home lighting

Customizable Lighting: PHILIPS HUE

You might recall the revolutionary smartphone controlled light bulbs called LIFX we recently featured, now Philips have presented a similar product called HUE. The bulbs let you control your lighting from an iPhone or iPad and personalize settings such as timers, colors, shade and brightness. It also allows you to monitor your lights remotely when not at home for security. All this plus they use 80 percent less power than a traditional light bulb! The smart LED light bulbs are available from today exclusively in Apple Stores worldwide. Watch the amazing video

Efficient Lighting Lessons From TOH TV

By: KEITH PANDOLFI

The Truth About Efficient Lighting

You Don’t Need to Stockpile Incandescents The 2007 federal energy bill didn’t outlaw incandescent technology; it just set stricter efficiency standards for certain bulbs. Most incandescents—namely, the Edison-style bulbs we’re all familiar with and that use 40 or more watts of energy—aren’t efficient enough to meet the new standards. The phaseout will be gradual; only 100-watt bulbs will vanish first, starting on January 1, 2012. Next up will be 75-watt bulbs, in 2013; then 60- and 40-watt bulbs, in 2014. And despite the phaseout, a few types of incandescents will continue to be available. Utility bulbs for things such as appliances weren’t covered in the bill. The same goes for low-wattage decorative bulbs, like the exposed-filament bulbs that have become popular recently, so feel free to invest in fixtures that use them. While the Titlows are largely eschewing incandescents, they’ve opted for exposed-filament bulbs in a few lights, such as wall fixtures on the support columns between the family room and kitchen, to bring a period look to the new space.

Bulbs that meet the new, stricter energy standards include (A) the 72-watt general-purpose halogen bulb from Sylvania, (B) the Ultra Mini CFL from Satco, and (D) the AmbientLED from Philips. Decorative bulbs, such as (C) the 40-watt 1900 Tungsten bulb from Rejuvenation, are exempt from the standards.

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