High Performance Lighting Guide Website

IBACOS (Integrated Building and Construction Solutions) has recently launched an online lighting guide that will help builders install attractive and energy-saving lighting designs in new and existing homes. IBACOS developed this guide through its research partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America Program, which develops energy solutions for new and existing homes. The High Performance Lighting Guide is free and can be accessed through the company’s Web site at www.ibacos.com/hpl1.html.

Through detailed descriptions, photographs, graphics, and floor plans, the High Performance Lighting Guide explains the approach and techniques behind high performance lighting. High performance lighting is characterized by its energy efficiency and aesthetically pleasing look that satisfies both the tastes and budgets of homebuyers. This guide shows builders how to attain high performance by using available lighting technology and specified room designs that have been tested in research homes through the Building America Program. The guide gives builders ready-to-apply solutions that identify products and sources for bulbs, lamps, and fixtures.

“Energy efficient lighting must provide adequate lighting quality, be properly specified and installed, and make use of products that are readily available,” said Duncan Prahl, Research Manager at IBACOS. “The guide makes these steps easy for builders.”

A highlight of the guide is its section called “Room-by-Room Designs,” where examples of efficient, high performance lighting strategies are shown for the living room/family room, kitchen, hallways, bedroom, home office, dining room, bathroom, and service areas such as the garage and basement. Future plans for the guide call to expand its content to give builders additional resources and solutions for the home’s most energy-intensive rooms.

Estimates from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory attribute 18 percent of the source energy used in a home to lighting, based on characteristics of the Building America Benchmark. National research may reduce this usage. As part of the Building America Program, IBACOS is working to establish best practices in residential lighting using existing technologies and to resolve barriers that prevent further advances in energy savings in lighting. Other organizations that are conducting lighting research include the California Lighting Technology Center, Building Industry Research Alliance, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Previously at IBACOS