Specialty and Architectural Lighting

We recently received an email from a reader pointing to the fact that many details are glossed over or left out in articles about how to buy LED bulbs to replace existing incandescent or halogen in homes. We'll give it another try in this article. With incandescent bulbs, when they...

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...

Commercial fluorescent lighting systems consist primarily of T8 lamps and electronic ballasts. While LED linear tubes now compete as replacements for traditional fluorescent, the vast majority of existing and replacement ceiling lighting in offices, schools, hospitals, and other institutions is fluorescent. At it's best, fluorescent lamp/ballast systems can offer efficiencies,...

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...

LED light bulbs, it seems, are like old cowboys, they never die, they only ride off into the sunset. Exaggeration? Maybe. But it brings up an important point. LED light bulbs do eventually go dark, but the process takes so long it seems like forever. A Fistful of Rated Hours...

If you live in the Chicagoland area, you may have forgotten what the sun looks like. According to the Chicago Sun Times (no pun intended), this has been the gloomiest December on record. The sun has been out only 18% of the time between sunshine and sunset between December 1...

Most germicidal bulbs look like linear fluorescent light bulbs. They have the same shape. They share similar base types. Both use low pressure mercury arc technology. They both have hot cathode and cold cathode lamp types. They both use external ballasts to regulate voltage between the building and the lamp....

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...

You'd think, after 4.6 billion years of existence, the sun would get some respect. But the importance of the sun's light has long been ignored as a key factor for human health and well being. Maybe, because incandescent bulbs were cheap and effective for much of the twentieth century, mimicking...

The fluorescent blacklight category consists of bulbs with phosphors that create a peak wavelength at 365 nanometers. This part of the spectrum is called UV-A, and it is just inside the boundary with visible light. However, UV-A bulbs are considered ultraviolet bulbs as their peak wavelength is in the ultraviolet...

This article examines the many health benefits of human exposure to full spectrum light, otherwise known as daylight simulating light sources. Psychological Most people prefer daylight from windows and skylights to electric light. Daylight gives people a positive feeling and can help improve mood and motivation. Because "full spectrum" light...

One of the benefits of LED light bulbs sometimes touted by the media and by manufacturers alike is "no heat." If the heat being referred to is radiant, meaning it heats objects but not the air in between, the claim is accurate. Put your hand a few inches away from...

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...

Have you ever wondered why some light bulbs are coated while others are clear? The majority of light bulbs that are sold in the market nowadays, rather than being completely clear like the original Edison bulbs, have different coatings. Clear bulbs are often used in situations where abrupt and extreme...