What An Architechtural Lighting Designer Can Do For Your Company
An architectural lighting designer can make an amazing difference on a commercial construction or renovation project.
For a relatively small investment, an architectural lighting designer can guide your team with selecting the most energy-efficient lighting systems that will enhance the beauty and comfort of the space.
The International Association of LightingDesigners explains what an expert can do for your team and client. According to the trade association, a good architectural lighting designer:
• Meets the needs of the people who use the space.
- Is this a high-traffic retail area that needs to showcase its products? A design studio that needs open, light filled areas with minimal glare? A lighting designer will pick the right LED light fixtures to accommodate the clients’ requirements.
• Selects cost-effective and energy-efficient products most appropriate for the project.
- Architectural lighting designers are familiar with the LEED standards for lighting – and help your team meet certification requirements. They can work with the Advantage LED team members to accumulate as many LEED points as possible with energy-efficient LED fixtures.
• Creates an innovative lighting solution that achieves the perfect balance of function and aesthetics.
- LED lighting technology is THE choice of lighting designers because of its inherent flexibility in size, function and design. As a result, any of the innovative lighting fixtures that you see in commercial building projects are inevitably made with LED technology.
• Solves the unique lighting challenges of a wide range of interior and exterior environments.
- LED lighting is a popular choice by architectural lighting designers, who need to look at multiple requirements of an environment before recommending the right lighting fixture. They consider factors such as safety, mood, temperature and frequency of use before selecting and installing the right fixtures for your commercial space.
• Strengthens and enhances any space through creative, yet functional, lighting plans.
Every space has its features to highlight – the space, the ambiance, the architectural details, colors or views. A well-trained, experienced architectural lighting designer will highlight those features with the right fixtures.
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Energy Star Ratings for CFL’s VS. LED’s
An Energy Department internal audit is casting doubt on the Energy Star ratings issues to Compact Fluorescent Bulbs.
In a report obtained by the New York Times, the Energy Department cast doubt on the efficacy of the Energy Star program. The report addressed other issues related to the program’s ratings of appliances and other household items as well.
In particular, the report noted that the Energy Star program has certified nearly all existing CFL products as energy efficient – a suspiciously high amount. “When 90 percent of the products qualify, the consumer cannot easily judge the relative efficiencies of C.F.L. products,” the report said.
The Energy Star program is run jointly by the Energy Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The program began in 1992, when the EPA introduced ENERGY STAR as a voluntary labeling program; computers and monitors were the first labeled products.
The Energy Star label is given to CFLs that:
• use 75% less power than standard incandescent lamps
• save up to $30 in electricity costs over the life of each lamp
• reduce the emission of pollutants, including mercury
The claims by CFL manufacturers about the energy-efficiency qualities of their products has been in doubt for some time. Although the lifespan of the CFLs is longer than incandescent lamps, experts note that CFLs tend to “dim out” as they age, forcing early replacement.
The Energy Star program also rates LED light fixtures. To qualify as an Energy Star LED lighting fixture, an LED light product must:
• Use at least 75% less energy than incandescent lighting
• Last 35 to 50 times longer than incandescent lighting and about 2 to 5 times longer than fluorescent lighting.
• Reduce cooling costs
• Come with a minimum three-year warranty
• Offer convenient features
• Be durable
The Energy Star program provides a guide for buying commercial and residential light LED fixtures here.
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Holiday LED Lights
Interior decorators and architects love LED lighting technology because they are the perfect, flexible media for creative lighting design ideas.
LED lighting fixtures can come in a legion of shapes and colors – allowing designers much freedom for creating “mood lighting.”
The holidays (or any special event) is the perfect time to experiment with creative LED lighting ideas. And, as a bonus, they are more energy efficient and safer than the usual fluorescent or incandescent bulbs used for mood lighting.
(Attention building manager and landlords: While the holidays are just finished, it is actually time to think about ordering your supply of holiday lights now. The post-holiday prices for lighting will be slashed, and you will not face supply shortages or last-minute scrambles to buy lighting at this time of year).
According to the Washington State University Extension Energy program, the typical LED C7 multicolor bulb is 0.08 watts. Compare that to 0.48 watts for an incandescent mini-light and 6.0 watts for a
standard incandescent C7 bulb. While the difference may seem minute, they will add up when you consider how many bulbs are on a strand. The cost for LED mini-ice (280 bulbs – on 4 strings) would be a mere 17 cents, compared to:
• $1.33 for 300 incandescent premium min-light bulbs
• $9.26 for 125 incandescent C7 bulbs
The WSU program made the calculations for the cost of lighting one tree for one month, for 5 hours a day. Now multiply that savings for the LED lighting required to decorate an entire building –and then multiply that again over a five year period.
Some holiday LED lighting ideas for your building:
• Icicle style bulbs that shimmer – add them around your building’s entrances and elevators, where people can appreciate the details of the bulbs.
• A unique color scheme. Instead of the usual red and green – why not a simple white scheme? Or just cream and blue lights for an elegant, contemporary look.
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LED Technology: Getting Better and Brighter
The race is on! Researchers are working hard at improving LED lighting technology. The next step: the perfect LED light bulb.
Right now, LED lighting fixtures are the way to go. In particular, commercial building projects have found energy efficient lighting fixtures to be easy to install, maintain and dispose of. LED lighting fixtures are all-in-one lighting systems that are commonly used in commercial lighting installations.
However, the demand is rising for LED lightbulbs that can easily replace the current popular incandescent or halogen light bulbs used in the home.
To encourage that, the federal government is sponsoring the L Prize competition.
That’s the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prizes competition, which was created by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is sponsoring the contest, which aims to create super efficient bults to replace the common light bulb.
Or more specifically: 60W incandescent lamps (by creating a 10W replacement) and PAR 38 halogen lamps (an 11W replacement).
The energy savings would be huge. The DOE estimated that if every home and business converted their 60W incandescent lamps to a 10W bulb, the country would save approximately 34.0 Terawatt-hours of electricity in one year, and avoid 5.6 million metric tons of carbon emissions.
So far, the first entrant has been Philips Electronics, which has created a replacement for the 60W incandescent.
To watch a video on the energy-efficient lighting competition, see The Race for Super Efficient Light Bulbs
The DOE has been leading the fight for more energy-efficient lighting, focusing on LED as the smartest technology.
Why focus so much research money on LED?
LED requires less energy and emits less heat. LED fixtures have great flexibility in the size, shape and lighting direction — making them perfect architectural lighting solutions.
See the list of current LED lighting research projects underway, which are being done by some of the top research labs in the country.
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LED Sign Tags: energy efficient LED lighting | energy efficient lighting fixtures
Architects & Lighting Designers Appreciate the Benefits of LED Lighting Fixtures
Architects and lighting designers adore using LED lighting systems because of the infinite creative possibilities they offer in color, shape, and use.
For that reason, LED light fixtures are commonly used in art installations or public spaces. LED light fixtures can be programmed with sensor capabilities, making them ideal for interacting with the public in a fun and engaging fashion. Timers and sensors can be programmed to switch around, based on temperature, time, light, movement and sound. LED light systems are energy efficient and do not emit much heat; they can be designed in an infinite variety of shapes to make them fit in with a set or office design.
We want to celebrate the creative use of LED lighting everywhere!
Today, we head off to Sandnes, Norway, which was a partner in the European Capital of Culture project in 2008. As part of the event, the city worked with some big-name architect and design firms to create installations under the umbrella name of “Watercolours.” The installations had a practical use as well.
One of the installations provided lighting for the city’s mass transit system. The reason for the installation:
“A new, creative illumination of our railway station subways will give us safer traffic and walkways. The subways become lighted portals, pleasant to use, mirroring the users who can observe themselves and others as active elements of the township.”
The installation, called “Strømer,” was created by Stig Skjelvik and Snøhetta architects in collaboration with Prototyper AS and Rasmus Hildonen. The installation was designed using the Dobpler prototype, a modular interactive LED system that is activated by movement.
The project designers explain:
By reversing the LED’s on the production stage, a transparency effect is created, showing on the outside the inside movements of the building or visa versa using a double glass wall. A mixed effect is also possible.
Skjelvik’s design group took advantage of the modular capabilities of LED lighting systems – and their flexibility when it comes to interior lighting spaces.
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LED Sign Tags: led light fixtures | led light systems | LED lighting | LED lighting fixtures | led lighting system
Starbucks Goes Green & Invests in LED Lighting
Starbucks Coffee is joining the green building movement by taking the logical first step – by converting to LED lighting.
The omnipresent coffee shop chain owner points to the energy savings – as well as savings in utility and maintenance costs – as the reason for converting to LED lighting fixtures.
The change over will be massive for the coffee shop owner, which just began converting its lighting systems in all company-owned stores in the U.S. and Canada. After that, the conversion process will begin with the overseas Starbucks locations, by expanding to international markets in March 2010. The goal is to complete installation in more than 8,000 company-owned stores around the world by the end of 2010.
The savings in energy use will make the conversion to energy-efficient LED lighting worthwhile. Starbucks projects a 7 percent per-store reduction in energy use. Starbucks has a goal of cutting energy use by 25 percent by the end of 2010.
The conversion to LED lighting is integral to any company’s efforts to comply with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, which was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The LEED system provides a suite of standards for “green” or environmentally sustainable construction.
In Starbucks’ case, the company has joined the construction phase of the LEED Volume Certification pilot program, which means that LEED standards will be adopted in the construction or renovation of a minimum of 10 pilot stores in six different area around the world. Starbucks plans to get LEED certification for all new stores worldwide by late 2010. The pilot program will need to be audited and approved, and then the construction/renovation methods will be replicated at future Starbucks store projects.
Advantage LED lighting experts are well-versed with LEED certification requirements – and how using the Advantage LED fixtures can provide points toward the certification goals.
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Glare Eliminated Through LED Lighting Fixtures
Installing LED fixtures in your office can improve your environment in more than one way. In addition to saving on energy, LED lighting can cut down on light pollution in the form of glare.
What is glare? Basically, it is when light – particularly bright white light – can interfere with vision. Too much glare can tire the eyes and make it difficult to perceive color or text – not something you want your co-workers to be struggling with when working on projects. Office productivity and morale is affected directly by lighting design – something to keep in mind when working with your architect or contractor when designing interior commercial space.
There are two kinds of glare – veiling glare and discomfort glare. The former can come from reflections off of surfaces – such as rainy streets. The latter comes from too much scattered light that enters the eye. Scattering means that light is sent off in random directions because of irregular transmission or the reflection of light streams.
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs have been linked with glare – often because commercial buildings tend to buy the cheapest CFL tubes, which are usually “cool white” in temperature. The cool white has a bluish tone, which makes offices seem washed out – and gives everyone a dismal skin tone. To see if a bulb has a “cool white”, “neutral white” or “warm white” designation, check its CCT or Color Correlated Temperature.
Warm white ranges from 2,600K to 3,700K, neutral white ranges from 3,700K to 5,000K, and cool white ranges from 5,000K to 6,500K, respectively.
The “warm white” means the light will a very strong hue of yellow – so it is more like natural sunlight. “Neutral white” produces a fairly true white light, while “cool white” is bluish.
Proper placement of a lighting fixture in a room can also create glare –as well as the design of the fixture’s trough. For those reasons, consult with your ADvantageLEDlighting expert about installation and placement of LED fixtures.
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LEED certification v3
Keeping up with the updated and complex requirements for LEED certification is hard! Just when you’ve mastered the LEED certification requirements – they come up with a new version of LEED.
Be aware that the new LEED v3 has been out since April – and that it’s time to migrate all ongoing projects to the new energy efficiency rules.
One of the most important details to remember: the point system has been readjusted to give priority to two major issues: energy efficiency and CO2 reductions. There are other factors (or “environmental impact categories”) including climate change, indoor environmental quality, resource depletion and water intake. In all, the LEED scale is 100 points now.
For contractors who habitually use LED lighting for their architectural lighting needs – this is not a problem. LED lights are energy efficient lighting systems that will cut back on electricity useage AND reduce CO2 emissions.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which runs the Energy Star program, has been promoting the use of LED lights for these reasons. The department has estimated that if LED lighting is adopted in the U.S. over the next 20 years,
- The construction of 40 new power plants would be unnecessary (eliminating huge CO2 emissions)
- Electricity for lighting would be reduced by 33% in 2027
The new requirements are spelled out on the LEED site, which is run by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
Regional Priority Credits
Depending on where the project is located, six of the LEED credits will be addressing regional environmental issues. For example, if you are installing LED light fixtures in an office in rural Michigan, the project may receive extra credits for items like:
- reduction of light trespass into neighboring natural habitats
- minimizing the amount and improving the quality of storm water into the Great Lakes.
Luckily, the experts at AdvantageLEDLighting.com can help spell out the new LEED v3 rules for your project, and guide you with maximizing the points you can acquire by using LED fixtures.
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LED Sign Tags: LED lighting | LED lighting fixtures | LEED certification
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