Feb 192013
 
PinExt What is Lighting CRI?

Kozzi selection of coloured pencil crayons 294x441 200x300 What is Lighting CRI?
If you’ve been shopping for new light bulbs or light fixtures recently, you may have spotted these three little letters: CRI. (Hint: Usually, there’s a number next to them too).

What’s this mysterious measurement?

CRI stands for Color Rendering Index. In plain English, that means it’s the measure of a lamp’s ability to render colors accurately. The scale ranges from 1 (low pressure sodium lamps) to 100 (the sun). A CRI of 85 and above is considered very good. 

When does CRI matter?

 Since a lamp’s color rendering index is an aesthetic measurement, the answer here really hinges on how you want whatever you’re lighting to look. If you go through the trouble of picking out a particular shade of blue to paint your dining room with, you don’t want your lights to distort the color. Continue reading »

PinExt What is Lighting CRI?
Feb 152013
 
PinExt How To Make Your Kitchen Lighting More Energy Efficient

It’s 2013, and if you’re still spending a ton on your energy bill, you should know that it doesn’t have to be that way. Right now, about 20% of the energy we consume goes to lighting. But, with a few energy-efficient changes, we can see that number (and the numbers on our monthly bills) dwindle. This post is the first in a series on how to make the lighting in your home or business more energy-efficient. 

Everyone’s got to eat, and for many of us, the kitchen is the very heart of the home. The kitchen also requires excellent lighting for cooking and cleaning up. So, I figure it will be a good place to start an energy-efficient lighting makeover.

LED Under Cabinet Lights Kitchen How To Make Your Kitchen Lighting More Energy Efficient

There are many different ways to upgrade the lights in your kitchen, some are quick and easy, and others are more extensive.

Easy Upgrades

  • Eliminate the incandescents. Nothing sucks energy quite like and incandescent light bulb. It wastes about 90% of the energy it uses, giving it off as heat (incidentally making your kitchen feel more like a sweat lodge than it should). If you replace every light bulb with a CFL (compact fluorescent), whether it’s a household lamp, a reflector lamp, or even a chandelier light bulb, you’ll start seeing energy savings right away!
  • Add a dimmer.  Putting your overhead lights, pendant lights, and even your under cabinet lights on dimmers will help you save even more energy. A light bulb doesn’t need to use as much energy when dimmed to a lower level. Also, dimming will increase the life of your light bulb, which means you won’t have to pay for (or use up) so many. Just make sure that if you’re using your dimmers on CFLs, the dimmer and the light bulb are compatible. Continue reading »
PinExt How To Make Your Kitchen Lighting More Energy Efficient
Feb 142013
 
PinExt Product Spotlight: Halogen Landscape Lights

This week’s Product Spotlight has fallen on Valentine’s Day, and that couldn’t be more apt, since our halogen landscape lights are so easy to fall in love with.

Halogen Landscape Lights Product Spotlight: Halogen Landscape Lights

If you’re looking for a way to add a little dazzle back into your landscape, halogen landscape lights might be just what you need. Imagine being able to stroll with your sweetie down softly lit pathways on warm nights under the stars, or showing off your prized garden to friends and family, even after the sun goes down.

You can use halogen landscape lights to enhance walkways and flowerbeds or the areas around your decks and patios. These lights can also accent plants or architectural features, adding beautiful points of light around the outside of your home or business.

Find Your Perfect Style Match

Each of our halogen landscape lights is made of elegant black powder coated metal, and comes with a mounting spike and halogen light bulb. Continue reading »

PinExt Product Spotlight: Halogen Landscape Lights
Feb 072013
 
PinExt Product Spotlight: Occupancy/Vacancy Sensors

It’s week 2 of our new Product Spotlight series. Every Thursday right here on the blog, we’re going to feature a new, popular, or just plain nifty light fixture. We’ll help you learn things like how it works, how to install it, and the benefits of using it. So, without further ado…

Occupancy Sensors1 Product Spotlight: Occupancy/Vacancy Sensors

Sure, this occupancy sensor’s nondescript form might not look like much, but once you install it in your home or business, it’s sure to occupy an essential spot in your daily routine.

Whether you need a more convenient way to turn on the lights while carting baskets of clothes into your laundry room, or a simple way to save energy in the hallways of your hotel, occupancy/vacancy sensors can help you out.

How They Work

Each of our occupancy/vacancy sensors comes equipped with a passive infrared (PIR) sensor, which detects body heat to turn lights on and keep them on until you’re no longer around.

This sensor can control incandescent, halogen, xenon, and fluorescent lights, and offers a variety of different settings… Continue reading »

PinExt Product Spotlight: Occupancy/Vacancy Sensors
Feb 012013
 
PinExt Your Guide to Perfect Valentines Lighting

iStock 000018935400Medium 1024x682 Your Guide to Perfect Valentines Lighting
It’s February already, which means Valentine’s Day isn’t far away. If you’re planning something special for your special someone you should remember that nothing says “Love Me Tender” like some sultry mood lighting.

For an amorous evening in, it’s up to you to to create the perfect atmosphere for the night. And let me tell you, lighting will be essential. What else could completely transform a regular room into a romantic retreat in seconds? If you’re strapped for time, or lacking ideas for lighting this Valentine’s, we’ve got your back. We’ve put together a list of our best (and easiest) romantic lighting ideas to make sure your night goes right.

1. Dimmers

iStock 000017131515XSmall Your Guide to Perfect Valentines Lighting

 

If you only make one lighting change for Valentine’s Day, make it this: put your overhead lights on a dimmer. It’s a simple, affordable switch to make, but it will make all the difference when you’re turning your den, dining room, or boudoir into an enchanting paradise. And let’s face it – everyone looks better in softly dimmed ambient light, which can’t hurt on a day like February 14th. Plus, once you install the dimmer, you’ll be able to enjoy it all year round.

2. String Lights

christmas lights bedroom Your Guide to Perfect Valentines Lighting

Image via thesoho.blogspot.com

After you establish romantic ambient lighting it’s all about adding a little magic with accent lights. If you have some white string lights left over from the holidays, they can add a bit of sparkle to your evening. Try draping them behind sheer curtains or around the dinner table or bed’s headboard. They’ll have you and your sweetie starry-eyed in no time. Continue reading »

PinExt Your Guide to Perfect Valentines Lighting
Jan 282013
 
PinExt Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Lighting in January

incandescent 300x199 Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Lighting in January

Image via Cleveland.com


It’s a new year, and we’re back to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in the lighting world. So far, 2013 has brought us tons of lighting innovations, brilliant tips on improving your life with light, and some just plain cool stuff…

In Lighting News…

Starting January 1, import and manufacture of the 75-watt incandescent light bulb were banned in the U.S. as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The goal here is to move the country to a higher efficiency standard to save energy, money, and natural resources. To learn more about the act, how it affects consumers, and how to adapt, check out this article from Cleveland.com or our own recent blog post on the matter.

Philips has come out with a new way to try on clothing in retail shops called the AmbiScene Fitting Room System. The system’s LEDs let customers adjust the lighting in their dressing rooms. To see how your clothes look in different places, you can choose settings that mimic the seasons, different times of day, and even different locations like the office or a nightclub. The system is also perfect for retail displays. Check out this video to see how it works:

Continue reading »

PinExt Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Lighting in January
Jan 212013
 
PinExt Toning Up The Lighting In Your Home Gym

contemporary home gym Toning Up The Lighting In Your Home Gym

Image via Chicago Architect COOK ARCHITECTURAL Design Studio


With the New Year upon us, many have decided to upgrade their fitness routines by installing home gyms, or dusting off the treadmills they already own. But, if you have dingy or inadequate home gym lighting, it can be even more difficult to actually make use of the space 3-5 times a week.

Am I saying lighting can help you achieve your fitness goals? Not exactly, but I’m not saying that it can’t.

When deciding on the lights for your home gym, here are some things to consider:

1. Brightness

So you sweat it out for half an hour and then move on with your life. What’s the point of putting effort into comfortably lighting your home gym if you don’t spend a lot of time being comfortable in there anyway? Well, good lighting might actually help motivate you to spend longer, more quality time exercising. Nothing is quite as depressing as a home gym with a single ceiling light fixture and gloomy shadows cast on every surface. Studies show that cool, bright light naturally increases your energy levels, which means you could have an easier time putting in those 30 minutes on the elliptical.

LED Track Lighting Toning Up The Lighting In Your Home Gym Continue reading »

PinExt Toning Up The Lighting In Your Home Gym
Jan 152013
 
PinExt Caught On Tape! LED Tape Lights Video

Sticky lighting situation? Solve it with LED tape lights!

Here at Pegasus Lighting, we’re very excited to offer you innovative light fixtures to fit your every need. One product that’s really got it going on in the versatility department is LED tape lighting. If you’ve never seen tape lights before, they’re pretty much what they sound like, strips of LED lights with strong adhesive backing. They come in trimmable reels, are rated for use indoors and outdoors, and are available in white, colored, and color-changing varieties.

Need decor inspiration? Check out this saucy little video to discover all the different ways you can use tape lights for your home, office, interior, and exterior:

When will they catch you?

PinExt Caught On Tape! LED Tape Lights Video
Jan 112013
 
PinExt The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

It’s a new year, and many of us have resolved to finally do what makes us happy. To stop coming up with reasons not to do the things we want. Of course, this time of year also brings many to the crippling realization of just how much they spent over the holidays, and how much they need to save in the new year.

Good lighting, beautiful lighting, new lighting in your home can really work miracles for the space’s look and feel, and even your own well-being. But, when trying to save money, springing for new lights can feel like too much of a luxury. How do you know when it’s worth it?

We’ve put our heads together here at Pegasus Lighting to come up with the 8 best reasons you should say YES! to a lighting upgrade:

1. You’re wasting money. 

Blue Indirect Lighting in a Kitchen 1024x1024 The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

This reasoning isn’t too hard to figure out. Wasting money on old, energy-sucking lights is worse than saving money on new, energy-saving lights. There may be a little more expense upfront, but new, efficient lights will pay for themselves really quickly. If you switch just 3 of your 60-watt incandescent light bulbs for 12-watt LEDs, you’ll save about $114 every year! To compare more light sources, take a look at this infographic.

2. You have trouble seeing.

Kitchen Lighting The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

If your lights are inadequate, especially in areas where you have to intensely focus on tasks (kitchens, bathrooms, offices) you’re not doing yourself any favors. Eyestrain does not a happy homeowner make. Good lighting in these task areas will make it much easier to focus, and to get things right the first time. Make your work space a healthy one with task lighting essentials like under cabinet lights in the kitchen, or a good desk lamp for reading. Continue reading »

PinExt The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights
Jan 082013
 
PinExt ReadyBright Lights Featured On The NBC TODAY Show

Yesterday, Rosemary Ellis of Good Housekeeping was on the TODAY Show to reveal 9 of 2013′s most innovative consumer products. And guess what! One of our very own products made the cut!

Out of more than 1,500 different products, Good Housekeeping chose the Mr. Beams ReadyBright Power Outage Lighting System as one of their favorite products.

The ReadyBright System is the very first at home emergency lighting system available. It’s not unlike the emergency lighting systems in commercial buildings – when the power goes out, the lights come on. Good Housekeeping testers used these lights when they lost power back during Hurricane Sandy, and called them “tremendously helpful.”

“We think everybody should have one of these,” said Ellis.

Check out the full video here:

Continue reading »

PinExt ReadyBright Lights Featured On The NBC TODAY Show