LEDucation II

The Designers Lighting Forum of NY and the IES are presenting a conference next month, March 12th call LEDucation II. It promises to be a forum for lighting designers and others to educate on LED's, show off gear and hopefully talk about control. I for one plan on being there, as LED production and control has come up often enough this past year for me to interested.

Control Protocol

So I can't drop project names because of privacy issues. But I'm
working on a space that combines architectural lighting with some
entertainment lighting features and the issue of the week has become
finalizing control.

The Crestron system programmer ran through the limitations of the DMX
512 protocol that our dimming system employs for some if the
intelligent lighting we included in the design. From his point of view
the biggest disadvantage to DMX protocol is the lack of two way
communication between the controlling processor and the fixtures. DMX
is essentially a by-state control protocol. Meaning, all a control
station can do is send a percentage signal down every single address
in its pervue all the time. It cannot recieve information back down
the one way street of its data path.

So as the worlds of architectural and entertainment lighting converge
with the realms of video and more sophisticated levels of intuitive
control, is it time to bring intelligent lighting to more open more
easily maintained standard? And if so what?

James Bedell
917-225-9183

Color temperature

So for those curious about the real effects of color temperature on
lighting, I found a great, though unfortunate example today.

In this image you can see identical fixtures used for under-cabinet
lighting in a kitchen. One is lamper with a "cool white" fluorescent,
the other a "warm white." it's important to note that when I took this
photo, the midday sun was pouring though the window directly behind
me. See how this makes the cool lamp seem much more white and the warm
lamp look much more orange.

I think I'm a consultant

So here I am at the Harwood Center at C.W. Post on Long Island. I am
helping the Immersion Dance Company. I'm not exactly sure of my role
tonight. I think I'm the visual consultant. The lights are
predesigned. The cue are prewritten. I'm not sure what I can do but
make suggestions.

A home depot bought CFL

CFL in the NY times

So as if the Times was reading my blog, which I assure you they are not, a big article on CFL technology and the recent energy bill. Take a look here it's mostly a negative take based on tests that I feel don't really do the light source justice. But I think it's worth noting anyway.

See you soon.

Intelligent White From Color Kinetics

While I hate shilling for particular products and brands. Color Kinetics (now owned by Philips) continues to push LED technology. The image shown here is an LED cove product boasting a new Intelligent White lighting system. The virtue of this system is the LED's can shift color (and I would assume brightness) from warm white (designated at 3000k) to cool (designated 6500k). The Achilles heel seems to be that the power supply and controller must be a proprietary CK controller which means no native DMX or third party controller. Still, the ability to mix white in field after the installation is an interesting one. I will do some research and see if anyone has had any luck using these in the field.

Things you can do at Home

Sometimes I am asked by friends and family if there are any things one can do at home to improve their energy consumption. In terms of lighting, there are some things that you can do right away without major household renovation. This post will focus mostly on compact fluorescent lighting.

First and foremost, follow your parent's rules and turn off lights in rooms you're not in.

Secondly, replace the common A-lamp style light bulbs you're probably using with screw in compact fluorescent. They are available at most local hardware stores and certainly at the big chains like Home Depot and Lowes. Not to delve too deeply into the compact fluorescent, but many people instantly gasp at the idea of their living room being lit by a fluorescent source. A few things, I would recommend.

Compact Fluorescent (CFL) lamps come in many shapes and sizes now. No longer are you stuck with the unsightly curly-q lamps with the exposed coil. Most manufactures make a version with a plastic dome, that both softens the quality of the light and leaves the primary source hidden. There are also CFL's build with candelabra bases for your sconces and smaller fixtures. I even got my parents to install CFL flood lights outside, which even to this day my father raves about.

There are some things to be aware of when considering CFL light bulbs for your household fixtures. First and foremost is shape and look (mentioned above). But second and just as important is the color temperature of the given light bulb. Without bogging down in the science of color temperature, I will sum it up this way. Color temperature describes the relative "whiteness" of the light source. For instance, a candle would be considered a very "warm" light source, the sun on a bright day a very "cool" source. Incandescent light bulbs (the kind we are used to) are fairly warm. They burn a filament generating a typical color temperature of around 2700 degree kelvin, while the sun at midday is around 5000 degrees kelvin. Why is all of this important? Because a standard CFL comes in a color temperature similar to the sun and even cooler (5600 kelvin). This is useful if you are lighting say, a retail store and want your overhead light to be similar to that of the sunlight streaming in from the bay window. But in typical home applications lamps and other fixtures will be on in the evening and at night when a warmer tone is desired. Look for CFL lamps with a color temperature of anywhere from 2500 to 3200 degrees kelvin. Many manufacturer's are simplifying these temperature readings by marking the package "daylight" (5600k) or "incandescent" (2500-3000k).

Another tip, some manufacturers are boasting "dimmable" CFL lamps. Again, to shorten what could be a a very long discussion. Fluorescent lights dim by means of their ballast which reduces the amount of electricity igniting the gas inside the tube. Manufacturers are embedding small, and cheap ballasts in the bases of their CFL's to allow them to dim on typical household dimmers. I've tested several brands of dimmable CFL and they return similar results, flickering and color shift is very common. I would recommend for at least the time being staying away from these.

When possible, using CFL's with a shade will hide and warm the light source. I have had CFL's in my house now for years and guests never know the difference.

A few other things to consider. When you turn on a CFL it doesn't come to it's full brightness immediately like an incandescent lamp. Rather, it takes time for the gas in the coil to heat completely and come to full bright. Some find this annoying, others like the lighting ramping up.

Most importantly when it comes to CFL technology for nearly know sacrifice in lighting quality you get a huge energy and sustainability boost. For one thing a typical 60 watt incandescent light bulb gives off as much light as a 13 watt CFL. For another an incandescent light bulb lasts usually 6 months. A CFL-up to 7 years! That's sustainability.




I hope this was helpful. Be back soon.

Greenland's Ice is Slipping Away

In yet another sign of global warming, scientists are scrambling to determine the rate of melting and whether or not it is accelerating. Take a look at this article in the NY Times, for more information. CO2 emissions from industry and personal consumption are the major factor driving climate change worldwide. As lighting professionals it is our duty to take lighting design and sustainability and make them concurrent, not competing forces. It is possible as technology improves to actually create excellent lighting without consuming overwhelming amounts of power.

New Energy Standards

Hello All,

So one my resolutions for 2008 was to actually keep up with my blog(s) and so here I am. Although this post is a cheap-y. Congress recently passed the The Energy Independence and Secuity Act of 2007. The doesn't directly tackle lighting issues, but there are some provisions that directly effect lighting. Lighting Controls Associates posted a great explanation of the law and what it will me for lighting professionals as well as general consumers in the coming years. Take a look here.