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The Value of Dimming by Levin Nock

William Attardi on January 9, 2025

It’s easy to see the energy benefits of dimming: the more an LED fixture is dimmed, the less electricity it uses. In terms of future-proofing the energy savings of lighting projects, the longevity of LED products makes it paramount to strengthen requirements for dimmability and other lighting control strategies now, since LEDs installed today are expected to work for a decade or more. The latest version of the DesignLights Consortium’s (DLC) Solid-State Lighting (SSL)Technical Requirements stresses the importance of dimming as a way to increase energy savings, while allowing occupants of offices, conference rooms and other spaces to adjust light levels to their comfort or needs. All LEDs are inherently able to dim and nearly 100% of DLC-listed fixtures are dimmable. Expanded adoption is the necessary next step to capturing the benefits of dimming. The Value of Dimming | EC&M

TRAINING: How to Design a Lighting Control System by C. Webster Marsh and Craig DiLouie

William Attardi on December 31, 2024

Based on EE105: Lighting Control System Design, a new course in the Lighting Controls Association’s Education Express program provides detailed information about designing an effective lighting control solution. In Part 1 of this Lighting Controls System Design series, we learned about key documentation including the Content Intent Narrative (CIN), Sequence of Operations (SOO), and Owner Project Requirements (OPR). The next step in design development in Part 2, is to turn these requirements and conceptual design into a realized design. In Part 3 of this series on how to design a lighting control system, we will discuss installation and post-occupancy. You will learn about bidding, responding to questions from installers, reviewing submittals and defending your design, following-through with the installation of the equipment, functional testing, training essential staff, and ultimately ensuring the owner is satisfied. How to Design a Lighting Control System

DLC Draft 1 Horticultural Technical Requirements V4.0

William Attardi on December 31, 2024

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) has released their Draft 1 Horticultural Technical Requirements V4.0. The draft proposes three updates:

  • Efficacy increase: Hort V4.0 proposes to increase the efficacy threshold to 2.5 μmol × J-1, which is an 8.7% increase over the Hort V3.0 threshold. This will set the DLC efficacy threshold for LED-based horticultural lighting at more than 45% above the most efficacious non-LED option.
  • Removal of lamp categories: Hort V4.0 proposes to remove eligibility for lamps. This decision was made based on low application numbers in lamp categories.
  • Clarifications to various requirements: A variety of clarifications are proposed throughout Hort V4.0, including for definitions of key terminology and for certain testing requirements.

The Draft 1 Horticultural Technical Requirements V4.0 document is available here.

LightNOW: News and Opinion for the Lighting Industry

LED Bollards with Selectable Wattages by naturaLED

William Attardi on November 26, 2024

naturaLED® has LED Bollards with customizable wattage capabilities. 8″ diameter for easy retrofits and 4 configurations. Perfect for your area lighting, pathway, or perimeter lighting projects! BLD bright pathway lighting is important for the safety of pedestrian foot traffic. Ensuring that sidewalks and pavement are well-lit reduces the risk of people tripping and falling. The superior quality of our DLC Bollard light fixture provides glare-free lighting that replaces 100-watt metal halide fixtures and produces 2000 lumens. led bollards – naturaLEDWatch the Frank Grobmeier video: Discover the Difference between Pathway & Bollards (youtube.com)

It’s Back to School – How Some of Our Most Acknowledged Universities Got Their Name – Who were the true visionaries who would donate half of their estate to sculpting the minds of the future. These stories are monuments to history and culture. Let’s take a stroll through academia’s memory lane and uncover the origins of these storied university names!

  1. Ah, Harvard! The Ivy League giant was once a small college in the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlement called New Towne. But where did “Harvard” come from? Enter John Harvard, a clergyman who, in 1638, decided to bequeath half his estate and his library (a whopping 400 books!) to the fledgling college. Grateful for this generous gift, they promptly named the institution after him.
  2. A gem of New Haven, Connecticut, Yale is another Ivy League powerhouse known for its prestigious law and drama schools. It owes its name to Elihu Yale, a wealthy merchant who, in 1718, donated a modest shipment of goods (including portraits, books, and textiles) to a struggling collegiate school. Those goods were auctioned off, raising a much-needed £562 –a small fortune at the time.
  3. Dartmouth is renowned for its beautiful rural setting, nestled in the picturesque town of Hanover, New Hampshire. It was named after the Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, a British nobleman who supported the college’s founding –despite never actually setting foot in America!
  4. Brown, this Rhode Island Ivy University, known for its open curriculum and emphasis on student choice, was founded with a mouthful of a name – the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It was renamed in 1704 for Nicholas Brown, Jr., a prominent merchant whose family donated generously to the school.
  5. Perched atop a hill overlooking Ithaca, New York, Cornell is celebrated for its diverse academic programs and its stunning natural surroundings. Founded by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, this university was unique for its commitment to practical education, allowing students the freedom to choose their own course of study. It was a revolutionary notion at the time, which would guide a curricular reform across the country.
  6. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford is renowned for its entrepreneurial spirit and its close ties to the tech industry. But this California powerhouse has a touching origin story. Leland Stanford, Jr., the founder’s son, tragically died young from typhoid fever. His father Leland Sr., railroad magnate and former state governor, and his mother Jane, founded the university in his memory, ensuring his legacy lived on through the pursuit of knowledge.
  7. This North Carolina research giant, known for its strong medical and law schools, underwent a bit of a name change in its history. Originally called Trinity College, it was renamed Duke University in 1924 after James Buchanan Duke, a tobacco and electric power industrialist who founded the American Tobacco Company. He established The Duke Endowment, to which he donated throughout his life and left half his estate after his death.
  8. Nestled in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt is a renowned research university with a vibrant campus life. It owes its name to “The Commodore,” Cornelius Vanderbilt, a shipping and railroad magnate, who provided the initial gift to establish the university.
  9. Texas businessman William Marsh Rice provided the initial funding for this Houston university, but did not live to see its opening. He was murdered by his valet as he slept, in a plot to forge the man’s will. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, Rice University flourished through the years, becoming an institution known for its strong engineering and science programs.
  10. Who was Harvard named after? Origin of university names