Studies show that commercial buildings produce about half of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change—making these buildings the top emitter of human-caused greenhouse gases, ahead of cars and trucks—while consuming nearly three-fourths of electricity produced at power plants. The Commercial Buildings Initiative (CBI) is a public-private partnership formed to achieve an ambitious goal: By [...]

Material Beliefs has designed a prototype of a lampshade that functions similarly to a Venus Flytrap–capturing flies and turning them into energy. When the floor lamp is turned on, flies and moths become naturally attracted to the light, entering through holes in the lampshade but unable to then escape. Over time, the insects die and [...]

Inspired by photosynthesis in plants, Studio Loop.ph Ltd. set out to build architectural structures with energy-harvesting canopies that absorb solar energy during the day and emit light at night. “A modular photovoltaic membrane was prototyped for the installation that can be clad to our geotextile architecture to provide both shelter and shade from the sun [...]

One possible future wireless technology is interesting not because of its potential for lighting control, but its potential to use visible white light as a communication medium for control of computers, phones and appliances. In October 2008, Boston University’s College of Engineering announced that it had received a National Science Foundation grant to develop wireless [...]

Serbian designer Damjan Stankovic has introduced a practical idea for traffic lights: EKO, an integral visual countdown letting waiting drivers know when the signal will change from red to green. Check it out here.

Last fall, TED Magazine published my column on fluorescent emergency ballasts, available here. A fluorescent emergency ballast is basically a ballast with a built-in battery that senses when power is cut to the unit, resulting in relays inside the ballast switching to battery power to operate the lamp(s) and produce code-compliant illumination during an emergency. [...]

Miniaturized electronics developed by GE Consumer & Industrial engineers and scientists are the enabling technology of a new covered GE Energy Smart CFL featuring the GE Spiral® CFL inside the glass bulb. With this new CFL, protected by more than a dozen U.S. patent applications, the electronics fit in the neck of the bulb. The [...]

Interested in new lighting technologies? PIER has published three briefs about emerging technologies that are available for free download. Note: All files download as PDF files. Savings Persist with Monitoring-Based Commissioning (TB-39) shows how monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx), a program approach that combines permanent building-energy-system monitoring with standard retrocommissioning practices, can provide substantial, persistent energy savings. [...]

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 regulates the efficiency of general-service 40-100W incandescent and halogen screw-in lamps starting in 2012. With only a few exceptions among energy-saving screw-in halogen lamps, today’s incandescent lamps do not comply and will therefore be eliminated. The good news for incandescent fans (and those who simply want choice [...]