Three companies in Finland have collaborated to demonstrate the successful commercialization of bio-based packaging materials for light fixtures that are recyclable, plastic-free, and biodegradable. The three companies involved are: Secto Design – a company specializing in sustainable wooden design lamps, moved its Petite product line’s products from traditional fossil-based packaging into new packaging made of [...]

  The Green Proving Ground (GPG) program leverages GSA’s real estate portfolio to evaluate innovative building technologies. The program aims to drive down operational costs in federal buildings and help lead market transformation through the deployment of new technologies. Program goals include sustainability and interagency collaboration. Since 2015, GSA has coordinated the GPG program with [...]

The WiFi Alliance has officially finalized WiFi 7, aka 802.11be. WiFi 7 enabled laptops will have data rates between 4.0 to 5.8 Gigabits per second (Gbps). Wi-Fi 7 operates on the same 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands, so it’s backward compatible with previous Wi-Fi standards. But while older devices can still connect to Wi-Fi 7 [...]

  2023 was another turbulent year in the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) market. There was a surprising wave of bankruptcies in Q1, Q2, and Q3. Major players like Infarm, AppHarvest, Aerofarms, and Kalera all closed operations and filed for bankruptcy. The high-profile closures then contributed to funding drying up for CEA ventures, hindering new projects. [...]

On January 9th, 2024, DarkSky International officially launched the DarkSky Approved Lodging Program. DarkSky Approved Lodging is an overnight visitor accommodation with exceptional or distinguished quality starry nights and a nighttime environment preserved through on-site DarkSky Approved lighting. They include camps, seasonal campgrounds, hotels and resorts, retreat centers, properties promoting ecotourism, and astrotourism lodges that [...]

  I had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Lintner, Industrial Design Manager and Michael Miller-Riley, Senior Product Manager-Lighting, both from Hunter Fan Company. Look out decorative lighting industry, Hunter isn’t just ceiling fans any more. Hunter Lighting is growing and making moves. Shiller: Hunter recently released seven lighting collections and one ceiling fan collection as [...]

  CES 2024 concluded last week, in Las Vegas, NV. While every imaginable type of tech was there, there were some lighting product releases. Here are two of them: NanoLeaf released its Sky Expansion Pack. See first two images. This NanoLeaf Skylight is designed to look and feel like a skylight. By replicating a dynamic [...]

  During the Summer of 2023 back-to-school season, Walmart piloted sensory-friendly store hours, each Saturday from 8am-10am. During these hours, Walmart stores turned down the lights where possible, put a static image on the TV walls, and turned off the radio. Walmart received overwhelmingly positive responses. As a result, Walmart has now designated 8am-10am every [...]

  China’s near monopoly on rare earth metals production is diminishing, but still dominant. China’s market share of rare earth production has dropped from 97% a decade ago, to 70% in 2022. Rare earth minerals are critical to many important climate action technologies including magnets for renewable energy generation such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, [...]