Electical Contractor

Lighting represents a substantial portion of the annual energy use and expense of any commercial building despite building owner and occupant energy -conservation and efficiency efforts. According to the U.S.

In the quest for more widespread adoption of energy-efficiency measures, cost is one of the biggest challenges, as it is for so many of the new technologies considered integral to green building. However, in one state, officials may have found a solution.

The ongoing energy-efficiency work at the Empire State Building has achieved another milestone on its journey toward sustainability leadership in the commercial real estate community by receiving its second Energy Star certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Sometimes, big change comes in small steps. For example, consumers have long since bought, literally and figuratively, into the notion that they can do their part to save energy by making seemingly innocuous changes to their daily lives, such as purchasing only compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Better known for its heroics on the battlefield, the U.S. Army is leading by example on another front: the fight to save energy. Earlier this year, the Army announced six installations that will participate in its pilot net-zero energy conservation program.

The House of Representatives voted on a repeal of the so-called “bulb ban” on July 12, 2011, but failed to reach its needed two-thirds majority, concluding with 233 members in favor of the repeal and 193 against it.

Like doctors, various organizations and authorities periodically attempt to gauge how their industries are doing by issuing studies that, in a sense, take a temperature reading on specific subjects. In this case, the mercury is green. In June, Siemens Corp.

Lately, efficiency has emerged as one of the driving forces of the effort to reform national energy consumption—an equal partner with the likes of solar power, windmills and electric cars.

Because surfaces and objects in typical spaces reflect light, they can play a part in lighting efficiency as extensions of the lighting system. By controlling room surface reflectances, light levels can be improved, creating opportunities to save energy.