You may have heard rumors about incandescent technology being outlawed, and in fact several countries have. But in the US? No…well, not exactly. Congress has passed legislation which sets efficiency standards for a variety of lamps and ballasts, many of which will begin to take effect in 2012. With the legislation  raising the bar for efficiency, there are lamps across the board—incandescent, halogen, fluorescent—which are effectively outlawed.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was signed into law on December 19, 2007. The act builds on the progress made by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) in setting out a comprehensive energy strategy for the 21st century. This act is a major step toward reducing our dependence on oil thereby increasing our energy security and making our country cleaner for future generations. Lighting efficiency was only one aspect addressed in this bill. In 2009 the Department of Energy passed further regulations that affect Incandescent, Halogen Reflector Lamps, and General Service Fluorescent Lamps.

There are a lot of criteria that went into which lamps were affected (lumens per watt, max wattage, etc), but to boil it down, the following lamps will not be allowed to be manufactured after the following dates:

100w Incandescent A-lamp (1/1/2012)

75w Incandescent A-lamp (1/1/2013)

60w Incandescent A-lamp (1/1/2014)

40w Incandescent A-lamp (1/1/2014)

Additionally, all R20, R30, R40, PAR20, PAR30, PAR 38, BR30, BR40, ER30, ER40, and BPAR lamps must meet halogen efficiency levels with certain wattage limit exceptions. There are a number of exceptions to the rule, including candelabra base lamps, appliance lamps, rough service, plant lights, 3-way lamps, traffic signal lamps, etc.

The 2009 regulations, which take affect in the summer of 2012, will effectively eliminate the following lamps:

Nearly all 4′ T12 Fluorescent

Some 4′ T8 Fluorescent

Most 8′ T12 Fluorescent

Nearly all standard Halogen PAR38, PAR30, and PAR 20 Halogen lamps.

So where does this leave us when specifying lamps on our projects?

In all honesty this is not an impact for the majority of current jobs. The fluorescents that are being phased out are largely out dated anyway and not being specified on new projects (T12s are sooo 20 years ago). However, buildings that still have T12 fixtures will likely need to address their outdated fixtures as lamp inventory dwindles in the coming years (existing inventory can still be sold past the date–the lamps just can’t be manufactured anymore).

Likewise, the affected incandescent lamps don’t get specified much due to the need to meet energy code. This regulation is much more likely to affect the average homeowner who’s porch light burns out than a lighting specifier.

But for those of us with porch lights at home what are the best replacement options?

Halogen is probably the closest replacement in terms of the look and function of the light. It’s a little whiter light (not as yellow), which many consider a good thing. It comes on instantly, has great color rendering, good output and is easily dimmable.

Compact Fluorescent has been touted for years as the energy friendly alternative. It is about 5x as efficient as comparable incandescent, though I don’t love cfl for most residential applications for a few reasons. They take a few minutes to warm up to full brightness–fine in a commercial setting, but annoying in many residential applications when you’re coming and going from rooms frequently. The color rendering is still a little off from the warm pleasing tome that we enjoy in the home. You need special lamps to be dimmable, and even then they don’t usually dim fully. And last, when they are turned on and off as frequently as they are in most homes the lamp life is NOWHERE NEAR what they advertise it to be. The life they advertise is generally with 12 hour starts. Again, fine for commercial, but it doesn’t equate in the home.

LED is the new guy to the residential market and is showing a lot of promise, but frankly still has a way to go. While they are generally slightly less efficient than CFL, they are still a lot more efficient than incandescent. Still they struggle with output (though the lamps tend to have very low wattage, they also don’t generally put out much light) and color rendition. All that said, major manufacturers have put a lot into R&D of consumer grade LEDs in recent years, so hopefully options will continue to improve as this legislation takes effect.

New Hybrids? Lamp manufacturers are WELL aware of this shift coming down the road and have been scrambling to come up with viable options for the consumer. As such they have tried to get creative. My favorite example is a new lamp coming out from GE which embeds a small halogen lamp inside a curly CFL lamp, which is then all encased in an A-lamp envelope to look like an incandescent. When you flip the light in the halogen and CFL both come on, but the halogen only stays on long enough for the CFL to warm up to full brightness. Once that happens a minute or so later, the halogen automatically shuts off. Instant-on brightness, good energy savings–I like that. Still not perfect, as discussed above, but I appreciate that it’s addressed at least one of my gripes!

If you have additional questions about the legislation, how it affects your office building, projects, or your very own porch light, please feel free to contact us with questions. We’re always happy to hand out expert opinions!

I had an interesting conversation the other day as I made small talk with a woman in a store. She was very pregnant and I asked her if she planned to deliver at the local hospital.

“No it SCARES me–it’s so DARK! Have you seen it?” she said. “Even the entrance looks like a tunnel leading you off to prison!”

She was right. It is dark. And sketchy looking–not qualities that you look for in a medical establishment. But I also know most people I know have been happy with the care they’ve received there and would choose it again over area hospitals, so the outward appearance isn’t necessarily indicative of the service you receive.

It was an interesting mini-case study for me as I spoke to Jane Q. Public (who, for the record, had no idea what I do for a living). The lesson, which frankly I already knew…Lighting, for better or worse, can drastically affect the way people view your business…which of course affects if you get their business at all.

G2LD is pleased to be a part of the design team for a private car display barn in Central Texas. The barn, which comes in at approximately 20,000 square feet, will accommodate dozens of classic cars for display along with a museum quality collection of automotive signage.

Seen in section, diffuse hidden lighting will give a warm glow to the timber frame structure, while directional spot lights will highlight the cars and signage.

The building will also incorporate spaces for offices, dining and entertaining. With expansive timber frame construction and a large central cupola that goes several stories high, the lighting of the architecture is as important and challenging as the lighting of the collections. G2LD is working with the design team to ensure that the fixtures remain hidden as much as possible–giving the wood structure a warm glow without distracting, tacked on fixtures.

Theatrical Fixtures highlight the classic car collection and signage

When Hurricane Ike flooded this century-old home in Galveston’s East End Historic District with 4′ of muddy storm surge, the homeowners were devastated. But, like many of their neighbors, they ultimately saw it as an opportunity to come back better than ever. Since they already had to gut the downstairs and redo the majority of the electrical for the house they decided to hire G2LD to consult on their new lighting and control system.

Since the home was historic we wanted the interventions to be minimally intrusive while still accenting key artwork and architectural features. Zero sight-line accent lights are flush with the ceiling plane, leaving only a 1-1/4″ hole visible, and historically appropriate custom wall mounted picture lights highlight artwork where the ceiling was not accessible to new recessed fixtures. A Lutron Radio RA (radio frequency) dimming system allowed maximum control for the remodeled rooms without requiring additional wire runs to inaccessible areas.

So…don’t call it a comeback..the house was fabulous for many, many decades before we ever saw it. But we do think the new lighting brought new life to the old home.

Viva Houston! That was the theme for this year’s AIA Gala which was held at the (still under construction) City of Houston Central Permitting Center. Loyal followers of G2LD will note that this event incorporated two projects near and dear to our hearts–the permitting center, which we have been working on with Studio Red Architects and the Gala itself, for which Sarah Gandy served on the environment committee.

A semi-completed construction site may not appeal to many groups for a Gala setting, but for architects, well, they feel right at home. Kudos to the Manhattan construction team for pulling together the space in time for the event! Just what every GC wants to hear–that 700+ design professionals will be having a throw-down on your construction site. The site made some amazing transformations in the days leading up to the party…

City of Houston Central Permitting Center main entrance 5 days before Gala

City of Houston Central Permitting Center main entrance during the Gala

Piles of sand for the terrazzo floors dot the Gala site just days before the big event--luckily the lighting was in!

Gels provided by BriteStar Productions dimmed the new office lights to a pleasing party-friendly amber hue. Floors are in. Bar is set up--ready for the crowds!

Mayor Anise Parker spoke at the Gala highlighting the City’s commitment to green building and public art, both of which will be highlighted extensively in the “new” building (for those just now tuning in, it’s actually a renovated 1926 rice warehouse slated to achieve LEED Gold). Great speach and pat on the back for all involved and, may I say, I think the black and white video projection looked great in the industrial space…

Mayor Anise Parker addresses the 700+ crowd at the AIA Gala

Thanks to Mary Margaret Hansen, the lead artist for the COH project, for sharing her photos with us. The whole project will be peppered with very cool public art projects and you can follow Mary Margaret’s blog about the process and the artists here.

Artist Mary Margaret Hansen, Lance and Sarah Gandy visiting at the AIA Gala

A great time was had by all. Looking forward to next year AND seeing the finished building!

Conventional wisdom holds that you only hire a lighting consultant for fancy jobs with big budgets. But can paying a lighting consultant actually help lower the project cost? Read on…

We were asked recently to consult on a large commercial space which was in Design Development and over budget (pretty typical, right?). The architects had relied on a rep firm to do their specifications for them, but the lighting package came in over budget and without any viable alternatives (also pretty typical!).

G2LD was hired to oversee the existing design and specifications and to write an appropriate three name spec which would create a competitive bid AND keep design intent.

Why not simply ask a distributor or a competing rep firm to submit a less expensive package? Because I’ve literally NEVER seen such a package that keeps design intent and relative quality on all fixtures. I HAVE seen incandescent submitted in place of fluorescent, non-dimming ballasts on dimming fixtures, indoor rated fixtures submitted in place of wet location facade fixtures, 8″ apertures in place of 6″, builder-grade downlights in place of specification-grade fixtures, and manhole sized flood lights submitted to replace subtle landscape lighting, to name a few. Incorrect lamping, sizing, finishes, UL listings, wiring issues–these are all par for the course on submittals.

Which is not to say that the folks who put together these submittals are ignorant, they simply aren’t involved in, or particularly concerned with, the design process. So when a xeroxed cut sheet comes across their desk they can only guess where, why and how the fixture is to be used. Will these significant mistakes be caught by the project manager before the fixtures are signed-off-on and ordered? Maybe. But maybe not…and that’s when you start getting phone calls.

So what happened with the over-budget project? By overseeing a competitive three-name spec we were able to save the client over $70,000.00 without sacrificing any quality or design intent. Our fee for this project was a small fraction of the savings, making our contract an excellent investment by any standard.

Obviously projects vary greatly in size and budget, but whether your project has $10,000 or $1,000,000 allotted for lighting, we can almost always help save the client money AND give them a high-quality design.

I think all of us in the construction industry know that projects always take about 3x longer than expected and cost 3x as much, but the parishioners at Galveston’s Broadway Church of Christ learned that first hand after their sanctuary was flooded with Hurricane Ike’s storm surge almost two years ago. This Sunday marked the first service in their newly renovated space, an event which was covered by the Galveston County Daily News: http://galvestondailynews.com/blog/3766

Shortly after the storm, the church asked Gandy2 Lighting Design to assist in helping them come back better than before. As with just about every church we’ve worked on the consensus among the congregation was that “there wasn’t enough light.” So our first challenge was to improve the light levels while working within the existing shell and without adding any downlights or pendants to the space which is known for it’s clean, sparse look. Our second challenge was to add accent lighting and a visual focus to the altar area. And of course the third challenge was to do it all within a minimal budget–did I mention that the church didn’t have flood insurance?

To address the ambient lighting we used budget-friendly T5HO cove lights in their existing coves, replacing the outdated T12 fluorescent strip lights. This effectively doubled the potential ambient light, while dual switching the lamps gave them a cost effective way to get multiple light levels. Additionally, detailing the existing cove so that the electricians lined the lamps up with the top of the cove allowed for maximum light spread and output so that we weren’t losing any light to shadowing.

To add focus to the altar area we added adjustable sidelights and track lights, both hidden behind a beam to avoid visual clutter. Ingrade lights along the walls flanking the altar give an uplifting feel and provide accent without introducing unwanted decorative elements.

Congratulations to the parishioners at Broadway Church of Christ–G2LD is proud to have been a part of your road home!

Dickinson First United Methodist Church Exterior Lighting Design

In other lighting news, G2LD has been hired to do the lighting design for First United Methodist Church in Dickinson. Our scope includes house and theatrical lighting for a new 500 seat sanctuary, welcome center, surrounding support areas, and facade lighting. Gandy2 Lighting Design is working with Houston architects Hall Barnum Lucchesi on this project with expected completion in 2011.

First United Methodist Church Dickinson--Interior Church Lighting Design

Among the current projects in the G2LD studio–the City of Houston Central Permitting Center. With many unique lighting design challenges, the project takes a 100 year old brick rice warehouse and, through adaptive re-use, turns it into a five story, 190,000 square foot office building. The building sits on the edge of downtown and in addition to being a single location for all of the City of Houston’s permitting needs, it will also be the permanent home for the Green Building Resource Center. The GBRC will homeowners, business owners and designers of all types information and inspiration for making their projects more sustainable and energy efficient.

Gandy2 Lighting Design is working with Studio Red Architects and E&C Engineers to create a state of the art lighting system, incorporating the best and most energy efficient technologies on the market. Lamp specification, light fixture efficiency, lighting design layout, and whole building lighting controls are all being considered. The project team will seek LEED Certification for the building after it’s completion in 2011.

In other moving news–G2LD has! We’re now in Midtown and have joined up with the very hip Caroline Collective office group.

Our new address is:

4820 Caroline Street
Houston, Texas 77004