A former SpaceX executive plans to keep solar farms running at night, using sunlight from space, reflected off an array of orbiting satellites. The startup is aptly named Reflect Orbital, and the company would provide short periods of “Sunlight-as-a-service from space.” Ben Nowack is the CEO of Reflect Orbital, a former propulsion engineering intern [...]

  Sustainability in lighting requires more than just LED light sources. It requires that luminaires be durable, repairable, and upgradable. Zhaga standards have been developed to standardize interface specifications for components of serviceable luminaires. Zhaga calls this framework “Circularity Lighting.” While quality luminaires are designed for lifetimes of 50,000 to 100,000 hours, many connectivity platforms [...]

By Robert Smith, Business Development Executive, Energy Network Services Inc. On June 19th, Environment and Climate Change Canada published the Regulations Amending the Products Containing Mercury Regulations: SOR/2024-109 in the Canada Gazette, Part II. These amendments will come into force on June 19th, 2025. These amendments will: Phase out between 2025 and 2030 the import, manufacture and [...]

  Artificial light at night can disorient sea turtles, and send them into car traffic, instead of the ocean. Sea turtle hatchlings are born on sandy beaches at night and must find the ocean by the light of the horizon. The problem isn’t new. Many coastal areas have enacted lighting regulations to protect sea turtles, [...]

  Leather is not a dominant material in light fixtures, but it is sometimes used in decorative lighting. For several years, articles have been published about alternative leathers coming to interior design (furniture) and industrial design, but none of these alternative leathers have been commercially available for production until now. First  though, what is alternative [...]

  A street light has just set a new record for the highest TM66 product circularity score, in the UK. It is the Oaken street light, manufacturered by Thorlux Road and Tunnel (TRT) Lighting, in the UK, with a TM66 score of 3.1. The CISBE TM66 circularity standard is designed to measure the carbon footprint [...]

Three recent announcements involve biomimicry to improve propeller and wind turbine designs. They all raise the question of whether these types of innovations could make their way to ceiling fan blade designs? Judge for yourself. ABB Dynafin Propeller Switzerland’s ABB Marine introduced a multi-blade Dynafin propulsion concept (see above). The innovative concept mimics the motions [...]

By Clifton Stanley Lemon and David Shiller LightNOW published the story, Here Comes The Lighting-HVAC Integration Tsunami, on October 6th 2023. It generated a number of responses, including the beginning of a longer conversation with LightNOW contributor Clifton Stanley Lemon. The salient points of that conversation are below. Clifton What jumped out at me immediately [...]

  The US Department of Energy (DOE) has recently published an 83 page report titled, DECARBONIZING THE U.S. ECONOMY BY 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector. The new report defines a path to transition buildings to clean energy sources and reduce overall energy consumption in order to address not just climate risks but [...]