Products + Technology

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and PG&E recently demonstrated streetlights installed on Turk Street (between Taylor and Jones) in the Tenderloin District, networked using Echelon’s LonWorks technology. The new LED streetlights, remotely controlled and monitored, promise to reduce the city’s energy and maintenance costs while improving lighting quality and safety. Streetlights are among a city’s [...]

The OLED lighting market is setting the stage to take off in 2011, with OLED lighting revenues forecasted to surpass PMOLED displays in the 2013-2014 time frame and reach $6 billion by 2018, according to DisplaySearch’s newly-released report, OLED Lighting in 2009 and Beyond: The Bright Future. “The unique features of OLED lighting are inspiring [...]

Philips has announced its MASTER LED collection of LED lamps that can be used in luminaires with E27 and GU10 sockets. The 7W E27 A55 lamp, identical in form factor to a conventional light bulb, is most interesting, suitable for retrofit of 40W incandescents for nearly 83% energy savings in general lighting applications. The lamp [...]

I recently wrote an article for TED Magazine about load-shedding ballasts, available online here. A building’s demand for electric power is the sum of the power required to run its electrical equipment in operation at any given time. Demand rises and falls as equipment is turned on and off. Peak demand is the highest level [...]

One of my favorite bloggers, Jim Hutchison of Jim on Light (he’s chief design consultant for Alive Lighting, an entertainment lighting design firm), recently found this gem–“lighting bags” containing fluorescent materials, which react with chemicals in a cup. The result is illumination, seemingly from a “tea bag” (but unfortunately inedible), the product of South Korean [...]

Sky Factory Offers EcoSlim Luminous SkyCeilings, an edge-lit product that the company says provides authentic illusions of sky displayed in an ultra-thin, toxin-free system. The new version of the product (EcoSlim) offers a low-profile design that eliminates ceiling clearance limitations, paving the way for renovation and retrofit installations. The image tile is only a quarter-inch [...]

I decided to post a quick note and photo about this relatively new product from Hampstead Lighting, as it has an interesting aesthetic and caught my eye while browsing HomePortfolio.com. This contemporary luminaire is constructed of clear, frosted/etched or mirrored glass and stainless steel with a single 24-80W lamp. It can be pendant, ceiling or [...]

I recently wrote an article for TED Magazine about extended-life linear 4-ft. fluorescent T8 lamps. Industry averages: * 20,000 hours at 3 hours/start on instant-start ballast (the most commonly installed electronic ballast) * 24,000 hours at 12 hours/start on instant-start ballast * 24,000 hours at 3 hours/start on a programmed-start ballast * 30,000 hours at [...]

Furniture designer SAAZS has collaborated with Saint-Gobain Innovations to produce Planilum technology, which enables light to be incorporated as a material into stylish objects and furniture. Planilum, a complex multi-layered special glass containing a plasma gas excited through transparent conductive layers, can light up a 40-sq.m. room for 100 input watts. The result is incredible. [...]