OFF THE LEASH! A funny description of my Get a Grip podcast episode with hosts Michael Colligan and Greg Ehrich, as I implore the various constituents in the lighting industry to take responsibility as we collectively try to find real sustainability. I take everyone to task! But it has to be done! 😉

I also dove a bit into the history of the LED revolution as I experienced it, to help Michael and Greg discuss the root causes of the industry’s malaise and most pressing issues preventing sustainable approaches from being implemented, primarily the lack of modularity/repairability and the abysmal state of quality.

I would also like to be clear that I’m not fundamentally against sustainability standards and labeling programs: However, I see too many people acting like they are helpless to act until standards are developed that they can use. That is such laziness – there are endless ways that all stakeholders in the lighting industry can embrace clear, simple, common sense tactics to dramatically reduce our impact, TODAY!

The key points I offered in driving the lighting industry to embrace real sustainable approaches:

1. Perfect is the enemy of the good: Don’t wait for perfect solutions, for prescriptive standards, for the other players in the industry to move. START NOW down you own path seeking and implementing sustainable practices.
2. Less bad, more good: Reset your ambition level to believe in products that can improve our planet, not just mitigate your bad impacts.
3. LED flexstrips are eating the world: To paraphrase the famous saying “software is eating the world”, LED flexstrips are a key approach to dramatically reducing the material usage and simplifying the construction + disassembly of light fixtures to dramatically ease end-of-use disposal
4. DC power: Modern buildings are envitably moving towards DC infrastructure, so the lighting industry needs to understand those impacts and embrace the terrific potential of simplifying lighting infrastructure
5. Local advantage: Everyone in the industry could start to embrace a local mindset – specifying and supplying local manufacturers for local projects. An easy place to start with obvious economic benefits for everyone involved.

Find Get a Grip on Lighting via your podcast app or watch via YouTube below if you want to see me wave my hands around a lot:

If you want some visuals after listening to the podcast, check out my presentation “Specifying a Brighter Future”:

And if all the discussion about DC power systems catches your fancy, you might also want to watch my conference presentation from several years ago “The DC Powered Building”: