Remember the Clapper? If you do recall that 20th-century sound-activated power switch, you probably now have the jingle bouncing around in your head. We’re sorry. Lighting controls have gotten a lot smarter since then, and it’s now a big part of many ECs’ business.

There are no dark corners in our smart lighting issue. Claire Swedberg kicks us off with six reasons ECs do this work (“The Complex Becomes the Norm”). Craig DiLouie capitalized on the Electrical Contractor Subscriber Research Panel to ask about trends in CII lighting work. Thanks very much to those of you who responded. Craig shares the results in “Ear to the Ground.”

Jeff Gavin, who is always bringing us new discoveries, writes about how acoustic lighting systems reduce noise while maintaining style in “Light Meets Sound." William Atkinson gets us up to speed on smart streetlighting—it’s about a lot more than on/off controls. Installing LEDs reduces energy costs, allows remote monitoring, saves labor and, not least, improves safety. Read “Green Light” here.

In their Service/Maintenance column (“Brain Power, Not Foot-Candles”), Andrew McCoy and Fred Sargent write about lighting and productivity. Steve Carr addresses that in his Estimating column, as he takes us on virtual visit to the offices he has worked in. Mark Ode also discusses lighting in his Residential column: “Bringing Light to Darkness.”

In the Integrated Systems section, Jim Romeo writes about outdoor LEDs in the Technology column. Claire is back to give us a fascinating peek into prison security systems (“High Security”). Jim Hayes addresses aesthetic standards for fiber optic cable installation (there aren’t any) in “Clean up After Yourself.”

In addition to wearing his safety hat, this month Tom O’Connor puts on a Your Business hat to write a column about maintaining continuity in emergency and disaster situations.

Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t note the departure of one of our editors. Matt Kraus, who began his career in publishing with us five years ago, is taking his next step toward what we know will be a prosperous, successful future. These past 60 issues, Matt has been an editorial workhorse, writing and editing content for the magazine and website, supporting a plethora of marketing initiatives, and keeping tons of projects organized and moving through completion.

Matt came to us from Ohio State University and started as an editorial and multimedia assistant. We saw a ton of potential in him and watched as he took on increasing responsibilities in his campaign to senior associate editor, including various projects he went on to manage independently.

We’re going to miss his quality work and reliability, of course, but in the office, we will miss his cheerful humor, encyclopedic film and sports knowledge, and eagerness to be there for any of us when we needed him.

Matt has been an incredible asset to this team, and we wish him nothing but the best. Let’s all give him a hand, but be careful if you have a Clapper installed. If you have one, maybe you can just “Whoo!”