The UC Davis South Entry Parking Structure garnered a lot of attention at the start of 2009 when the top deck was outfitted with affiliate partner Beta LED's bi-level luminaries. A stunning image of the installation shot by CLTC's Kathreen Fontecha was selected by the UC Davis Chancellor's office to be the star of this year's UC Davis holiday greeting card. The card was mailed to UC Davis supporters and partners worldwide.

CLTC wishes all of our affiliates and partners in energy efficient research a happy holiday season.

Click here to download a PDF version of the card.

On Friday December 11, more than twenty researchers, academics, innovators, energy-efficiency experts, and manufacturers gathered at CLTC for the first of four visioning sessions to initiate the process of developing an innovative cross-sector partnership and overall strategy towards rapid commercialization of Core Sunlighting solutions. The goal of the resulting partnership will be the realization of the following vision:

By 2030, in most commercial buildings in major cities in the world, electric lights are turned off and buildings are illuminated with sunlight whenever the sun shines, substantially reducing energy consumption and dramatically improving lighting quality since most people prefer daylight to electric lights.

This bold statement set the tone for the day and the attendees began the first steps of building a roadmap to market transformation. The next workshop will be held in the spring of 2010.

This unique event was co-hosted by UC Davis and the University of British Columbia and funded in part by the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership (CCSIP) and the California Energy Commission through the PIER program.

PIER sponsored research, development, and demonstration has focused on the combination of occupancy-based lighting controls and dynamically tunable light sources to create intelligent, bi-level luminaires for parking area applications.

These innovative products achieve 30–75% energy savings compared to traditional parking area luminaires, meet stringent energy-efficiency standards, and provide excellent lighting distribution and color rendering for all types of parking area applications.

Fixture-integrated or pole-mounted occupancy sensors switch lighting between high and low levels based on the presence of vehicle or pedestrian traffic. Switching between high and low light levels based on occupancy maintains sufficient light for security and way-finding, while maximizing energy savings.

The PIER State Partnership for Energy Efficiency Demonstrations program compiled a 2009 catalog of fourteen technologies that include intelligent, bi-level functionality for parking lots and garages. It is now available for download.