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Lighting Wins and Losses From Super Bowl XLVII

Feb 042013

Well, they told us yesterday’s Super Bowl would be the greenest one to date, but they failed to mention that as part of the plan to save energy they were going to turn the lights out in the second half.

Just kidding. This year’s Super Bowl might go down in the books for its lighting “abnormality,” but certainly there were some “bright spots” about this year’s lighting as well. Today, I’m going to reflect on both.

Superbowl Blackout NY Times Lighting Wins and Losses From Super Bowl XLVII

Image via NYTimes.com

Here at Pegasus Lighting, we were all so excited to ogle the Mercedes-Benz Superdome’s new lighting system, and it didn’t disappoint. (At least through halftime, that is.) The Superdome’s exterior featured more than 26,000 LED lights on a whopping 96 full-color graphic display panels. These panels flooded the building in a spectrum of animated colors, patterns,and images. We were especially impressed knowing that the system used only 10 kilowatts of electricity, which if you can believe it, is the amount used to power a small house. Not to mention that if the LEDs are used for an average of 6 hours per day, they won’t need to be replaced until 2057.

Super Dome Washington Post Lighting Wins and Losses From Super Bowl XLVII

Image via WashingtonPost.com

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The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

Lighting Tips No Responses »

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 »

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ReadyBright Lights Featured On The NBC TODAY Show

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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:

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5 Ways Light Can Help With Your New Year’s Resolutions

Lighting Tips No Responses »

Jan 022013

PinExt 5 Ways Light Can Help With Your New Years Resolutions

Fireworks 300x203 5 Ways Light Can Help With Your New Years Resolutions
Is it 2013 already? It’s hard to believe – it feels like just yesterday was January ’12 and we all were resolving to make our lives healthier, smarter, and easier. But, if last year’s resolutions didn’t work out as planned, and you’re feeling cynical about making any positive changes for 2013, maybe you just need to lighten up (literally).

Lighting is such an integral part of our everyday lives, affecting the way we see and navigate through the entire world, why couldn’t it help you achieve your New Year’s Resolution?

Below are 5 of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions, and lighting just might be the key to help you stay on track with each of them…

1. Save Money.

Dreading monthly bills, clipping coupons, and cutting back on every non-essential can get overwhelming. No wonder we feel like giving up mid-February. An easy way to passively save money each month is to switch out your old incandescent lights for energy-saving LED and fluorescent lights.

Did you know, roughly 20% of the world’s electricity consumption goes to lighting? If you swap all the light bulbs in your home for more efficient varieties, you’ll save an average of $400 a year! You can save even more money by installing motion sensors, timers, photocell, and other controls on your indoor and outdoor lights, to only use them when you need them. The best part: once installed, you hardly have to think about them at all. Continue reading »

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Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Techie

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Dec 042012

PinExt Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Techie

Today, we’re continuing our series on helping you find those perfect holiday gifts. So far, we’ve offered unique ideas for those who love to read, cook, fix things, and adventure through the great outdoors. Now, let’s move on to those technology-loving techies…

Techies. We all know the type. They’re the ones always up on the latest gadgets. They love spending time just tinkering with machinery, making things work.

And, they’re the ones who we call on to help fix what’s broken – slow computers, malfunctioning toys, anything mechanized or electronic. So naturally, we want to return their kindness for the holiday.

Here are a few of our most innovative, fun, and helpful high-tech gift ideas:

The Techie’s Essential Light

It’s a glorious era in the lighting world for die-hard techies. LEDs, the most up-and-coming lights, are an electronic power source capable of so much more than older filament and fluorescent lights.

If your favorite gadget lover hasn’t jumped on the LED train yet, gifting them a few LED light bulbs to use around the house will satisfy their thirst for electronics, and even save them some dough on future energy bills. Shop, and learn more about LEDs right here!

Continue reading »

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Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Innovations, Upgrades, and Explorations

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Nov 262012

PinExt Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Innovations, Upgrades, and Explorations

Lighting technology never ceases to amaze. This month’s Lighting Roundup is all about new lighting technology, ways to improve your lighting and energy use at home, and some of the most exciting lighting designs and installations I’ve seen in a while!

dezeenSafetyNet Sustainable fishing net by Dan Watson wins James Dyson Award 1 Pegasus Lighting Roundup: Innovations, Upgrades, and Explorations

Image via SNTech.co.uk

In Lighting News…

LightRecycle, a non-profit program to recycle lighting products in British Columbia, recently expanded to recycle all lighting products at no charge – the first program of its kind in Canada. The program began in 2010, and it caters to both commercial and residential clients.

Dan Watson, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, won this year’s James Dyson Award for his sustainable fishing net called SafetyNet. This special trawler fishing net uses strategically placed holes and LED lights to separate fish of different ages and species. These illuminated “exit signs” allow smaller non-marketable fish to escape.

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The #1 Rule In Residential Lighting

Lighting Tips No Responses »

Nov 212012

PinExt The #1 Rule In Residential Lighting

Besides just having light, light layering (having multiple light sources for different purposes) is the most important, all-encompassing rule in home lighting design.

I recently ran across a post on Freshome featuring a loft installation designed by Luiz Fernando Grabowsky. It demonstrates this essential rule with finesse, using multiple lighting fixtures to bring out every aspect of the room. I was especially impressed because it does so in such a small space, and manages to make the place look so unique.

Let me break down how and why this loft rocks my world with its light layers. But first, here’s a photo:

Casa Cor Kitchen The #1 Rule In Residential Lighting

Image via Freshome.com

Ah, the lovely, lovely light. This space is such a great example of light layering. A single light source never does any space justice. You need different light sources for different purposes, for aesthetics and functionality. Continue reading »

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Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Adventurer

Buyer's Guides No Responses »

Nov 192012

PinExt Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Adventurer

This is the third post in a series on picking perfect holiday gifts for those you care about. Click here for gift ideas for people who love to cook, and here for those handy dandy handypeople.

Have a brother, sister, friend, or coworker who’s always off in the great outdoors? If they’re not biking or hiking or jogging or swimming, they’re driving somewhere in search of a new adventure. They’re always on the move.

If that’s true for anyone you know, it can feel next to impossible to find a gift that they’ll actually use, especially when they make a lifestyle out of only needing the bare minimum.

Luckily, we have several products that are simple yet essential to the all-out, mile-a-minute, scale-cliffs-for-kicks way of life. Your voyager will welcome these additions to his or her bag of tricks.

For Biking

When your favorite traveler is furiously biking on dark streets and roads, visibility is essential. Bicycle spoke lights allow for maximum visibility, lighting up the wheels in a variety of different colors. They’re light, streamlined, and easy to install, and they come in round and oval shapes. At $6.90 for a pack of 2, they also make great stocking stuffers.

Bike Spoke Lights Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Adventurer

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What Lights and Bulldozers Have in Common

Thoughts on Light No Responses »

Nov 152012

PinExt What Lights and Bulldozers Have in Common

Kozzi view of city at night 441x294 300x199 What Lights and Bulldozers Have in Common
When we think of habitat destruction, the first things that come to mind are probably bulldozers in the rain forest and oil spills over tropical reefs. However, studies show light pollution may be destroying the habitats of animals in our own backyards.

Humans, animals, and plants all rely on the 24-hour cycle of light and dark, day and night, to regulate sleep, predation, migration, and mating behavior. When electric lights boggle those patterns, the whole ecosystem can get messed up.

Species Hurt By Unnatural Light Patterns

Fireflies, which use distinctive flashing patterns to attract mates, have a more difficult time doing so around streetlights. Researchers have seen their populations decrease around areas with generous outdoor lighting.
Mayflies, which only have hours (maybe days) to reproduce, get distracted by electric lights and die before mating. This has reduced their population, along with those of their predators dramatically.
Migratory birds often fly at night to avoid predators and forage in the daylight. However, when they encounter a city’s skyglow, they can no longer use celestial cues to navigate, and may end up stuck and disoriented, circling the artificial light until they’re exhausted.
Nocturnal predators like owls, bats, raccoons, and coyotes lose the ability to hunt in the cover of night, and their prey cannot hide as easily.
Baby sea turtles, of course, are practically the spokesanimal for light pollution. Many of those little guys don’t make it into the ocean because they’re distracted by the lights on land. Continue reading »

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Lights For A Holiday-Ready Home

Lighting Tips No Responses »

Oct 312012

holidaylighting2 300x217 Lights For A Holiday Ready Home
Holiday lights can have a bad reputation, but it’s my goal to help put some sparkle back in your season; to “lighten” your load a bit. Below you’ll find all the lights you need to prep your home for a headache-free holiday, from practical essentials to the best decorative fixtures and everything in between.

1. LED String Lights

Warm Holiday Lights 300x214 Lights For A Holiday Ready Home Holiday string lights have always been one of the season’s classic hallmarks, and also one of its biggest jokes. With their festive beauty often comes hours upon hours of trial and error, trying to find that single burnt-out light bulb ruining the bunch.

White Holiday Lights 300x183 Lights For A Holiday Ready Home But, you shouldn’t have to worry about burnt-out lights if you use LED Holiday Lights for your home this year. They have a 60,000 hour rated-life, so they’ll stay lit for a long, long time.

Pure White Holiday Lights 300x185 Lights For A Holiday Ready Home On top of the impressive lifetime, LED lights generate much less heat, so you won’t have to worry about holiday fire hazards. Plus, they use about 90% less energy than incandescent string lights, saving you money to use on more important things this season.

They come in a few cozy color temperatures, alluding to winter wonders like ice and candlelight. Continue reading »

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