Annie Josey

As the E-Commerce Marketing Specialist at Pegasus Lighting, I blog, tweet, write copy, and more. I have a background in English literature, and I love using language to help illuminate the world, so covering lighting news and tips naturally fits my interests. Beyond the office, I enjoy painting, biking, and reading.

Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Lighting In March

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Mar 252013

PinExt Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Lighting In March

Here’s what’s been going on in the lighting world this month…

In Lighting News…

A Wal-Mart store in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin has equipped all its indoor and outdoor facilities with LED lights. The areas now illuminated by LEDs include the sales floor, pharmacy, restrooms, stock rooms, and the parking lot. Wal-Mart expects to save at least 30% of their energy costs, compared to their old fluorescent lighting systems. Click here to learn more.

On March 5th “The Bay Lights,” an LED light sculpture, illuminated San Francisco’s Bay Bridge for the first time with 25,000 LED lights. The project only costs $15.06 per night to operate, and was designed by artist Leo Villareal on a laptop. Check out this video from the grand lighting ceremony:

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Do You Subscribe To Light Reading With Google Reader?

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Mar 222013

If the news that Google Reader’s days are numbered has totally rocked your world, don’t stress! You can still keep up with all the good stuff happening here on Light Reading.

Here’s a bright idea: You can easily subscribe to our blog via email. Just type your email address in the box to the right and click subscribe! It’s just that simple.

I promise you we’ll never sell, rent, or lend your email address to anyone, ever. You’ll just get a tidy little notification when we post something new to the blog (about 4 times a week). Never again will you risk losing touch with us (unless you choose to).

If you’re not sold on the idea of getting our sweet nothings directly sent to your inbox, or if you’d rather find a Google Reader alternative to keep up with all the blogs you read, I’ve done some research for you…

You can use Google Takeout to get a copy of all your Reader data, and migrate it to a new service.

To find your next RSS reader, check out this article from Marketing Land: 12 Google Reader Alternatives.

Thanks to all you wonderful individuals for your continued support and interest in Light Reading!

And if you don’t already subscribe to Light Reading, why not start now?

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How To Find A Light’s Beam Width – Infographic

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Mar 222013

PinExt How To Find A Lights Beam Width Infographic

Whether you’re planning for a retail display, or remodeling the recessed lights in your kitchen, you need to know how to determine your light bulb’s beam width.

When it comes to reflector lamps (Rs, MRs, ERs, BRs, and PARs), you can choose between spotlights and floodlights. Spot beams are less than 45 degrees wide, and flood beams can be up to 120 degrees wide. This infographic will tell you how to use each kind of light bulb. You’ll also learn how to find the width of a light beam from any given distance away.

infographic beam spread How To Find A Lights Beam Width Infographic
Continue reading »

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Product Spotlight: Lighted Bathroom Exhaust Fans

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Mar 212013

PinExt Product Spotlight: Lighted Bathroom Exhaust Fans

Your bathroom should not be annoying. It should be a rejuvenating space within your house. It should be a sanctuary of sorts, really. The problem is, there are just so many ways the place can get annoying…

…Like when it gets excessively moist and you’re constantly fighting back the mold.

…Like when you’re in there in the middle of the night under the glare of bright lights.

…Like when your lights are cheap, ugly, or just don’t match your style.

…Like when your loud exhaust fan makes it impossible to relax.

If your bathroom annoys you in one or more of those ways, it might do you good to look at our selection of quality bathroom exhaust fans with lights. We hand select each fixture, so I can assure you now that they’re not going to bother you. In fact, they’ll do quite the opposite. Here’s how our exhaust fans can solve each of those terrible annoyances:

For The Moldy Bathroom

If your bathroom gets too moist when you shower and you’d rather not cultivate a garden of mold where you clean yourself every day, get an exhaust fan. To pick one that’s right for you, you just need to determine the recommended fan capacity for your bathroom. This is measured in CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute), which is the volume of air the fan can remove from a room within a certain period of time. You can find your bathroom’s recommended CFM by multiplying the room’s square footage by 1.1 if you have an 8-foot ceiling, or by 1.5 if you have a 9-foot ceiling. For example, a bathroom of 60 square feet with an 8-foot ceiling would need a fan with a CFM of about 66.

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The Consequences Of Light Pollution

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Mar 192013

PinExt The Consequences Of Light Pollution

Did you know light pollution is one of the reasons why women in developed nations are 5 times more likely to get breast cancer? That’s only one of the many issues caused by the bright lights in today’s cities and towns.

This short video explores the hidden costs of light pollution:

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The Difference Between LEDs and CFLs: Mercury

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Mar 182013

PinExt The Difference Between LEDs and CFLs: Mercury

Mercury The Difference Between LEDs and CFLs: Mercury

Image via PeriodicTable.com

This post is the second in a series on important differences between LEDs and CFLs, two of the most popular energy-saving light sources on the market today. You can read the first post about efficiency here.

Mercury is a toxic substance that can attack the brains and nervous systems of humans. CFLs (and all fluorescent lights) contain small amounts of mercury, LEDs do not. In the long run, this makes the LED a much safer, low maintenance light source.

Why do CFLs contain mercury?

The mercury, when excited by an electric current, helps the CFL generate light. This small amount of mercury, barely enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen, poses no threat to your health as long as it remains contained within the light bulb’s glass envelope. You only need to worry about it if the light bulb should break.

To safely deal with your CFLs, take them to an EPA approved recycling center. You can learn more about the importance of recycling CFLs in this blog post: Don’t Toss That CFL In The Trash.

What to do if your CFL breaks…

If you wind up with a broken CFL in your home, follow these steps for safe cleanup and disposal: Continue reading »

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How To Make Your Office Lighting More Energy-Efficient

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Mar 152013

PinExt How To Make Your Office Lighting More Energy Efficient

This article is part of a series here on the blog about how to save the most energy with lighting in your home or business. Browse the entire series here.

Lighting accounts for at least 28% of the energy used in the average office building. That translates to a pretty hefty chunk of the monthly budget. But, by making big and small energy-efficient updates, you can spend less and enjoy a more comfortable office environment.

Big Changes…

If you still use incandescent or outdated fluorescent overhead lights, it’s time for an upgrade.

LEDs use about 80% less energy to generate the same amount of light as incandescent light bulbs. They also last about 25 times longer. So, if you use incandescent light bulbs in your recessed cans, you should replace them with LED lamps or retrofits. LEDs excel at downlighting, because they’re naturally a directional light source. Today’s models have light output and color quality very similar to incandescent lights, so you might not notice the change until you look at your energy bill.

If you have older fluorescent lighting in your office (like T12s), you’re also not saving as much energy as you could. T12 technology is over 70 years old, and incidentally was taken out of production last year. If you exchange your T12s for T8s, you’ll use 45% less energy. Not to mention, the color temperature and light quality of fluorescent lights have improved dramatically over the past few decades, so new lights could be a huge morale boost for all the office workers.

iStock 000005663021Medium 1024x670 How To Make Your Office Lighting More Energy Efficient

Smaller Changes…

Office lighting isn’t just about what’s on the ceiling. To make sure you’re saving the most energy possible, you also need to take a critical look at the smaller light fixtures in the office. Continue reading »

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Product Spotlight: The FreeLite Photoluminescent Exit Sign

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Mar 142013

PinExt Product Spotlight: The FreeLite Photoluminescent Exit Sign

I’m very excited to share one of our most innovative products here at Pegasus Lighting – the FreeLite Photoluminescent Exit Sign.

This special exit sign uses absolutely no electricity and generates light that can be seen up to 100 feet away!

How is that possible? Well, the sign’s innovative photoluminescent technology absorbs the ambient light around it and stores it to use when the lights go dark. It does this completely on its own; it doesn’t require any extra maintenance or upkeep. No attention at all, really.

You may have experience with other self-illuminating signs, but unlike those our photoluminescent sign isn’t radioactive (it contains no tritium). You don’t have to test it periodically, and it’s completely recyclable, so you don’t have to worry about extra disposal costs. Continue reading »

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How Durable Are LED Step Lights?

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Mar 122013

LED Step Lights At Home 233x300 How Durable Are LED Step Lights?
We recently received this question on our website about the durability of our LED step lights:

Can the lights set flat on the landing and be able to withstand the removal of snow, or are they too fragile for that?

If you’ve considered installing step lights on an outdoor staircase or an indoor staircase that gets a lot of wear and tear, this question has probably crossed your mind. After doing some research and hearing from a few customers about their own experiences, here’s what I’ve found:

The Hearty Light Source

For a quality outdoor step light, you couldn’t do better than an LED. LEDs don’t have delicate filaments or electrodes like other light sources. This lets them withstand jarring vibrations like heavy foot traffic or shoveling.

Also, LEDs love the cold – they actually last longer in lower temperatures. So, they’re perfect for outdoor lighting in chilly climates. Fluorescent lights, on the other hand, don’t thrive in the cold. They have difficulty starting in temperatures lower than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

How Fragile Are The Housings?

While LEDs by themselves are downright robust, they aren’t the soul component of a step light. The glass, metal, or plastic housings and covers might not hold up to vigorous scraping or pounding if installed flat on a stair. Plus, if they’re not completely flush, they could be a tripping hazard.

Jim from PA. a proud owner of these LED step lights, offered us his solution to this problem: Continue reading »

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The Difference Between LEDs and CFLs: Efficiency

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Mar 112013

PinExt The Difference Between LEDs and CFLs: Efficiency

This is the first post in a brand new series about the key differences between compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), the light source of the present, and light emitting diodes (LEDs), the light source of the future. We’ll touch on things like structure, function, and quality, so you can keep up with all the innovations currently happening in the lighting world…

One of the most obvious differences between LED light bulbs and CFLs is energy-efficiency. Yes, we consider both sources to be energy-saving, and both fall well within new government efficiency standards, but it’s a simple fact that LEDs use less power to generate more light.

We measure the efficiency of a light source (sometimes called efficacy) in lumens per watt (lm/W). If you’re unfamiliar with this measurement, we’re just talking about the amount of light produced by one unit of electrical power – similar to miles per gallon for a car.

In general, a good LED on the market today can produce 60-100+ lm/W, which is about twice as many as a CFL, which only produces about 30-50 lm/W. Continue reading »

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