Cree has launched a new LED downlight for wide distribution in the US. Lightsearch is up with the release from the manufacturer.
For more on the fixture itself head here.
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Lighting
So there I was in the office testing a new fixture. A linear fluorescent up light when someone walked by and noticed that there were two little remotes with dials hanging off one end of the fixture. They were dimmers, and he took great delight in dimming up and down the fluorescent tubes. He had never heard of dimmable fluorescent lighting.
Dimming fluorescent, I thought, was fairly common knowledge. Yet a quick tweet out to my friends on twitter asking who knew anything about it, yielded far more questions than I expected.
So how does dimming fluorescent work? What are it’s appropriate uses? How much energy can you save and how come it hasn’t become more mainstream…let’s take these questions one and at time.
Fluorescent lighting works when low-voltage ballast strikes and arc between an anode and a cathode on either end of a tube (for those wondering about compact fluorescent, the concept is the same, the physical shape is different). The arc excites a small amount of Mercury in the tube causing the fluorescent phosphorus inside to glow.
So how do we dim it? Using control voltage which is raised lowered between zero and ten volts, this decreases the brightness of the lamp. The technology isn’t really new but only recently, say the last 15 years, has seen expansive growth, thanks to the ubiquity of electronic ballasts.
I could go on for post after post explaining the mechanics of dimming fluorescent, but I’m not an engineer, I’m a specifier. So what the bottom line? Working with a lighting control company, specifying the proper ballast, lamp and control combination is pretty simple these days. It can also reap huge energy rewards, especially when scaled across large-scale operations. The best recent example of this was the NY Times new building right here in Manhattan. Making extensive use of day-lighting, the design team was able to preprogram the fluorescent sources in response to the level of natural ambient light, keeping lighting level consistent in the working environment seamlessly, all while using the smallest amount of energy possible.
For more info on dimming fluorescent loads, check out this page from Lutron, one of the leading lighting control manufacturers.
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Hello konstructr-world! This is James Bedell. Some of you may have heard me on Episode 1 of the kcast. Well after a conversation between Vik and I that started on twitter, continued over a podcast and ended in a series of emails, I am the newest addition to the konstructr network with my very own blog here on the kcast.
I am a lighting designer by trade so the blog will be dedicated to reporting, analyzing and commenting on green lighting and sustainable building practices. The blog is meant to be a conversation. A place to ask questions, give feedback and create a discussion around lighting design, sustainable and construction as a whole.
So check back early and often, post comments and I look forward to sharing my views right here!
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