LD+A Research Matters: Light Boxes

From airports to bus shelters, casinos to theaters, and streets to roadways, backlit display lightboxes highlight advertising and wayfinding messages in public spaces. For example, there are approximately 4,250 malls in the U.S. According to the 2009 Directory of Major Malls, each mall includes a range of two to 50 lightboxes used for advertising and directional signage. Approximately 85,000 large lightboxes are bringing light to retail messages in malls across America on a daily basis.

LD+A Research Matters: Adaptive Outdoor Lighting

Have you ever walked down a street when, suddenly, the light above you turns off?  Have you driven past an empty parking lot or garage late at night and questioned why we brightly light many of these unoccupied spaces?  Recently, the California Energy Commission funded the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) at the University of California, Davis, to explore the many opportunities for  improving existing exterior lighting practices through the implementation of emerging technologies. 

LD+A Research Matters: DALI Control Devices

In response to the addition of the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) ballast protocol to the international fluorescent ballast standard, representatives from the National Electrical  Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Lighting Controls, Ballast, Luminaire and Wiring Device Sections began development of an additional DALI protocol to incorporate lighting control devices such as  wall switches, scene  switches, occupancy sensors and photo sensors.

LD+A Research Matters: From Laboratory to Marketplace

New technologies face a multitude of market introduction barriers that must be overcome before the technology becomes stable and successful. These barriers include a lack of customer knowledge, few marketing and distribution channels, excessive purchase and installation markups from designers and installers, and consumer mistrust of savings and benefits.

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LD+A Research Matters: Optimizing Building Design and Operations

Designers, owners and operators are all faced with a myriad of decisions on how best to achieve their building design and operational goals. Complex and often conflicting objectives can make even the simplest decisions appear challenging. Take, for example, thermal comfort. According to the Department of Energy, adjusting temperature set points by just one degree for an eight-hour workday can save commercial building owners 3% in energy costs. This equates to thousands of dollars in savings each year.

IES LD+A Research Matters: Smart Corridors Light the Way to Energy Efficiency

If a light dims down to the minimum recommended illumination level in a secondary space and no one is around to see it, does it really make a difference? Research shows yes—it makes a big difference in reducing lighting energy use.

Laboratory and field testing of prototype systems that dim corridor lights down to 50% or less of full output during vacancy periods and increase to full output during occupancy show significant reduction in lighting energy use and great potential for effective electricity demand response.

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LD+A Research Matters: Studying chromaticity binning - what should we expect from today’s LED light sources?

Generally, people expect two light sources with the same rated color appearance to appear identical when installed in their homes and businesses. Obvious variation often leads to dissatisfaction, complaints and product returns.  To avoid these issues, it is important that light sources have sufficient chromatic consistency to ensure color matching for most people.  Currently, the lighting industry relies on binning for correlated color temperature (CCT) and Duv to address this issue.

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CLTC & California Energy Commission Share Recent EPIC-Sponsored Research Outcomes

The California Lighting Technology Center and the California Energy Commission shared the research outcomes from our recent EPIC-sponsored project, A New Generation of LED Lighting Solutions!

All research outcomes are included in the Final Report.  Additionally, the public webinar focused on four key research outcomes: