Lighting Design & Daylighting
Energy-efficient lighting is seriously misunderstood by many in the green building industry. Long associated with CFLs and poorly lit spaces, today’s energy-efficient lighting uses state-of-the-art LEDs, controllers, and optics to direct light just where you need it.
Outdoors, LED streetlamps use advanced sensors and are optimized for maximum efficiency, yet they produce little light pollution that could disrupt local wildlife.
Indoors, LEDs can be integrated into DC power systems via power-over-ethernet cables. The color can be changed to help increase worker productivity, improve patient moods, or mimic natural outdoor light to help maintain our natural circadian rhythms.
New forms of LED and OLED lighting are revolutionizing how we light our buildings.
Lighting Design & Daylighting
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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How Six Affordable Housing Projects Got to Green
Feature Short
Stories of designers and developers who overcame the challenges of building affordable housing that is also green, sustainable, and healthy.
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Passive Survivability: A New Design Criterion for Buildings
Feature Article
Buildings and their occupants are vulnerable to threats ranging from storms and rising sea levels to accidents and terrorism. In this feature article, EBN describes how to design and construct buildings to maintain livable conditions in the event of extended power outages or loss of heating fuel or water.
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Biophilia in Practice: Buildings that Connect People with Nature
Feature Article
Biophilia, or human beings' inherent love for nature, has been called "the missing link in sustainable design." EBN's Alex Wilson helps readers understand biophilia, describes why it is important relative to building design, and presents specific design strategies for bringing people closer to nature.
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Greening Your Electricity
Feature Article
Many businesses and homeowners are choosing to buy green power, including renewable energy credits (RECs). This article examines the environmental benefits of green power, including on-site renewables, what REC buyers should know about their purchases, and investing in energy conservation.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Light-Emitting Diodes: Chasing White Light
Explainer
LED lighting is becoming more energy-efficient and cost-effective, but it has not yet realized its potential for efficacy, and for wider applicability.
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Shedding Light on Light Quality
Explainer
Two terms commonly used to refer to light sources-color temperature and color rendering index-tell us about the quality of light, but can at times be counter-intuitive. Lights with a low color temperature, for example, actually feel "warmer" on the color spectrum.
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How Electric Lighting Works
Explainer
How do incandescent, fluorescent, high-intensity discharge, and light-emitting diode lighting technologies work, and what are their relative efficiencies?
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Induction and OLEDs: Past and Future Lighting Technologies
Explainer
Fluorescent and LED lighting get most of the attention, but there are other efficacious lighting technologies that could illuminate our future.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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Tinting on Demand with SageGlass
Product Review
Glazing from Sage Electrochromics, Inc., allows users to change its visible light and total solar transmittance properties with the push of a button.
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Full Line of Residential LED Lighting Arrives
Product Review
In June 2006, Permlight Products, Inc., and Progress Lighting announced the introduction of a complete line of LED residential lighting products. To be sold as the HI-EF line, the licensing of Permlight's Enbryten Down line promises high-efficacy luminaires that meet strict California energy standards.
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Fiber-Optic Luminaire Mixes Sun and Electric Light
Product Review
A new system from Sunlight Direct includes a roof-mounted concentrating mirror that tracks the sun, fiber-optic cables, and conventional-looking light fixtures on the ceiling that deliver a calibrated mix of sunlight and electrical light.
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Cold-Cathode CFLs from Litetronics
Product Review
The same technology that backlights laptop computer screens is making its way into decorative and area lighting.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Program Spurs Innovation in Reflector CFLs
News Analysis
The U.S. Department of Energy announced top performers in tests of reflector compact fluorescent lamps.
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Lights Out for the Incandescent Lamp?
News Analysis
The inefficient incandescent lamp is in danger of being banned, with several initatives in the U.S. and abroad in the works.
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Philips Introduces Lower Mercury Fluorescent Lamps
News Analysis
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LED Lamp Sets Efficiency Record
News Analysis
A prototype reflector-style LED lamp from LED Lighting Fixtures has shattered efficacy records, achieving an efficacy of 113.6 lumens per watt.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
