The Berkeley Lamp II is a multipurpose luminaire providing upper ambient, lower task or combined lighting. Designed for use in living areas, lobbies or lounges where the budget doesn’t allow for wiring of ceiling or wall mounted luminaires, the Berkeley Lamp II uses a patented dimming control for control of the dual 70W lamps. At [...]

The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) has released a report on “bright green buildings,” which CABA defines as a “building that leverages intelligent technologies to support environmental sustainability while providing a significant return on investment (ROI).” The report, titled Bright Green Buildings: Convergence of Green and Intelligent Buildings and authored by Frost & Sullivan, features [...]

The residential section of the 2009 version of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), recently published, has a new Section 404, which covers residential lighting. It’s the first time IECC has covered residential lighting efficiency. The entire section reads simply: “404.1 Lighting equipment (prescriptive). A minimum of 50% of the lamps in permanently installed lighting [...]

Multilevel switching and personal dimming are often lumped together because the goal is the same–providing users a manual choice of light levels. The 2003 Advanced Lighting Guidelines, published by the New Buildings Institute, says they both save about 30% in energy. There is evidence that bi-level switching saves much more energy than personal dimming control, [...]

It’s a myth that reducing electric energy consumption by installing energy-efficient lighting will have a significant impact on oil consumption. According to the Energy Information Administration, oil accounted for only 1.6% of electric power generation in the United States in 2007. Coal is the largest producer of electric power in the U.S. at 48.5% of [...]

WAC Lighting, manufacturer and designer of track, recessed, undercabinet, monorail and decorative lighting, is celebrating 25 years in 2009. The company was started in Forest Hills, NY in 1984 by Tony and Tai Wang. In the beginning, the company marketed portable lamps at a variety of trade shows across the United States. As its line [...]

Edge Lighting now offers a new online “Configurator” designed to allow lighting specifiers to create and price complete custom Pro Aim Monorail lighting systems for customers in minutes. The Configurator allows builders, contractors, lighting showroom sales people and consumers to create a complete list of all the components needed to create a Monorail lighting system [...]

The IES website has profiled Naomi Johnson Miller, principal of Naomi Miller Lighting Design in Troy, NY, as a “featured member.” I saw this as a perfect excuse to write my own ode to Naomi and her work. Naomi is one of those designers who makes the lighting profession a profession. Her award-winning projects have [...]

Last year, it was my honor to work with legendary lighting designer Howard Brandston on editing his new book LEARNING TO SEE: A Matter of Light, which was subsequently published by IES. I wrote about the book in Illuminate, a magazine I edit for the publishers of Architectural Products and several other magazines for which [...]