Codes + Standards

Lynn Proctor Windle, a contributing editor to Building Operating Management Magazine, wrote an excellent piece on photoluminescent technology as a means of providing emergency lighting in buildings, specially safety signs and path markers. The article is a little dated (March 2005), but clearly summarizes the technology. Titled “Photoluminescent Technology: Reliable Emergency Lighting in Buildings,” you [...]

ASHRAE is taking another crack at producing BSR/ASHRAE/IESNA/USGBC Standard 189.1P, Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. This is the third public review draft. You may recall this standard had difficulties and the committee creating it was reconstituted last year. The public review period is 45 days, from May 1 [...]

The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is promoting BUG, a classification system for outdoor luminaires (PDF file). Based on the TM-15–the upgrade of the roadway shielding classification system by the Illuminating Engineering Society and the Lighting Research Center–the BUG system addresses light emitted from the luminaire in all directions, not just up into the sky. Called [...]

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has published LSD 44 Solid State Lighting—The Need for a New Generation of Sockets & Interconnects. The white paper includes a background discussion of lighting sockets and interconnects, from the Edison bulb to the present. It argues for the necessity of standards on solid state lighting to foster technological [...]

In this post, I noted that ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2004 has been established by the Department of Energy as the commercial building reference standard for state building energy codes starting in 2010. Meanwhile, the stimulus package appears to be encouraging adoption of the latest version, which is 90.1-2007, as noted in this post. I promised a [...]

The stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, focuses on economic stimulus through both tax credits and public-sector spending, with a heavy focus on infrastructure and energy. Here’s an interesting development I had missed at first glance through it: The Department of Energy is offering $16.8 billion to the states for a variety of [...]

The Lighting Controls Association has published an article I wrote on the topic of the major lighting changes in the 2009 version of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) related to commercial buildings. One of the most controversial changes isn’t directly related to lighting, but it could have a significant impact on lighting design. Previous [...]

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 [...]

The latest research shows that at least 10% of all outdoor lighting, even fully shielded lighting, ends up creating light pollution, according to the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). Many communities across the U.S. have tried to deal with light pollution or some facet of it–sky glow, light trespass and, more rarely, glare–with a patchwork of [...]