In the March issue of the Chilean magazine Ciluz, CLTC Director Jae Yong Suk shares his expertise on the future of lighting and how the center is steering the industry forward. The issue highlights technical advancements in sustainable lighting and addresses the growing impact of light pollution.

Residential Electrification is growing faster than the electrical infrastructure found in much of our existing housing stock. Heat-pump HVAC systems, heat-pump water heaters, induction cooking, and electric-vehicle (EV) charging are becoming common expectations in both new construction and retrofit projects. Many single-family homes built before the 1990s, however, were never designed to support these combined loads. The result is familiar to contractors and homeowners alike: a service upgrade.

In this episode of Minds Over Matters, lighting designer and director of the California Lighting Technology Center Jae Yong Suk joins host Ed Kiggins to discuss lighting, smart homes, and energy resiliency in the 21st century. How does lighting affect our health? And how are our energy technologies evolving to meet the growing needs of decarbonization, grid resiliency, and community well-being? In this conversation, Ed and Suk discuss how the California Lighting Technology Center is leading the charge to accelerate and commercialize technologies necessary for a sustainable future.

While music’s ability to evoke emotions is well established, far less is known about how environmental factors, especially lighting, shape music perception. To explore this, researchers at Arizona State University and the California Lighting Technology Center conducted experiments in a controlled room equipped with adjustable LED lighting. Twenty-two participants experienced four lighting conditions (blue, red, cool white, and warm white) while listening to short clips of happy and sad music.

As buildings become increasingly integrated with advanced control technologies, cybersecurity concerns have risen significantly. This is particularly true for networked lighting systems, as cybersecurity has become more important due to their growing integration with IP networks and other building IT and operational technology (OT) systems. Historically, electricians have focused on physical and electrical installations, occasionally handling system commissioning. However, the advent of networked control systems in modern buildings requires electricians to acquire a new skill set.

Exterior lighting, predominantly powered by carbon-intensive fossil fuels during high residential usage hours, poses environmental and safety challenges when power outages leave communities in darkness for extended periods. In response, the California Energy Commission funded a sustainable exterior lighting initiative at the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) at the University of California, Davis to develop and demonstrate Renewable Energy and Advanced Lighting (REAL) systems.

When it comes to physical training, the environment individuals choose can significantly enhance their performance. A recent study by Professor Dongwoo Jason Yeom and Ph.D. student Seonghyuk Son of Arizona State University and Professor Jae Yong Suk of the California Lighting Technology Center at the University of California, Davis explores indoor lighting and its influence on physiological signals in humans during exercise.

According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting accounts for 18% of the energy used by commercial buildings in the U.S., making lighting upgrades with controls a significant opportunity for energy savings. When properly designed, today’s LED technology pairs well with advanced controls. One example of a lighting control strategy typically used in circulation spaces for commercial buildings like offices and schools is occupancy sensing, which automatically turns lights off when spaces are unoccupied and turns lights on when spaces are occupied.

California’s Energy Code, also known as Title 24, is updated every three years to follow the requirements established by the Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation & Development Act that was signed into law in response to the energy crisis of the early 1970s during Ronald Reagan’s second term as California’s governor.

CLTC's Associate Director Jae Yong Suk provides insight to answer the question posed by CBS News:

'What do we know about the laser beam at Golden 1 Center?'

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/what-we-know-about-the-laser-beam-at-golden-1-center/