the described behavior, retinal illuminance may [...]

Dr. Shelly James, Founder of Age of Light Innovations Group, is hosting a webinar, Innovators in Residential Healthcare: Circadian Lighting Principles & Practice, to share best practices in circadian lighting for residential healthcare facilities. Current research suggests that lighting that actively supports a robust day-night (or ‘circadian’) cycle in older people with dementia can significantly [...]