Last week, I attended the annual IPPE poultry show in Atlanta, GA. Poultry lighting is one of many interesting niches within the lighting industry. Most of the show is NOT lighting. In fact, the show is not for the faint of heart. The IIoT poultry processing machines were on display with grim signs [...]

On January 16, 2024, The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to amend the content of the Energy Guide Label for ceiling fans. The proposal calls for updating the energy cost information and product comparability range. The proposal would also establish a five-year schedule for regularly updating the [...]

  Facility managers are increasingly seeking sustainability solutions for buildings, emphasizing energy efficiency to enhance value. Green financing programs, such as power purchasing agreements (PPA), efficiency service agreements (EaaS and ESA), and property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing, offer opportunities to integrate green technologies like efficient lighting retrofits, solar panels, co-generation, efficient HVAC systems, and [...]

  Square Roots, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) startup, recently introduced a groundbreaking program supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The program aims to demonstrate the feasibility of removing light from commercial indoor vertical farming by utilizing gene-edited (CRISPR) plants that grow heterotrophically. These plants can add biomass through carbon uptake from acetate [...]

South Korean researchers have demonstrated a new approach to LiFi using a red, green, and blue (RGB) OLED array. The Pohang University of Science and Technology team utilized an organic photodiode (OPD) array as the receiver. Their study was published October 19, 2023, in the publication, Advanced Materials. The new approach to LiFi reduced interference [...]

  Nichia has announced the release of a new line of products designed to enable different light distribution than conventional LEDs. The product line is based on new LED emitters called Cube Direct Mountable Chip. See photo above. It is a chip scale packaging (CSP) LED, which in itself increases the amount of light emitted [...]

It’s widely known that the office real estate market has been severely hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in fact, continues to get worse even after the pandemic is over. This is largely due to the persistence of work-from-home for a significant portion of the workforce. The national office vacancy rate rose to a record-breaking 19.6% in [...]

  Optique Lighting has announced the launch of their Armadio illuminated closet rod collection. These custom architectural Nano Linear closet rod luminaires are engineered to be one of the industry’s strongest closet rods and are offered in custom lengths to a designer’s specification, in 1/8-inch increments up to 8 feet. The closet rod diameter is 1.34 inches, [...]

  Container shipping rates for important global trade routes have spiked this week due to the combination of Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, and the recent air strikes against Houthi bases, by the US and UK. There are now shipping industry fears of a prolonged disruption to Red Sea trade routes, one of the busiest [...]