Top Light Reading News of 2011

Emily Widle Pegasus Lighting Updates

Ah, the end of the year. Time for reflection, resolutions, and recaps. 2011 was a busy year for lighting  news…

EISA 2007 took center stage this year, as the phaseout of traditional incandescent light bulbs approached and the political scene got heated. We published a week-long series explaining the legislation and how it will affect you:

However, that series was not the last you heard about the legislation. The BULB Act attempted (and failed) to repeal the portion of EISA 2007 that referred to incandescent lighting. Texas challenged the federal mandate with a bill declaring incandescent light bulbs produced and sold in Texas were exempt. The Department of Energy created an ad campaign to jump start support for efficient light bulbs.  And most recently, Congress passed a bill that denied funding to implement the efficiency standards, which will start January 1, 2012.

Rare earth elements frequently made the headlines in lighting news, as the Chinese government’s export restrictions began to affect the cost of fluorescent lighting. Recently, the New York Times reported supply was finally beginning to catch up with demand.

Philips Lighting won the L Prize, successfully designing a 60-watt equivalent LED that consumes just 10 watts of energy and lasts more than 25,000 hours!

A fascinating term called Li-Fi was introduced at a TEDGlobal conference. Li-Fi is light-based data transmission technology, and it may very well replace Wi-Fi in the near future.

LEDs were used to treat brain injuries and jaundice in newborns.

The “Lighting Facts” label made its debut, officially out-dating the use of watts as a measure of light output. Although the FTC pushed back the deadline for manufacturers to incorporate the new labels in light bulb packaging, the development of the “Lighting Facts” label marked an important step toward consumer education on energy efficient lighting.

Researchers took a closer look at lighting in schools with the Philips SchoolVision lighting system, which demonstrated lighting changes have a measurable affect on levels of attention and concentration among children.

Of course, we can’t forget about the Easy Bake Oven. Did you know those mini-desserts were heated by a 100-watt incandescent light bulb? Hasbro launched a brand-new version of the toy in the fall: They knew even the Easy Bake wouldn’t be excluded from EISA 2007.

Here’s looking forward to what’s in store for 2012!

Emily Widle

Emily graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in journalism. She enjoys scouring the news to report on the latest in the lighting industry as well as bringing valuable remodeling tips and exemplar home projects to light.

2 thoughts to “Top Light Reading News of 2011”

Comments are closed.