Products + Technology

Despite strong, on-going sales of 4-ft. T12 fluorescent lamps, the magnetic ballasts commonly used for the lamps’ operation will start becoming relics of the past on July 1, 2010, when their continued manufacture for commercial and industrial applications becomes prohibited by DOE ballast efficiency regulations. According to the National Lighting Bureau, the July 1, 2010 [...]

Cooper Lighting’s Neo-Ray VERSYS Series 1B introduces a lighting system that seamlessly integrates building equipment while providing high-performance lighting. The fixture’s modular design features a single-lamp floating lensed microlouver on 1-in. centers with separate end utility compartments to house occupancy sensors, photosensors, air returns, sprinklers, speakers or an available MR16 downlight. Click here to learn [...]

NEMA’s index for incandescent lamps registered a reading of 59.4 for the second quarter of 2009, which is essentially unchanged compared to the first three months of this year. However, the index decreased 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) showed a similar fate, although declining by a less severe rate of 3.9% [...]

Wide-Lite, a Philips Group brand offers its Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Recycling Assistance Program. To take advantage of this program, specify this option with Wide-Lite C2C Ready products, then return the fixture to Wide-Lite at the end of its life. Wide-Lite will disassemble, recycle and dispose of all components, including the carton used to return [...]

This fixture type goes by many names depending on the manufacturer, such as “volumetric lighting” and “diffuse lighting,” but a premium troffer is a fluorescent troffer with a photometric distribution including a small amount of light in the 60- to 90-degree zone, which smoothly fades as the angle gets closer to 90 degrees. It’s also [...]

Attention, all lighting manufacturers. Architectural Record magazine has announced that it will be publishing the 2009 Product Reports in its December issue. This special section will feature the “best and most innovative building products available to architect, specifiers and designers in 2010.” It’s put together by one of the best product editors in the business, [...]

The Wall Street Journal has published a new opinion editorial by legendary lighting designer Howard Brandston taking aim at mandates to use compact fluorescent lamps in the home, and also pending legislation that would make energy codes much stricter than today. I’m proud to call Howard a client. I was pleased to work with him [...]

New ConstantColor HIRTM MR16 lamps from GE Consumer & Industrial, which can replace standard MR16 lamps, offer up to a 43% improvement in energy efficiency and a higher quality of light through improved center beam candle power (CBCP) and color temperature maintenance. In addition to energy cost savings, customers will achieve savings in maintenance costs [...]

The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies have announced the winning buildings and product designs from a special edition of the GOOD DESIGN Awards program for 2009. Founded in Chicago in 1950 by Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames, GOOD DESIGN remains [...]