Incandescent lighting started appearing in homes and commercial establishments in the late 1800s. There were many improvements over the years, but energy consumption was already an issue. So the early 1900s saw a lot of research into alternatives.

In 1938, the Mazda F appeared. No, it’s not a car – it was the first fluorescent lamp ever sold.

It was more efficient, but it was not white or yellow and there was nothing warm about it. For decades, fluorescent lighting evoked images of ceiling lighting in a factory – American, yes, but certainly not the warm and friendly Norman Rockwell look.

Beautiful colors were eventually developed, as was the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), which made the lamps more practical for wide use, and less expensive when retrofitting.

But the problem of energy usage was far from over; in fact, it was getting worse. So, research continued and along came LEDs.

Development of Color in LED

LED lighting held a lot of promise. For thirty years though we had red and green LED lamps only – no blue.

Why was blue so important? Because only with the combination of red, green and blue could white light be produced. When three Japanese professors – two from universities in Japan and the third from University of California – finally invented blue LEDs in the early 1990s, the advance was so significant they were awarded the Nobel Prize for physics.

But, again, the light was bright white – again, not Normal Rockwell.

More colors were eventually developed, and as the fluorescent and LED alternatives became more practical, and the environment and energy resources more endangered, incandescent bulbs started being phased out.

One country after another – starting with Brazil and Venezuela in 2005, right through to Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea and the U.S. in 2014 – started demanding more energy efficient lighting.

These projects are rolling out and within a few years it will be impossible to buy incandescent lighting, possibly with the exception of some specialty lighting, and even then they’ll have to be energy efficient.

LED Lighting Solutions are the Wave of the Future

The power used by incandescent lighting didn’t produce a lot of light – 5% of the output is light, the other 95% was heat.

Fluorescent lighting was an excellent step in the right direction. CFLs, for example, use 20 to 33% less energy than incandescent lamps, but they only last bout 3.5 years when used for eight hours a day.

LED lighting, the next big advance, improved on fluorescents by orders of magnitude. LED lamps last 10 times longer than fluorescents—7 years or more even when they’re on 24/7.

The biggest objection to replacing incandescent lighting hasn’t been the color; it’s been the price. The initial cost of replacing incandescent bulbs has been expensive. Now the prices have come down and replacing old lighting is no longer the expensive task it once was.

For those of you who are still longing for that Normal Rockwell look, the color problem has been sorted out. We now have a very broad color range available to us, especially in LED lighting solutions. You can choose virtually any color you want.

If you’ve been wary of replacing your lamps with something more efficient because you thought you couldn’t afford it, don’t be – give it a try. You’ll be surprised at how reasonable the initial cost really is, and how quickly you’ll achieve your ROI.

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Featured image credit: “Light effects” by Pedro Simoes, https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/3474967838. License by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.

What controls can you implement with these systems? The degree of fine-tuning an energy management system is capable of might be surprising.

Brightening, Dimming, Day and Night

On a bright, sunny day or at noon when the sun is brightest, certain areas of your building may not need as much light as usual. On a day that’s overcast, the entire building might need more. Perhaps at certain times of the day, an area right beside a window might need less light than an area further away.

A good system includes photosensors that detect and monitor the level of the light in each room or area, then automatically turns the lighting up, down, on or off to the levels that are most optimum.

Lighting Based on Occupancy

How many times have you gone into an empty room that has the lights on? Energy management systems can control the light based on occupancy. If no one’s there, the lights are off. But when someone walks in, the sensors know they’re there and the lights come on. This not only saves electricity, but also it’s a good contribution to crime prevention.

Controlling Lights by Schedule

If your office opens at 8am and closes at 5pm, you really don’t need or want lights on from 5pm to 8am unless they’re needed for security purposes. Your energy management system can take care of that, too. If someone’s working late and needs the lights at night, the occupancy lights will take over.

Outdoor Lighting

Energy management systems can also control your outdoor lighting. Instead of just being on or off, your outdoor lighting can be controlled to brighten and dim as the level of natural light decreases and increases and as motion is detected in an area.

Of course, lighting isn’t the only way energy management systems can save money. Heating and air-conditioning can be controlled in the building overall and within individual spaces. Equipment can be turned off or put in power-saving mode when not in use. They can even be set to detect when equipment isn’t running as well as usual so you can get it fixed or adjusted before its inefficiency starts adding onto your electric bill. Really, the possibilities are limited only by imagination.

Since lighting in a commercial building generally represents the highest single item on an electric bill, lighting is a good place to start.

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Featured image credit: “Indianapolis Skyline” by Nick, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholascollins/2592157017/. License by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/.

The same is true for store lighting. Lighting has to make the merchandise look good, but it also has to do the same for the customer.

When a woman goes into a dressing room, she wants to look good in whatever she’s about to try on. If the lighting is glaringly white and bright, it will wash out her skin tone and reveal every wrinkle and bulge. Her hair will look dull and the color unattractive – and she just came from the salon.

That customer will run from the dressing room faster than you can say “no sale”, and there’s a very good chance she’ll never come back. She won’t necessarily know why she doesn’t like your store; she’ll just know that your clothes don’t look good on her. And you ruined her day.

If, on the other hand, the lighting is flattering, she’s going to buy up as much of the store as she can afford – and maybe then some.

How Do You Design Flattering Store Lighting?

Flattering lighting is as much an art as it is a science. How do you do it?

As a rule of thumb, keep the lighting fairly low – no glaring fluorescent lamps on the ceiling. Instead, go for decorative wall sconces that suit the décor of your store. They bathe the room with light without hitting customer directly.

To brighten and enrich hair, use a few small ceiling spots positioned to gently shine on the area where the customer will likely be standing.

Color is also a Factor to Consider in Store Lighting Design

Different skin tones look best with certain colors. Olive skin, for example, looks good in an olive green, yellow or pink.  In general:

• Light skin likes pale peach, coral, light pink or bronze.
• Medium skin tones are flattered by a darker peach, light to medium pink and light red.
• Dark skin really glows with bronze, red, deep pink, fuchsia and plum.

With all the different skin tones walking into your store, choosing a color could be challenging. But if you go with pink – note that it’s flattering to all skin tones – you’re pretty safe.

Lighting to make the customer look good is especially important in dressing rooms. And although this lighting may be a minor part of the overall lighting design, dressing room lighting can make or break your sales.

You may not use vanity sizing, but making your customers look good using your store’s lighting – as well as your merchandise – will always pay off.

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to CBMC Lighting Solutions and a clickable link back to this page.

Lighting in Film

If you get a chance, watch Orson Welles’ classic noir film The Third Man. The black and white film’s use of light is simply stunning. Although the film’s director credit goes to Carol Reed, many believe that Welles’ had a heavy influence on the film’s look and tone. Scenes are filmed in almost overwhelming darkness, with light being used in the background to create a halo around a silhouetted figure, or you will see an actor cast in white light entering a solid black backdrop. The result: you’re never distracted, you’re always looking exactly where the film wants you to look.

If you’re at a loss for how to light your store, here’s an idea: watch some classic films and pay close attention to how the director uses light to guide the viewer. Consider also the following options for retail lighting solutions:

Light Attracts More Attention than Darkness

The eye is more attracted to lighter tones than to dark. Your customers will always look at a brightly lit poster with a lot of white space before they look at a darker poster tucked away in the corner. In other words, if you’re holding a sale and need to get rid of a certain product or products fast to make room for a new shipment, put them and the sale sign under bright lights.

Don’t Go Overboard with Lighting

A bright environment is vital, but you don’t need to flood every corner of the store with light. When everything is brightly lit, the customer doesn’t know where to look. Keep an even lighting tone throughout the store, and save the bright lights for where you want your customers to be spending more of their time.

Take Backlighting into Consideration

Backlighting is a trick that film directors and photographers use to create a halo of light around a subject. This trick is used in retail, as well. Jewelers place lights behind sale items, vendors display cases for food and so on, all while frequently using backlighting.

Not all stores make this possible; you probably don’t want to stick a lamp behind the display rack of a dress shop, but you’d be surprised how common this trick is, from putting a light behind a display pie at a bakery to backlighting rare items in a sports memorabilia shop.

In short: use light to subtly suggest to your customers where you’d like them to go and what you’d like to look at, and dim the lights where their attention isn’t needed.

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Here’s a quick look at how LED auto dealership lighting can help convert to sales.

1) It Makes Your Vehicles Beautiful

To put it simply, LED lighting makes vehicles look better. The even lighting distribution that LED lamps emit bring out the glossiness of car paint, helping even older cars to look newer. And it’s also with this lighting that the true color of cars can be seen both during the day and at night.

2) It Brightens Up the Showroom

When customers walk into a showroom, they don’t want to feel as if they are walking into a cave. Instead, everything needs to be bright. From the floor to the ceiling, optimal lighting is needed, and this is exactly what is achieved with LED lamps. The feeling of openness this type of lighting promotes converts sales because it supports trust between the customer and sales representatives.

3) It Helps Customers Make Purchase Decisions

Even for customers who don’t make an instant car purchasing decision, LED lighting aids motivation in regards to getting the customers to come back for a second look at a vehicle they are interested in. Additionally, LED lighting has been proven to increase worker productivity, which means customers are more likely to have a good experience thanks to representatives who are ready to answer any questions they may have.

4) It Can Help Customers Focus on Specific Vehicles for Sale

For auto dealerships that have a specific vehicle they are trying to sell, there’s no better way to illuminate and put the spotlight on the vehicle than by using LED lighting. And when the vehicle is positioned in the right way along with proper positioning of the LED lamps, customers will be drawn to the vehicle. From the interior to the exterior of the car, all of its best features will be lit up by LED lighting.

When transitioning to LED lighting in an auto dealership, it is imperative to receive consultancy from an experienced, professional lighting specialist. They can help create a lighting scheme that accentuates each vehicle in a way that it is most likely to sell. The initial cost associated with switching over to LED lighting can be a bit expensive, but the energy savings and revenue possibilities make the transition well worth every dollar spent.

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to CBMC Lighting Solutions and a clickable link back to this page.

Industrial lighting illuminates any space with character and style.

Let’s look at some ways you can use this exciting design trend in your business.

What is Industrial Lighting Design?

If you been out in the world, you’ve seen industrial design lighting in a variety of places.

Industrial style is popular because of its edgy beauty, and use of recycled and raw materials. Steel, metal, wood and reclaimed objects are made into chandeliers, lamps, sconces and pendant lights.

Form, Function, and Style

In pure form, an industrial look showcases form and function in a stylish warehouse look.

The real beauty of industrial lighting design is its flexibility. You can merge it into any decor to achieve functional style.

Below are some trends you can try.

1. Give Modern Decor A Pop of Color

Industrial lighting is a natural choice for a modern decor. But, that doesn’t mean it can’t be surprising.

Industrial lamps aren’t limited to antique finishes. Look for polished nickel, matte black, and colors on many fixtures.

Why not choose a bright color, or unique finish to create an unexpected accent?

Imagine a row of orange or bright green industrial wall scones lighting your office hallway or reception area.

It would infuse your workspace with color and personality.

2. Accent for Traditional

Want to update a traditional office space?

Any professional office benefits from a burst of industrial lighting.

Suspend a large brass barrel-shaped pendant over a conference table. Group caged Edison bulb lights above a conversation area.

Mix and match your traditional furniture with industrial lighting to convey an established business with a modern sensibility.

3. Farmhouse Chic

Farmhouse style is part country, part industrial, and wholly popular.

This blend of rustic and modern is chic. It’s great for any business from real estate to restaurants and everything in between.

Industrial lighting design is perfect for this style where old and new pieces are combined in a variety of materials.

Highlight architectural features: hang unique industrial lamps from an exposed beam, or suspend three black metal barn lights over a reclaimed wood table.

Use a metal vintage style gooseneck wall lamp to illuminate your entry door.

Accent your simple, sophisticated space with plants and vases filled with flowers.

4. Steampunk Inspiration

Steampunk is a combination of technology-infused science fiction/fantasy and 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.

Have you seen reclaimed pipe fashioned into the legs of a table? How about a twisting, turning chandelier with incandescent light bulbs?

Then you’ve seen steampunk. It works well with exposed brick, polished and unpolished metals, and unfinished wood.

Steampunk lighting conveys a creative and unique sensibility to potential clients.

It’s the perfect choice for a digital marketing agency or architectural studio.

This fantastical trend adds drama and function to any space.

5. Outdoor Safety and Ambiance

Beyond the entry to your office, consider lighting for other outdoor spaces.

Add industrial style with a series of low sidewalk lights leading to your building.

Use larger pole lamps, or strings of Edison bulbs to light a garden, patio or exterior space.

Exterior lighting is a safety feature, but it adds ambiance to your building and grounds. Tell visitors that you pay attention to detail with style.

Ready to Try Industrial Lighting?

Need help illuminating your space? Contact CBMC Lighting Solutions for a consult or quote on your project.

If you’ve ever been in a LEED certified building, you might have already experienced smart lighting without even realizing it. Smart lighting aims to be energy efficient and design new ways for humans to experience light.

With how fast our society is moving, we might all be using this new technology sooner than we think. Here are four of the smart lighting solutions we think that we’ll see in the next five years.

1. Smart Glass

It can be hard to find the right balance of natural and artificial light in a room, especially if you don’t have a lot of windows. Luckily, there’s technology that will do it for you.

Experts are working on “smart glass,” which monitors how much heat and light is coming into a room. Based on that, it can increase or decrease how much natural light is allowed in.

This also helps to keep buildings cooler, which means you can both save on energy costs and have great lighting.

2. Human-Centric Lighting

If you’ve ever been woken up by the sun streaming into your bedroom, you know that humans react to light in different ways. Whether we realize it or not, light can affect the way we feel and think.

Human-centric lighting would adjust based on the occupants of a room. A school or an office might want to install lighting that would help people focus better or be more productive.

A hospital, on the other hand, would get lighting that promotes soothing feelings. The lighting could also fluctuate just enough throughout the day to get the best results.

3. Home Automation

We might not be too far away from the automated houses that filmmakers imagined years ago. As technology keeps progressing, we can definitely expect to see technology like Amazon’s Alexa integrated in people’s homes.

As we keep digitizing everything in our lives, the lighting in people’s houses will have to keep up. We think we’ll see smart lighting solutions that are interconnected with the smart devices people already have.

4. High-Tech Sensors

On the commercial side of things, companies could save money by installing smart lighting that comes with advanced sensors.

Smart lighting sensors could monitor things like the number of people and amount of activity in certain rooms, changing the lighting accordingly. For building managers, this could also be a huge boost for security.

Other sensors will track aspects like humidity or pollutants if you want your building to be super environmentally conscious.

Learn The Latest Smart Lighting Solutions

We might not have all of these solutions mentioned above yet, but that there are still lots smart lighting methods that you can try. If you’re interested in creating a new lighting strategy for your home or business, get in touch with us.

CBMC Lighting Solutions has helped dozens of businesses, schools, homeowners and more create a lighting strategy that caters to their needs. Contact us to see what we can do for you today.

Opting for LED lighting as opposed to traditional offers a simple lifestyle change with countless benefits to both the planet and your wallet. While being green was once viewed as a lifestyle preached by “tree huggers” it is now considered a way of life.

Not only should businesses consider transitioning to LED light bulbs to reduce their carbon footprint, but also to reduce their monthly costs.

The following are five benefits of using interior LED lighting in your business

1. Interior LED Lights Last Longer

Interior LED lighting has proven to outlast traditional light bulbs by greater than 40,000 hours.

While traditional lightbulbs eventually burn out, LED lights instead “fade away”. This allows the bulb to continue illuminating up to 70% of the full capacity.

Imagine the time and money businesses can to save in reducing the frequency of having to change bulbs. This is especially relevant to businesses operating warehouses in which changing the lighting is a long and complex procedure.

2. LED Lights Consume Less Energy

Did you know that traditional lightbulbs waste up to 90% of their energy on generating heat? This leaves only 10% of the energy for the most important function of the bulb — light!

LED bulbs utilize 80% of their energy generating light and only 20% is directed toward the creation of heat. The result?

LED lighting uses much less energy in illuminating your interior and, for the sake of your bank account, this means more affordable electrical bills.

3. LED Lights Reduce Carbon Emissions

LED bulbs reduced 570 million tons of carbon emissions in 2017. This reduction is equal to shutting down 162 coal-fired power plants throughout the world.

What does this mean for the earth’s carbon footprint?

This helped to reduce our global carbon footprint by as much as 1.5%!

For such a small transition, these numbers make it clear that LED lighting serves a massive benefit to the environment.

4. LED Lights Improve Illumination

Proper illumination is vital to the success of a business.

Bright and property positioned lighting can be the difference between a customer purchasing or leaving empty-handed.

Let’s consider an automotive dealership, for example. Proper lighting helps to ensure the cars are being presented in the most appealing way possible.

LED bulbs help to spread light wider allowing for a more distributed illumination.

5. LED Lights Reduce Our Carbon Footprint

While traditional lightbulbs contain hazardous materials, LED light bulbs are free of toxic chemicals.

The longevity of LED lighting also means that longer-lasting lightbulbs help reduce production.

One more gift to the environment? Compared to traditional light bulbs requiring disposal in specialized locations, LED light bulbs are 100% recyclable.

Time to Make the Switch!

Whether you’re opting to make the transition to interior LED lighting for your automotive dealership or decreasing your carbon footprint, the benefits of LED lighting are plenty.

Contact us today to see how LED lights could be the right fit your business, your wallet, and your carbon footprint.

Because let’s face it, LED lighting is always a bright idea.

As you write out yet another big check you wonder if you could lower these costs. A big part of your overhead goes into this check right here.

What if we told you that yes, you can! Read on for some informative tips about how to save energy in your commercial building.

Efficient Lighting

About 11% of energy use in your commercial building goes to lighting. It also is very easy to save energy when it comes to lighting.

Here are a few options:

• Replace incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient LEDs
• Install new, more energy-efficient fixtures
• Turn lights off when not in use
• Add motion detectors to your lights to automate them
• Use natural sunlight where possible

Try a few of these ideas. It might surprise you how much energy a few lights can eat up.

Program the Thermostats

Space heating alone accounts for about 25% of the energy a commercial building uses. If you could cut energy use in this area you could shave a lot off your bill.

One of the best ways of doing this is by programming your thermostats effectively. Set them to a lower temperature at night or whenever the building is not in use.

A good schedule to follow is to start heating up about 30 minutes before people arrive. In the evening you can let it start cooling down 30 minutes to an hour before people leave.

Maintain Heating and Cooling Equipment

Heating and cooling equipment should be maintained regularly. Be sure to have a schedule for changing the air filters frequently. Also, make sure that the vents are always clear.

Dirty air filters and blocked vents cause the equipment to work harder. Thus, they burn more energy unnecessarily.

Buy Energy Efficient Office Equipment

Energy efficient office equipment can have a huge effect on your energy bill. Some products can use as much as 75% less energy! Not all changes will have such a dramatic effect but it’s a significant area where you can save.

We realize that buying equipment is costly and may not be in your budget. But, equipment will eventually break or need to be upgraded anyway. Put a plan in place to buy energy efficient equipment when the time comes.

Alternative Sources

Look into alternative sources of energy. Solar or wind power may be options for your building and are often less expensive. You can feel good about doing your part for the environment while saving money.

Learn How to Save Energy

Be smart and learn how to save energy the easy way. These are only some of the great ideas out there for saving energy in your building.

It may not be feasible for you to try out each of these tips right away. But put a plan in place to put energy savings practice into effect over the next few months. It may take a little effort but you might stop dreading that energy bill in the mail so much.

Feel free to reach out if you need help with energy management! If we all work together we can make the world a more environmentally-friendly place.

There are several key differences between LED lights and incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. These differences make using LED lighting a great option for your commercial and industrial lighting needs.

We’re here to tell you 4 reasons why using recessed LED lighting could be a game changer for your business.

Why You Should Consider Recessed LED Lighting

1. Lower Your Energy Bills

One of the most notable features of LED lighting is energy efficiency. Traditional incandescent, halogen, and fluorescent bulbs are inefficient and burn most of the energy they consume as heat.

LED bulbs, however, are much more efficient and use up to 50% less electricity than traditional bulbs. They also produce much less heat than other types of bulbs which can lower your cooling costs.

Additional energy savings are available using automatic controls that maximize the efficiency of the LED lighting. These controls can sense the lighting conditions of the room and decrease light output when daylight is abundant and reducing the need for interior illumination.

All of this means LED lighting solutions can save you a lot of money on your electric bills.

2. Lower Maintenance Costs

Another source of cost savings comes from the longer lifespan of LED bulbs. LED light bulbs can last over 50,000 operating hours. This means they last 2-4 times longer than other light bulbs commonly used in commercial and industrial settings.

Having to change LED bulbs less often will save you money both on labor costs involved with replacing bulbs as well as the cost of having to buy new bulbs.

3. Make Your Space Look Bigger

Recessed LED lighting will make any room look larger and more open.

One reason for this is because recessed lights are concealed in the ceiling, they do not interrupt the visual space of the ceiling. Not having a fixture hanging down from the ceiling will create the feeling of a taller ceiling and larger room.

Another way recessed lighting makes a room look bigger is through wall washing. This effect involves reflecting light on the wall to wash the wall in overlapping ambient light creating a feeling of more space.

4. Versatility

One of the key benefits of recessed LED lighting is the flexibility this lighting option provides. While recessed LEDs are great at providing ambient lighting, they can also be used to spotlight specific areas you want to highlight such as wall displays.

Further, some LED lights can change colors which gives you the option to change the mood or highlight specific areas to meet your needs.

Work with A Pro

Recessed LED lighting is an efficient, versatile, and cost-effective solution to your commercial and industrial lighting needs.

To make sure you get the most out of your LED lighting, you’ll want to work with the best.

We’re here to help. With years of experience and expertise in LED lighting solutions, we can find the right solution for you.

See why we’re the best and contact us today so we can get your LED lighting project started now.