Electical Contractor

Standard 189.1, the Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, published in late January by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), provides the first code-intended commercial green building sta

Amalgam technology, fairly common among plug-in compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), is now available in linear T5HO, T5VHO and T8VHO fluorescent lamps, making fluorescent lighting competitive in many high-intensity discharge (HID) applications.

Tight credit and weak demand for new facilities pushed private nonresidential spending into a deep slide in 2009, while public construction got a boost from federal stimulus money.

The presence of light is rarely noted unless there is a perceived lack of it (dim atmosphere or shadows) or a perceived excess (glare). Like air, light is invisible and yet is everywhere in the visual environment, as we cannot see without it.

“CFLs in America: Lessons Learned on the Way to Market,” published by the Department of Energy (DOE), concludes that technical and quality problems with early compact fluorescents snowballed into major obstacles to acceptance by consumers and retailers.

Digital control entails using digital communication architecture to network intelligent lighting control devices. It enables more economical integration of multiple control strategies, while being flexible and capable of generating feedback.

This year brought sparse positive economic news, as soaring energy costs drove steep price increases and the mortgage meltdown stalled residential construction and later commercial construction with the credit crunch.

George W Flach wrote the Code Q&A column For roughly 40 years; regular readers are likely used to a certain format and style could not and did not wish to replicate. He was truly one-of-a-kind. That said, we want to maintain an outlet for all your National Electrical Code (NEC) questions.

According to the Office Building Energy Use Profile report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), space conditioning and lighting account for 70 percent of all energy consumed in a typical office building with an additional 20 percent of energy consumption used to power office equipment.