Practical advice on commercial lighting from LED retrofits to lighting design.

LED is an exciting technology, but completely changing the lighting in your building over to LED may not always be practical nor the best choice today. We still get a lot of questions from customers asking where in their buildings are the best places to convert to LED.

Oftentimes, the switch to energy efficient lighting takes place over a few phases. One section of the building is changed first. Then, when the energy savings from that kicks in, more money is allocated for similar projects. That's how one of our customers at a high-rise apartment building managed to retrofit every socket to top-of-the-line LED.

When you're in the business of opening beautiful places –– be they retail stores, restaurants, office buildings, or apartment complexes –– life can feel like a game of compromises.

Typically, you have four main objectives: meet building code, maintain design intent, stay within budget, and open up on time. And oftentimes, achieving all four of those things feels like a pipe dream. Just choose two or three. Something almost always has to give.

It doesn't have to be that way.

About 18 months ago, we announced that we would be building an orphanage in Haiti, in order to help and care for as many as 100 orphaned children in the Caribbean country. Today, there are over 80 children who call the orphanage home, but there is more work to be done.

Part of our original vision for this project was to include a "vocational training center," where the children could learn vital, tangible skills that easily translate to in-demand jobs on the island. We have begun construction on this part of the property, and on several classrooms. And now, we're looking to accelerate construction efforts by raising funds through a special, limited time partnership with our recycling vendor.

This is the second post in our series on choosing the right color characteristics for your lighting project. Last time we addressed color temperature, but maybe the most critical issue — which has surfaced with the popularity of LED lighting — is color consistency. How do you know that the color of your lighting will be consistent from one product to another? Let’s dive in.

The busiest international port of entry in the world is 14 miles south of downtown San Diego, in San Ysidro, California. Every day, more than 20,000 people cross the U.S.-Mexico border through this port, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year.

When it came time to upgrade lighting, the U.S. General Services Administration –– which manages the San Ysidro property –– was looking to accomplish a few primary objectives:

• Raise light levels for border agents and customs officials as they process visa paperwork, inspect vehicles, etc.
• Increase fixture life rating to limit challenging, costly maintenance atop 125-foot mastheads
• Advance toward goal of net-zero energy consumption at San Ysidro by reducing energy required by fixtures

When big shopping holidays like Black Friday and back-to-school shopping hit the retail world, it all too often means stores everywhere are scrambling to get the lighting right. 

Linear LEDs have come a long way over the last couple of years. Between questions on plug-and-play versus bypass ballast to figuring out when it’s the right time to retrofit, it’s clear that linear LEDs are here to stay.

Now, what part of a commercial office should be the first to undergo an LED retrofit? That would be the natural next question.

Our Lighting Pyramid is a good resource to get your retrofit prioritization process started.

When it comes to linear lamps in particular, I like to recommend beginning with 24/7 applications, which are often outside of the main areas of the building –– perhaps in the parking garage, stairwells, or the basement. Then, gradually move inside to the sockets at the core of the building, strategically making high burn areas top priority. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the most common applications.

Energy rebates can be a big boost for building improvement projects, like a lighting retrofit. But is the reward even worth the hassle?

We teach HID part numbers on Fridays in our School of Lighting program, and that's fitting because they're pretty easy, relative to fluorescents and incandescents. 

After new employees spend hours trying to memorize chart after chart for incandescent and fluorescent part numbers, HIDs feel like a gift. 

And if you've been tracking with our part numbers series so far, you might feel the same way, now that we've arrived at HIDs.

When making the decision to purchase a certain lighting product, are there any questions that matter more than price, availability, and timeline?

Perhaps that's the case with anything you order –– how much does it cost, is it in stock, and when am I going to get it? 

But the stakes can be pretty high when you're ordering lighting to get your building or store into shape before an executive visits or ahead of the holidays or when you're knee-deep in a national rollout schedule.

So, if you call Regency right now and purchase lighting, how long will it take to get your order?