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

Warranties are almost always an important consideration in the buying process. Whether you're buying a new car, new tires, or a new stereo, smart buying is knowing what kind of protection you have on your purchase should the product prematurely malfunction. 

Buying lighting is no different, especially these days when more and more buildings are switching to long-life lighting. When you make that purchase, you want to know for sure that your lighting will last as long as the manufacturer says it will. 

But malfunctions happen from time to time. So how can you find that security?

Technological developments and changes in the lighting industry are non-stop, and that reality made the news once again earlier this month when GE announced that it would cease production of compact fluorescent bulbs.

Learn more about CFLs in our post, 'What are CFL bulbs and where should they be used?'

This is big news for the lighting world. 

Compact fluorescents (CFL) for years inhabited the energy-efficient corner of the market, but GE’s recent announcement further confirms the quick and imminent takeover of LEDs.  

Preliminary findings from researchers at MIT might signal a renaissance for incandescent light bulbs. 

Just last week on this blog, in a post titled “Was there actually an incandescent light bulb ban?”, we wrote “it’s not too hysterical to prophesy of incandescent-less 2020s.” As we point out in that piece, the Energy Independence and Security Act will require incandescent lamps to be 60-70 percent more efficient in 2020 than they were in 2007, when EISA was signed into law. We suggested that those stringencies, along with recent price reductions in compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and LEDs and the drastically longer lifetimes of those bulbs, might spell the eventual end for incandescents. 

Technology in the lighting industry has developed so rapidly over the last several years, making it difficult to keep up with the changes and what they might mean for your business. 

Every year, new technology is introduced, major advancements are made, and new efficiency regulations emerge. Last year was no exception. 

Here are five lighting developments we had our eye on in 2015: