Specialty and Architectural Lighting — Energy Efficiency

Yesterday, we looked at some of the benefits of lighting retrofits, mainly from the perspective of utility companies. The high cost of maintenance and new construction makes energy subsidies and rebates attractive for power companies, which can reduce the load on their legacy systems by encouraging residential and commercial end...

Half a decade ago, when LEDs were either cost prohibitive if available or simply unavailable as replacements, retrofitting was a pipe dream for commercial property managers. But with prices down as much as 90% for LEDs from a few years ago, switching to LED is no longer a huge up-front...

Most people view their electric bill as a fixed cost, but having such a complacent view could cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year. You can significantly reduce your expenses and help the environment by making just a couple changes, no matter if you rent or own...

If there are still doubts about the long-term impact of the LED lighting revolution, the upcoming Super Bowl should eliminate the skeptics. It's one thing to put an LED bulb in a table lamp. But use them to light a massive football stadium? It is true. Every second of the...

The Design Lights Consortium (DLC) is a non-profit product certification program launched in 2010, the year manufacturers started ramping up production of LED luminaries. The DLC promotes quality and energy performance standards for commercial sector energy efficiency solutions. The DLC collaborates with federal and local government energy agencies in the...

Someone once wisecracked that the most energy efficient lighting was when the lights were turned OFF. A variation of this clever turn of phrase has become one of the most useful tools to increase building lighting energy efficiency. By automatically controlling the ON/OFF status of lights based on the presence...

Fluorescent lighting technology has been around for a considerable length of time. Both linear fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent bulbs have turned out to be reliable and economical, while producing the brightness required in public and working environments. Lately, however, a new form of light source has overtaken both fluorescent...