Researchers Gabe Arnold and Grace Pennell from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently released a white paper titled DC Lighting and Building Microgrids: Opportunities and Recommendations. They conduct an excellent review of the advantages of DC-power (which closely mirrors my … Continue reading PNNL report on DC-powered lighting and microgrids
LumenCache Lighting is an another interesting entrant to the DC-power revolution, focusing on residential lighting applications. LumenCache has developed a solution with a patch-panel style configuration that can accept a variety of driver or control modules – at the panel … Continue reading lumencache lighting
Microsens is a German company that supplies industrial automation and smart building communications and control equipment. One piece of hardware especially caught my eye, and that is their Central Smart Lighting Controller. I actually think that is a bit of … Continue reading microsens
GVA Lighting recently launched their Infinity series, which capitalizes on the inherent system-level benefits of using 380V DC-power for long runs of LED fixtures. GVA claims they can achieve over 300m/1000ft long runs from a single power/data connection, which is … Continue reading GVA lighting embraces high voltage DC power
Australian lighting manufacturer LimeLite has been steadily rolling out a line of track spots and decorative pendants that use 3D-printed components for the key mechanical pieces. Over the years I’ve covered several other manufacturers launching 3D printing for commercial lighting, … Continue reading limelite – 3D printing and DC power
If you’re interested in net-zero energy solutions for commercial or retail facilities, you should consider DC power as the next step. Check out this nicely produced video of my conference presentation and Q&A session at the ISE Smart Building Conference, … Continue reading SBC 2020: The DC-Powered Building – conference video
Thanks to James McHale and the team at Memoori for hosting a great webinar! If you missed it live, listen to it now at your convenience at this link. Really, I should have picked a different title, because the 6 … Continue reading 6 disruptive lighting trends: recorded webinar
Let’s talk about a brighter future: Join my webinar on 18-June as I present my “luminous ’20’s” survey of innovative technology and experiential design trends in retail, hospitality and architectural lighting. Part of the Memoori video Smart Buildings Series. (18-June … Continue reading 6 disruptive lighting trends: memoori smart building webinar
Make sure to check out my new long-form report forecasting six disruptive trends in architectural lighting for the next decade. This is a draft of my forthcoming submission to The IES Visionary Challenge — Beyond 2030: What Do You See? … Continue reading welcome to the luminous ’20s
Taking a moment to reflect on this past year, let me review 3 major topics I put forth attempting to drive innovation in the architectural lighting industry. Ambient Communications At the start of the year I spoke at several conferences … Continue reading closing out a year of innovation
Acuity Lighting is launching Modulus, a centralized DC-power system option for their LED lighting fixture lines. The first offering is the Peerless Renna linear pendant line. Acuity stepping into the fray is a great sign for DC power in commercial … Continue reading acuity launches DC power options
Check out my new piece on the DC-power revolution in commercial buildings, including a quick summary of 4 companies with impressive pilot projects. I decided to try posting it on Medium.com to see if it might break through to new … Continue reading the DC powered building
I’ve been writing now for many years about the importance of adopting a DC infrastructure as a necessary foundation to drive further innovations in architectural lighting and media systems. DC power infrastructure efficiently ties together solar and battery storage in … Continue reading 48 vdc power components
This week the USGBC just added a major point opportunity for commercial buildings that integrate substantial native-DC power infrastructure. As I discussed just recently (and even included 5 years ago in my predictions for the future of lighting), it increasingly … Continue reading usgbc LEED program gives big boost to dc power in commercial buildings
We are at the inflection point of a new revolution: DC-power infrastructure is set to replace AC-infrastructure in many, if not most, commercial buildings. The case is simple: Almost every device in a modern building uses direct-current (DC), including LED … Continue reading the efficiency advantage of DC electrical infrastructure
Over the past few years, there has been a clear trend for track lighting and other innovative “system” style architectural lighting products to adopt 48VDC instead the usual mains voltage 120VAC or 220-240VAC. 48VDC delivers a host of benefits, most … Continue reading LED track lighting is rapidly adopting 48VDC as a new standard
Energie IP is a Paris-based startup that is developing a building management system (BMS) based on Power-over-Ethernet technology (PoE). PoE holds promise in architectural projects to accomplish three key objectives: Distribute DC power with inherent IP-connectivity to the thousands of … Continue reading energie IP
VANTOT is an Eindhoven-based design studio started by two recent Design Academy graduates. I saw one of their products, “Current Currents” at the Frozen Fountain, a perennially fabulous design shop in Amsterdam. I love the art deco/arts-and-crafts style of the product. … Continue reading vantot
LumaNext is a New Jersey-based seed-stage startup that is launching a “smart-power” system for managing a standalone DC-based power grid in applications such as retail shops. LumaNext is developing an intelligent “power router” that can manage DC input/output loads from … Continue reading lumanext
Via LEDsMagazine, a very interesting article and video interview between LEDs Magazine Editor-in-Chief Maury Wright and Eaton VP Ken Walma detailing Eaton’s new distributed low-voltage DC power system for LED lighting, which Eaton launched at Lightfair 2016.. Even though Eaton is … Continue reading eaton low voltage lighting system
