Research

I’m pleased to announce that I have finally completed the long awaited (by my publisher) update to The Lighting Management Handbook, which came out in 1994, with this 300-page book about redesigning existing lighting systems: Lighting Redesign for Existing Buildings. Because light is used to see but cannot be seen, it is often overlooked by [...]

In September, the National Lighting Product Information Program (NLPIP) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center (LRC) released a publication called Specifier Reports: Streetlights for Collector Roads, which provides objective performance information on street lighting technologies including HPS, induction, LED, and pulse start metal halide (PSMH). The streetlights selected for evaluation were recommended in 2009 [...]

Guest post by Jim Brodrick, U.S. Department of Energy t’s been a while since I’ve written about DOE’s CALiPER testing program, and the Round 11 Summary Report was published this week. As always, the results are worth noting. For those of you who don’t know, CALiPER tests a wide range of solid-state lighting products that [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy has completed Round 11 of product testing through the its CALiPER SSL program. Round 11 included five primary focus areas: * roadway arm-mount luminaires * roadway post-top luminaires * linear replacement lamps * high-bay luminaires * small replacement lamps (MR16, PAR lamps, A-lamps, and a candelabra lamp) As a benchmark, [...]

Guest post by Jim Brodrick, U.S. Department of Energy Some of you may have seen a new report on street lighting by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. A number of people have asked for my comments on that report, so here goes. In a nutshell, the LRC report implies that GATEWAY [...]

The National Lighting Product Information Program (NLPIP), based at the Lighting Research Center in Troy, NY, recently released its latest Specifier Report, designed to provide objective performance information on existing street lighting technologies includingLED, induction, and high pressure sodium streetlights. NLPIP performed photomet­ric evaluations of 14 streetlights that used either HPS, pulse-start metal halide (PSMH) [...]

How much energy is saved when a building uses lighting controls? The typical answer is the ever-present lighting term, “It depends.” Research, however, is suggestive: Space Type Controls Type Lighting Energy Savings Demonstrated in Research or Estimated as Potential Study Reference Private Office Occupancy sensor 38% An Analysis of the Energy and Cost Savings Potential [...]

The Illuminating Engineering Society has published PS-03-10, a position statement covering “Effects of Exterior Lighting on Human Health.” The statement includes the following salient points: “TM-18 represents the position of the IES on the known relationships between optical radiation and human health.” “The position of the IES is that typical exposures to exterior lighting after [...]

Cleantech Approach (CTA) has published a new research report: Lighting Controls: Savings, Solutions, Payback, and Vendor Profiles, reviewing lighting control solutions and ROI associated their deployment. The report finds that commercial offices can reduce electricity consumption by 35-55% with the implementation of a lighting control solution and deliver an ROI within 2-10 years, depending on [...]