Dominion Electric Lighting Blog

Monday, June 28, 2010

Coming in 2011: New Labels for Light Bulb Packaging

Thank you to Linda Morley, our Arlington showroom manager, for giving me this link!

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/06/lightbulbs.shtm

Labels Will Emphasize Lumens, Not Watts, as a Measure of Bulb Brightness

Starting in mid-2011, the Federal Trade Commission announced today, consumers shopping for light bulbs will notice new labeling on packaging designed to help them choose among the different types of bulbs on the market – traditional incandescent bulbs, and newer high-efficiency compact fluorescent (CFL) and light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. The new labels will enable consumers to save money by selecting the most efficient bulbs that best fit their lighting needs.

Under direction from Congress to re-examine the current labels, the FTC is announcing a final rule that will require the new labels on light bulb packages. For the first time, the label on the front of the package will emphasize the bulbs’ brightness as measured in lumens, rather than a measurement of watts. The new front-of-package labels also will include the estimated yearly energy cost for the particular type of bulb.

While watt measurements are familiar to consumers and have been featured on the front of light bulb packages for decades, watts are a measurement of energy use, not brightness. As a result, reliance on watt measurements alone make it difficult for consumers to compare traditional incandescent bulbs to more efficient bulbs, such as compact fluorescents. A compact fluorescent bulb may be able to produce the same amount of brightness as a traditional incandescent bulb, while using significantly less energy, or watts. New energy standards mandated by Congress will effectively phase out traditional low-efficiency incandescent bulbs from the U.S. market over the next few years. The new labels that focus on brightness in lumens will help consumers make purchasing decisions as they transition to more energy-efficient types of bulbs.

Under the new rule, the back of each package of light bulbs will have a “Lighting Facts” label modeled after the “Nutrition Facts” label that is currently on food packages. The Lighting Facts label will provide information about:

brightness;
energy cost;
the bulb’s life expectancy;
light appearance (for example, if the bulb provides “warm” or “cool” light);
wattage (the amount of energy the bulb uses); and
whether the bulb contains mercury.



The bulb’s brightness, measured in lumens, and a disclosure for bulbs containing mercury, also will be printed on each bulb.




The new labeling requirements become effective one year from the date they are issued. The FTC also is seeking public comments on several issues that might be relevant to future changes to light bulb labeling requirements, such as whether new labeling requirements should be applied to candelabra bulbs.

Information on how to submit public comments can be found in a Federal Register notice that will be issued by the FTC and is available at: http://www.ftc.gov/os/2010/06/P084206lamplabeling.pdf/.
The vote approving the Federal Register notice was 5-0. The FTC will have more detailed information and consumer education available about the new labels early next year.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

New chandeliers on display

We've been hanging all sorts of gorgeous new chandeliers in Chantilly this week. Here's a sampling of my favorites!

This is a Thomas AA1801IPT. Isn't it an unusual configuration? Really neat!

Currey 9881

Currey 9401



Currey 9357 ~ this one sells out immediately every time we hang it!



Currey 9256



Crystorama 9228-OS ~ love the sphere!


Currey 9091 ~ another great sphere!




Currey 9063



Currey 9012



Minka 4509-292

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Giorgina Schnurr quoted in Home & Design Magazine!

I just opened the brand new July/August 2010 issue of Home & Design Magazine, and right there on Page 170 is a fabulous article on lighting featuring our very own Giorgina Schnurr! As they say, Giorgina is a senior lighting designer/specifier at Dominion Electric Supply in Arlington, VA with more than 40 years of experience here. She's pretty much taught all of us everything WE know about lighting, and now she shares her wisdom in print!

I can't find the article online (their web site has a place to click for the current issue, but it's actually the May/June issue, so we may have to wait till July?). The cover of the magazine looks like this:

So you'll have to go out and buy it on newsstands! Or come in to one of our locations ~ we should all have a copy.

They have another pictorial featuring lighting, and we get a nice mention on the first page of that. I featured this Corbett chandelier on the blog many moons ago. This picture set in a room is wonderful!

And here is our ad from the magazine. You are always welcome to print it from the blog or Facebook and bring it on in to get the 10% off!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

new WAC LED pendants & puck on display

We just hung some fabulous new WAC LED products on display in Chantilly! Check them out:

This is the catalog shot of my favorite. They call it "Genesis". They say "With dual uplight and downlight LED engines, Genesis combines functional performance with ambient light for a truly unique pendant." They are so right! I think it's gorgeous, and it's also amazingly bright!


This is an image of Genesis all by itself. The price on it is $285.25, and it uses only 5 watts of power.

This is the catalog page for "Quest". It is also beautifully bright. These are the brightest LED pendants I've seen so far.


This is the Quest all by itself, and it is $245.65, and this one is only 4.5 watts.



And then we also put out their LED puck light. You also would not believe how bright and beautiful this little guy is! It's at least as bright as its xenon counterpart.


They call it "LEDme Button Light", and they are $54 per puck, plus $32.35 for a 3-watt driver. Each puck has 3 x 1-watt LED diodes. (A traditional xenon puck uses 18 or 20 watts.)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Lightolier LED Counter Days

Happy June, everyone! Can you believe summer is here? It really doesn't seem like it was THAT long ago that we were enduring blizzard after blizzard! But here we are in June, and at Dominion Electric Supply, that means it's time for Lightolier LED counter days! Here's our flyer with details about what you can win:





In case you can't click on it and see what it says, here's the deal: Receive 1 raffle ticket for every Uniframe and 5 tickets for every LED unit purchased June 14th-30th. Purchases must go through stock. Drawing at the end of the month, with prizes of a Sony Bravia 32" LCD HDTV and a 64GB Ipod touch! So here's the schedule:

Tue. June 15th ~ Arlington 7 am, DC 11 am

Wed. June 16th ~ Laurel 7 am, Gaithersburg 11 am

Thu. June 17th ~ Leesburg 7 am, Chantilly 11 am

Fri. June 18th ~ Manassas AND Baltimore 7 am

We hope to see lots of you out at our counters. Even if you don't need to buy any right now, it's a great opportunity to see these new LED products in action, so come on out!



This weekend I'm racewalking a half-marathon (that's 13.1 miles!) to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at Zooma in Annapolis. Come cheer us on if you live nearby! If you'd like to learn more about my efforts, you can visit my website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/nikesf10/cschlawin

As we say at Team in Training... GO TEAM! and have a great weekend!