3 Awesome Blogs for Interior Design Inspiration

Thoughts on Light 1 Response »
Jan 232012

Lighting isn’t really a stand-alone topic. It overlaps with remodeling, home design, energy efficiency, commercial building design, architecture, and new construction – just to name a few. There are some excellent writers in the blogosphere covering all of those topics. Bookmark the blogs below for interior design inspiration – they are among our absolute favorites!

f logo kitchen sync 3 Awesome Blogs for Interior Design InspirationKelly’s Kitchen Sync (@kitchen_sync on Twitter): Read Kelly Morisseau’s posts, and you’ll have a wealth of information on kitchen design, bathroom design, and top trends. You’ll discover new, revolutionary products. You’ll learn what makes excellent design, and what makes designers cringe. We are constantly sharing Kelly’s helpful posts with our Facebook and Twitter followers – she’s fantastic!

final logo for color recipes 3 Awesome Blogs for Interior Design Inspiration

Color Recipes (@Color4Charlotte on Twitter): We first “met” Donna Frasca of Color Recipes on Twitter during a chat with kitchen and bath professionals – #kbtribechat is on Wednesdays at 2pm for those who want to join in. She’s a Color Specialist in Charlotte, NC, and she helps homeowners choose color palettes that complement their homes. Her blog documents the paint colors she pairs. The interesting spin is that she uses food as inspiration for each color palette. If you’re considering painting any room, Color Recipes will give you a unique perspective.

freshome logo 3 Awesome Blogs for Interior Design InspirationFreshome (@freshome on Twitter): Yes, Freshome publishes posts multiple times a day. Yes, it can really build up in your RSS feed, if you have one. And yes, they are totally worth following if you’re looking for interior design inspiration. Freshome uncovers and shares “the latest and greatest products in architecture and design.” Here is where you will find drool-worthy photos of apartments and homes you would trade for your own in a heartbeat. Each post is compelling – there’s no question that Freshome will spark new ideas for you.

 

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Posted by Emily Widle on January 23, 2012 at 4:45 pm Tagged with:

Play A Game of Soccer, Power an LED Lamp

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Jan 162012

Julia Silverman and Jessica Matthews first began thinking about the power of a soccer ball for a college project. Challenged to come up with a solution to a problem facing the world, they focused on the lack of access to electricity in developing countries. Their imaginary solution was a soccer ball that harnessed kinetic energy from play and transformed it to electrical energy to power an LED lamp.

Little did Silverman and Matthews know that 3,000 of those electricity-generating soccer balls would eventually be delivered to Mexico, Haiti, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and South Africa. This is a pretty incredible story:

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Posted by Emily Widle on January 16, 2012 at 10:42 am Tagged with:

‘Tis The Season…

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Dec 072011

… For incredible holiday lights. Have you seen any captivating displays in your town? My hometown of Clemmons, NC hosts the popular Tanglewood Festival of Lights every year (see a YouTube video here) Here are some displays across the U.S. that will take your breath away:

christmas atlanta Tis The Season...

The Atlanta Botanical Garden features 200 color-changing topiary forms that synchronize with holiday music.

Continue reading »

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Posted by Emily Widle on December 7, 2011 at 10:31 am Tagged with:

Challenge: See the World in A Greener Light

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Nov 222011

ccfl main 300x198 Challenge: See the World in A Greener LightHave you ever purchased a CFL? Recycled an aluminum can? Turned off the water while you brush your teeth?

We’re all familiar with basic sustainability guidelines, but when it comes to just how much of a difference one person can make, things get murky.

We’d like to start a dialogue about seeing the world in a greener light. We want to hear your ideas – even if they’re not related to lighting at all. Do you set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter? Are you a designer that recommends eco-friendly products to clients? Tweet your answers and ideas to #agreenerlight. Here’s one of ours:

We launched a new section of our website dedicated to the A Greener Light cause. If you’re not on Twitter, you can leave a comment there!

Here’s our #agreenerlight thought for the day:

In the lighting industry, adoption of fluorescent and LED technologies is rapidly growing in the United States. That’s good news, considering that the U.S. is responsible for 20% of electricity used for lighting in the world – even though we only make up about 4.5% of the global population. Fluorescent and LED light sources are both great solutions for lowering energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

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Posted by Emily Widle on November 22, 2011 at 8:00 am Tagged with: , , ,

Thinking Smart About Energy

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Nov 152011

brain bulb Thinking Smart About EnergyLast week, the Washington Post brought together businessmen and women, government officials, lobbyists and advocates from across the country to discuss the future of energy consumption. The conversations ranged from automobiles to government regulations to business opportunities and covered everything in between. The Washington Post published several excerpts from the Smart Energy conference. My two favorite quotes are below:

You may want a more brilliant world; it doesn’t mean we need to consume more power to do it. If we do it smartly, we can actually consume a bit less and live a life that everyone likes regardless of what their taste is.  - Fred Maxik, Founder and CTO of Lighting Science Group

Maxik then went on to discuss microprocessors inside light bulbs that will communicate with you in terms of dimming and color control.  He explained that lighting is undergoing an amazing transition. “It could be a light bulb that’s just so smart that it detects sunlight coming through the window [and] starts dimming until you get the light that you desire,” he said. Continue reading »

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Posted by Emily Widle on November 15, 2011 at 9:44 am Tagged with:

Your Guide to Efficient Holiday Lighting

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Nov 072011

The holidays are right around the corner, and we are excited to be offering a line of energy efficient holiday lights this year.

Before you stock up with the same old incandescent holiday string lights, consider that LED holiday lights…

  • … Use 90% less energy.  Put a little money back in your wallet when the power bill comes around.
  • … Last 10 times longer.  Avoid the annual trip to the store to replace yet another light string.
  • … Are cool to the touch.  Cross “Christmas tree fire hazard” off your list of worries for the holiday.
37284 0 8 1329 traditional entry Your Guide to Efficient Holiday Lighting
Photo from Houzz Ideabooks. 

Have you ever used LED holiday lights?  Do you plan to this year?

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Posted by Emily Widle on November 7, 2011 at 2:16 am Tagged with: ,

“Did You Know…” (Three Crazy Facts About Light)

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Oct 252011
bioluminscent dragonfish Did You Know... (Three Crazy Facts About Light)

Bioluminscent deep-sea creature

It’s always fun to learn new facts about everyday phenomenons. Today’s post brings you three little-known truths about light. Enjoy!

Ever heard of bioluminescence? It’s the process by which deep-sea creatures emit light. In the deepest part of the ocean, the sun cannot penetrate through the water, and there’s no detectable light source. Between 80 and 90 percent of deep-sea creatures are bioluminescent. If that isn’t cool enough, consider this: Humans are bioluminescent, too. It’s not visible to the human eye, of course, but the human body does emit light from within. It was captured on camera by Japanese researchers in 2009, and the report stated that “the human body literally glimmers.” Follow that link for photos.

This is more related to color than light, but it’s all about the visual spectrum. There may be “impossible,” or “imaginary” colors that don’t exist in the physical world, but that you can potentially trick your brain into seeing. Sounds far-fetched? The basic concept is that your eyes use “opponent channels” to process light – red vs. green, blue vs. yellow, and black vs. white. When you stare at a red object, your light receptor for green is inhibited while the one for red is excited.

Therefore, it’s impossible to see an object that is equal parts red and green at the same time – unless you conduct a special experiment. In 1983, scientists did just that, and the test subjects (one of which was an artist) said they viewed a new, reddish-green color they had never seen before. More info on that (and a similar test you can try at home!) here. Continue reading »

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Posted by Emily Widle on October 25, 2011 at 11:06 am Tagged with:

If It Weren’t For LED Lighting

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Oct 172011
leaf turn If It Werent For LED Lighting

The U.S. will be turning over a new leaf in overall electricity consumption thanks to LED lighting.

I attended a webinar about LED lighting last week and learned some interesting facts about what the future holds for this incredibly efficient light source.

Already, LED lighting has far surpassed incandescent, halogen, linear fluorescent, and high pressure sodium lighting as far as efficacy (a measure of efficiency for a light source, expressed as light output, or lumens, per watt of electricity used).

The expectation is that LEDs will continue to dramatically increase in efficiency and to simultaneously dramatically decrease in cost. Lighting designer Joseph A. Rey-Barreau led the webinar, and he noted that most other lighting technologies are on the edge of their potential as far as efficacy. However, there seems to be no limit to LEDs on this front.

Another interesting gem from the webinar came from a few charts analyzing electricity consumption in the United States. Rey-Barreau noted that if the U.S. had maintained the status quo with previous light sources, electricity consumption would double in the next ten years.

However, thanks to LED lighting, we are expected to actually drastically reduce electricity consumption in the next ten years. LED lighting will likely reduce lighting energy use in the United States by one-fourth by 2030!

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Posted by Emily Widle on October 17, 2011 at 12:53 pm Tagged with: ,

80% of Architects, Designers Dubious About Sustainability…

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Oct 052011

overexaggerated sustainability1 80% of Architects, Designers Dubious About Sustainability...… Sustainability claims from manufacturers, that is.

A new research study indicates that although the number of environmentally-friendly projects for architects & interior designers is growing, professionals are questioning whether products that claim to be “green” actually live up to the name.

812 architects and designers took part in the survey, sponsored by home & building marketing agency IMRE in conjunction with the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and ASID (American Society of Interior Designers).

Architects, designers, and professionals reading: Weigh in. Is this consistent with your feelings about “sustainable” products from manufacturers? Do you think this is a problem in today’s remodeling and construction industries?

To speak for the lighting industry, this has become a real problem with LED lighting. The market is still maturing for LEDs, and there are a number of products out there that are poorly designed. Sure, they are energy efficient – but energy efficiency carries less weight when a product meant to replace an incandescent, xenon, halogen, or fluorescent light bulb is a fraction as bright as you are accustomed to.

Take caution when selecting LEDs. This issue is one of the reasons we are so careful about ensuring the quality of products we put on the Pegasus Lighting website!

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Posted by Emily Widle on October 5, 2011 at 2:24 pm Tagged with: , , ,

What a ’38 Chevy Can Teach You About Lighting

Thoughts on Light No Responses »
Sep 072011

1938 chevy 300x165 What a 38 Chevy Can Teach You About LightingJohn Philip Bachner of the National Lighting Bureau wrote a fantastic article (Good-bye T12. Hello Opportunity) about why T12 fluorescent tubes are being phased out in the U.S. I couldn’t have written it any better, so I wanted to include his opening paragraph here. It’s a great read – click through the link to view the rest of the article!

Imagine that the year is 1938. You buy a brand-new Chevy, the technological marvel of
its era. Now imagine it’s 2011 and you’re still driving the same car for your daily
commute. Far-fetched? Not if you substitute T12 fluorescent lighting – first marketed in
1938 – for the ’38 Chevy. True: We‟ve seen an astonishing array of new lighting and
automotive technology since 1938. Also true: No one we know of drives a 73-year-old
car for daily commuting, but some 500 million T12 fluorescent tubes are still being
illuminated in U.S. buildings every day… read more

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Posted by Emily Widle on September 7, 2011 at 1:43 pm
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