Studies show that commercial buildings produce about half of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change—making these buildings the top emitter of human-caused greenhouse gases, ahead of cars and trucks—while consuming nearly three-fourths of electricity produced at power plants. The Commercial Buildings Initiative (CBI) is a public-private partnership formed to achieve an ambitious goal: By [...]

Material Beliefs has designed a prototype of a lampshade that functions similarly to a Venus Flytrap–capturing flies and turning them into energy. When the floor lamp is turned on, flies and moths become naturally attracted to the light, entering through holes in the lampshade but unable to then escape. Over time, the insects die and [...]

Craig Bernecker, director of The Lighting Education Institute, will be teaching a weekly 90-minute webinar on luminaire photometry over a period of six weeks from April 13 to May 26, 2009. Designed for architects, engineers, interior designers, lighting designers, sales reps, manufacturers and other professionals interested in lighting design, the course promises to teach students [...]

Inspired by photosynthesis in plants, Studio Loop.ph Ltd. set out to build architectural structures with energy-harvesting canopies that absorb solar energy during the day and emit light at night. “A modular photovoltaic membrane was prototyped for the installation that can be clad to our geotextile architecture to provide both shelter and shade from the sun [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has put forward efficiency regulations on 4- and 8-ft. linear fluorescent lamps and halogen PAR lamps and is accepting comments for the near future (60 days after the publication of the regulations in the Federal Register, and as of February 6, 2009, this apparently has not happened yet, according [...]

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that construction spending during December 2008 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,053.7 billion, 1.4% below the revised November estimate of $1,068.8 billion. The December figure is 3.6% below the December 2007 estimate of $1,093.5 billion. The value of construction in [...]

Incandescent general-service and reflector lamps, and fluorescent magnetic, mercury vapor and probe-start metal halide ballasts, are being targeted by efficiency legislation. As a result, some of lighting’s most venerable workhorses are being retired. Their new competitors are simply too efficient and better performing. The electronic ballast’s rapid rise to dominance of the fluorescent ballast market, [...]

One possible future wireless technology is interesting not because of its potential for lighting control, but its potential to use visible white light as a communication medium for control of computers, phones and appliances. In October 2008, Boston University’s College of Engineering announced that it had received a National Science Foundation grant to develop wireless [...]

Recently, I conducted a survey of about 600 lighting designers, mostly IALD members, asking them questions about their specifications of nonresidential spec-grade downlights and also their perceptions of popular brands in the market. To qualify to take the survey, the designer had to confirm that they have specified commercial downlights over the past three years. [...]