Discover the Magic of Light
LIGHTSPANN, Oakland, California
This Bay Area Company has already been mentioned in other sections or our website.
Ordering from this local company affords the buyer lower freight transportation costs to recieve these products.
Christina Spann has been designing half of her products with the use of re-cycled crystal for the past two decades.
More information is available on our site from our Newsletter Page.
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Policelli Lighting likes to give credit to some of our manufacturers, who have been directing some of their efforts to the Planet's Needs, while developing their products.
We will try to keep our readers informed of this progress as our companies continue to move forward in the
Green Movement.
It is both interesting and comforting to know that steps are already being taken, and there are more to come.
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Tech Lighting, Chicago
This high tech company has been printing their Full Line Catalogue at an ISO 14001:2004 certified plant with Forest Stewardship Counsil (FSC) Chain of Custody certification (BV-COC-080903)
It was printed with the use of
certified renewable wind power
resulting in nearly zero volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.
By printing at a facility that uses wind generated electricity:
- 34,257 lbs of greenhouse gases prevented
- Equivalent to 39,007 miles not driven in a year
- Equivalent to 14.07 acres of trees saved
Borden Lighting, California
This Bay Area Company affords low transportation costs when buying their products, simply due to the fact that they are local.
Borden has switched their paints to newer lower VOC emissions. (powder coating is another option)
Most of their products are standard with low energy fluorescent lamping.
Some of their re-designed products incorporate the use of re-cycled materials, furthering their efforts to contribute to proper use of building and fabricating products.
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Tech has developed a full line of:
LED, Fluorescent,
and
Low Voltage
Products
Green Progress - What Some of our Manufacturers are Doing
Girari Furniture, California
This California Company has been mentioned elsewhere in our website. Their creative use of Recycled Aluminum caught our attention when we first discovered their products.
Recycled Aluminum in of itself is one factor. But knowing that the chair and table frames you have purchased were once parts of an Airplane, is what adds to the magic of this product line. Chair, just where have you been?
Imagine that!
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Continue to the Bottom of this Page for some helpful tips on:
- What can we do?
- The use of low energy lamping
- Building codes, especially Title 24.
LAMPING
Types:
Incandescent
Fluorescent
Halogen
LED
Sensors and Timers
TITLE 24 Requirements
Requirements vary from area to area:
Kitchens
Bathrooms, Laundrey Rooms
Closets and Hallways
Garages
Exterior
Basements
Today we are being asked to save energy in as many ways as possible by our government agencies. Our contribution to making you green aware, is our expertise in guiding your lighting decisions, when it comes to efficiency.
Let us help you and your designer to bridge the gap in knowledge when it comes to lighting. We have the knowledge and products to help you do your share in saving our planet, without sacrificing the fine tuned lighting you are currently used to enjoying.
Together we can help make a difference in our world.
- Products that are made using recycled elements.
- Products produced locally save on transportation costs.
- Products that do not give off harmful emissions in the air.
- Using transport companies who incorporat new efficient vehicles.
- Selecting the most efficient appliances directed to the area of use.
- Elements which are continually being replenished with new growth.
- Products without toxins or allergens.
- Products that use less energy (one of our specialties)
Factors that Contribute to make a Product Green
Green - The Movement - Definitions and Details
Green involves many different factors, not just one. It's not that easy! Here are just a few factors that contribute to products being Green:
What makes a product Green?
What can each of us do on our own?
Recycling for Fluorescent bulbs and other items...
We have all been informed about the danger involved in the chemicle wastes when disposing of Fluorescent bulbs , old computors, and other technical equipment.
Contact the San Francisco Recycling Program for more information. (415) 554-3400
(or the Recycling Program in your area)
Or call 415-330-1300 for disposal info for batteries, chemicles, computors, paints...etc.
OR go on line to www.sfenvironment.org/wonder to use the on line "Ecofinder".
Find a place in your area and make the call...it's that easy!
Counting your WATTS
Don't wait for remodeling or pulling permits to take some serious actions to save your energy footprint in your very own home.
Helpful tips to come soon.
P O L I C E L L I
L I G H T I N G & D E S I G N
What bulb (lamp)...do you need for your project?
contact us
More to Come!
(Not a trick Question...There are hundreds of new choices available)
Giving You The GREEN LIGHT
As you are well aware today, the Planet and it’s resources have been changing and evolving in many ways. These changes are affecting our personal lives as well as our business model in the design industry.
As a whole, certain of our government directives in solving some of the problems with our planet’s survival, are complex, to say the least.
To get a better understanding about the “whole” problem and solution” scenario, we need to grab one step at a time and figure that out, before we go on to the rest, or we’ll all get lost in the process.
To help simplify this a bit, I am going to tell you some things we know about energy and energy savings. Also some things about codes such as Title 24, and some of the alternates offered in these codes.
Lighting is only one small aspect of design, but you should consider it extremely important, perhaps the most important, when it comes to the success of your design.
Just think about your fabulous room design if it is left in the dark!
I hope to bring you along this GREEN path without forfeiting the magic in the experience of Fabulous Lighting design. So, Here We Go…
Title 24, for lighting, is the energy code:
- It is designed to conserve electrical energy, save money and help protect the future of this planet called "Earth".
- Title 24 tells us to use “high efficiency lighting”, such as our existing energy efficient Fluorescent lamps, LED lamps, sensors to turn off lights in an unoccupied room, dimmers to lower the electric consumption… and it should cannot be ignored.
- Title 24 was never drafted with intent to impair our interior design options in lighting, but rather, to reduce energy consumption and help protect our environment.
For years, we have been teaching the design industry to use full color halogen fixtures, to render accuracy in color pallets for our design projects.
Nothing renders color as well as halogen, as it mimics full true daylight color.
It’s already a difficult task to select the right fixtures, fabrics and paint colors for our project, and then sell the total package to our client for their approval.
So if we translate Title 24 as a code working against us, we do nothing but create a negative opinion of it.
Rather than have 24 create a “negative” in our design mind, we need to learn how to positively incorporate the code and its options effectively.
By remaining positive about it, we can succeed in a lighting design, while adhering to the merits of these codes, and everyone wins as a result. If you are presenting your plan in a very positive manner to your client, they can more easily agree in a positive way, that it is a great plan.
A fluorescent fixture of an unfamiliar color light (Kelvin temperature) may not be your first choice to light particular areas of a residential project, such as makeup areas, dressing areas, comfort seating areas;
In fact, to be exact, we have not been programmed as humans, to see ourselves in fluorescent light.
(Not sure about the other animals)
The dimming of incandescent or halogen lamping can offer a more desirable range of pleasing color for a room, so how can we to utilize these familiar sources, and still keep within the energy codes?
Let’s start here with a quick room by room summary pertaining to the codes.
Bathrooms
An area such as a master bathroom might be one place where we want to see ourselves in a full range of lighting color,
- from candlelight to daylight,
- for taking a bubble bath
- to applying makeup,
- shaving,
- or just for the sake of reality every morning when we awake!
Did you know?
Per Code, we are directed to use high efficiency lighting in this area….mainly, fluorescent.
However, per Code, you can continue to specify and use incandescent or halogen in a bathroom, if you install an occupancy sensor, (or a timed motion sensor). This will turn off the lights after a selected period of time, once a person leaves the room, thus saving energy. The sensor needs to also have a manual on/off switch.
Solution: you could do the following:
- Use fluorescent lighting as general overhead source in the center of the room, by the commode, and in the shower.
- Then, on a separate switch, install dimmable halogen vanity lights for that full natural color you would like when applying makeup or just shaving.
(Logical and within the energy code)
Laundry Rooms, Utility Rooms, and Garages
Unless we are collectors of finely painted autos, or dress up in our laundry rooms, these are good places to start with the use of fluorescent lighting.
Did you know?
Per Code, we are directed to use high efficiency lighting in these areas….mainly, fluorescent or LED.
These are areas where full color spectrum is not normally of the essence. These are rooms or areas where you and your client can agree to install fluorescent lighting without compromising the essence of design.
You can select a warm Kelvin Temperature to mimic incandescent sources and also, you most likely do not need a dimmer here.
Solution: you could do the following:
- Go ahead with Fluorescent fixtures with warm light, or LED if the fixtures are appropriate and give enough lumens.
- Should you decide not to have fluorescent here, then, per Code, you can continue to specify and use incandescent or halogen, if you install an occupancy sensor, (or a timed motion sensor).
- This will turn off the lights after a selected period of time, once a person leaves the area, thus saving energy. The sensor needs to also have a manual on/off switch.
(Logical and within the energy code)
Bedrooms, Dining Rooms, Hallways
Did you know?
Per Code, we are directed to use high efficiency lighting in these areas….mainly, fluorescent or LED.
Per Code, the same requirements as utility rooms apply to these areas…..but you do have other options, while complying with 24.
Solution: you could do the following:
- Install a Dimmer.
- We already are pretty comfortable with this option, right?
- These are often already part of the lighting plan.
(Logical and within the energy code)
Exterior Lighting
Did you know?
Per Code, we are directed to use high efficiency lighting for exterior….mainly, fluorescent, or LED.
Exterior Lighting, when attached to the building, must be high efficiency lighting.
Solution: you could also do the following:
- Convert to fluorescent or LED.
- (Be aware of the technical problems which may arise when using fluorescent in very cold areas, or LED in very hot areas)
- Install motion sensor controls, plus photo cell control, where security lighting requires higher outputs.
- (Exterior landscape or garden lighting does not apply. Here we can use low voltage halogen.)
(Logical and within the energy code)
Kitchens
This is probably a designer’s most problematic room, when it comes to knowing what to do. (This area is very different from the rest of the rooms.)
Did you know?
Per Code, we are directed to use high efficiency lighting here. Mainly fluorescent or LED.
Sensors and dimmers do not apply here.
Per code, you need to balance the number of watts being used, evenly between fluorescent (or LED) and any other light source. (Such as incandescent or halogen)
So should you want to use a series of halogen pendants over an island for best work light, you need to match the same number of watts, as in the pendants, with fluorescent lamping elsewhere in the kitchen.
Example:
Halogen – 3 fixtures over island @ 50 watts each = 150 total watts
Fluorescent elsewhere must = 150 total watts
= 150 total wattsSo where could the additional fluorescent fixtures be installed for compliance?
Solution: you could do the following:
- Install fluorescent for general lighting over cabinets (single or double lamping)
- Fluorescent or LED under cabinets.
- Recessed fluorescent lighting on a separate switch.
- Fluorescent or LED strip lighting at base kicks.
- Fluorescent wall sconces for general indirect lighting, on a separate switch.
- Remember, dimming fluorescent or LED means using special fixtures and controls.
- This is something we need to calculate, but it is all possible.
(Logical and within the energy code)
Saving the Planet (and Your Design)
Title 24...
Well?
Did we help you in any way?
Is some of the myth or mistique been clarified?
We know this outline is very simplified and there is more to it than we state here, but our intention was to grab that first step and give you a helping hand in translating the code for you and your client.
Even if we proceed with nothing more than retrofit energy saving devices in our projects, we have done part of the job.
We are sure you have questions, and we'll be happy to try and answer them or refer you to those with some answers.
Just contact us with your feedback or questions.
We should all do our small part in solving our Planet's Problems!
Discover the Magic of Light
Feature article on
TITLE 24
(Scroll Down)
More to Come!
Tech Lighting just introduced two new fixtures which
are built using
Re-cycled Bronze and
Natural Hemp
fabric shades.
Lightspann offers most products in energy saving Fluorescent lamping
and
Recycled crystal glass as well!
