Multiple Acuity Brands Products Recognized for Innovative Indoor LED Luminaire Design

Acuity Brands receives a prestigious “Best in Class” and six “Recognized” awards for excellence from the 2013 Next Generation Luminaires Solid State Lighting Design Competition.

Acuity Brands has been honored with seven  lighting industry awards including a “Best in Class” from the Next Generation Luminaires™ (NGL) Solid State Lighting (SSL) Design Competition. Distinctions were awarded to Peerless® and Lithonia Lighting® luminaires during the 2013 LEDucation 7 Conference held on March 20th. The judges, comprised of industry peers, evaluated and selected the lighting industry’s most innovative indoor lighting products.

The Lithonia Lighting W Series LED Wall Bracket was chosen “Best in Class” for excellence in quality, energy efficiency, dimmability, and aesthetic appearance and style among other attributes. W Series LED luminaires feature integrated controls that maximize energy savings in low-traffic or low-occupancy areas such as corridors, stairwells and restrooms. The luminaires automatically turn on or off as occupants move in and out of the areas.

According to the NGL, the idea behind its organization is to make it easier for lighting designers and specifiers to find LED lighting products that are worthy of specification. The goal is to recognize products that are not only attractive, but that are also energy-efficient and deliver good lighting quality.

NGL judges also distinguished Acuity Brands with six “Recognized” awards granted for the following innovative LED luminaires:  Round LED luminaire by Peerless®; Peerless® Mino LED luminaire;  Origami™ LED luminaire by Peerless®;  I-BEAM® LED high bay luminaire by Lithonia Lighting®;  IBH LED industrial low bay luminaire by Lithonia Lighting®; and  Proteon™ SL linear pendant luminaire by Lithonia Lighting®.

The D-Series LED Floodlight, Sizes 1 and 3 from Lithonia Lighting® received a Recognized award for excellence at the outdoor NGL SSL Design Competition announced last month.

“The NGL SSL Design Competition is known for its competitive judging criteria, and we are honored the W Series LED Wall Bracket came out on top,” said Acuity Brands Lighting Vice President, David Grimm. “With a total of eight awards for our company, Acuity Brands continues to be recognized by industry-leading organizations for producing the highest-quality, high-performance LED luminaries.”

The NGL SSL Design Competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD). The contest seeks to promote excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED luminaires for commercial, industrial, and institutional lighting applications.

For more information on the products awarded from Lithonia Lighting or Peerless, please visit www.lithonia.com or www.peerlesslighting.com or www.acuitybrands.com.

Acuity Brands Receives Prestigious Award for Peerless Marketing Campaign

Acuity Brands announced today that Architectural SSL magazine selected Peerless® as its Market Leader for Outstanding Media Campaign winner in the 2013 Product Innovation Awards (PIA). The award recognizes the integrated marketing campaign touting the Peerless Mino luminaires.

The comprehensive multimedia campaign utilizes advertisements, collateral, web marketing, email, social media and public relations to effectively promote the new line of Peerless LED luminaires.

One of the most recognizable pieces of the campaign includes upside-down print advertisements.

“The upside-down format is designed to garner attention, intrigue readers and create an interactive element whereby one flips the page around to continue reading the ad,” said Peerless Marketing Communications Supervisor and campaign creator Randall Beren. “Moreover, this unique approach visually ties with the message that Peerless is now ‘turning things around’ by expanding our focus beyond indirect luminaires to include direct ambient luminaires.”

“In other words,” Beren continued, “we’re asking architects, designers and other specifiers to ‘Shift Perceptions’ and think about Peerless and our luminaires in a whole new light.”.

Another key component of the campaign is the informative product video that to date has garnered more than 1,200 views on Vimeo, YouTube and the Peerless website.

The Peerless Mino suite – which currently includes recessed, pendant and surface-mount 2’ x 2’ luminaires and that will soon be extended to include 1’ x 1’ and 1’ x 4’ models – delivers energy efficiency, quality optics, controls compatibility and application flexibility in a stylish, contemporary form. When illuminated, subtle gradient shadowing appears along the perimeter of the Peerless Mino lens surface. As the luminaire is viewed from different angles, these sophisticated abstractions shift in appearance adding drama and distinction.

Architectural SSL PIA recognitions determine and honor the most innovative LED and solid-state luminaires and fixtures on the market, while also recognizing the players behind the components that make up these light sources. For more information about  PIA, please visit www.architecturalssl.com/pia/.

For more information about Peerless Mino and to view many of the award winning campaign materials including the video, please visit www.PeerlessLighting.com/Mino. The upside-down ad can been seen again in the March 2013 issue of Architectural SSL.

New Suite of Luminaires Delivers Great Lighting at a Great Value

Believing Everyone Deserves Quality Illumination, Peerless Introduces Staple

Peerless — a leading designer and manufacturer of architectural luminaires and one of the innovative lighting companies under the Acuity Brands umbrella — announces the introduction of the Staple suite of suspended and wall-mount luminaires.

Staple luminaires deliver all the fundamentals of great lighting — modern design, comfortable illumination, efficient performance and energy-saving controls options — at a value that makes it a practical choice for a wide range of indoor applications including schools, offices, retail stores and health facilities.

“With Staple, our aim was to bring to market a first-class quality luminaire at a value that would make it truly accessible to all,” says Peerless Value Stream Director Meggan Kessler. “We focused our resources on developing minimal, cost-effective components and efficient production methods that wouldn’t compromise our commitment to vision-friendly optics and design-forward styling.”

Subtle contours around the perimeter of the Staple luminaires’ rectangular bodies provide a contemporary aesthetic. A soft-glowing acrylic baffle or diffused lens extends edge to edge and end to end creating seamless continuity. Gloss white paint finishes the understated, yet thoroughly modern, luminaire.

“Staple’s simple, curved rectilinear form is reminiscent of renown designer Dieter Rams’ elegant, yet unobtrusive work and, more recently, the popular mobile devices coming out of Cupertino,” explains Peerless Design Director Frank Friedman. “But what’s really unique about Staple is its luminous baffle which is like nothing else in the lighting industry.”

Available for either T8 or T5/T5HO lamps, Staple luminaires emit comfortable, glare-free illumination. Optically engineered shielding and reflectors produce a quality of light that minimizes eyestrain and fatigue. And, with most lamping options meeting Illuminating Engineering Society recommended practices for education facilities and offices as well as Collaborative for High Performance Schools best practices, Staple luminaires produce illumination that promotes workplace productivity and contributes to improved classroom learning.

To reduce energy use and meet building power density requirements, Staple luminaires are more than 90% efficient. When specified for single T8 lamps and spaced 10 feet apart on-center in a typical 60’ x 40’ open office, Staple luminaires use as low as .60 watts per square foot while delivering 31 foot candles on a 2.5’ high work surface. With this kind of operational efficiency, commissioning Staple luminaires may contribute toward a building’s LEED certification by helping to reduce overall energy consumption.

Further energy savings is possible when Staple luminaires are specified with one or more of the following options embedded into the luminaire:

• An integrated nLight® Micro Sensor that provides daylight dimming and/or dual,  passive infrared and Microphonics™ technologies for occupancy on/off control

• An nLight® module that provides row, room, building or campus-wide network connectivity and control

Staple luminaires also direct lumens exactly where they are needed. With a standard 65% indirect, 35% direct distribution, Staple luminaires deliver the necessary lumens on work surfaces while effectively illuminating entire rooms with broadly distributed, uniform light. For applications where ceiling reflectivity is less-than-optimal, Staple luminaires may be specified with optional variable distribution reflectors to redirect more light downward.

Offered in 4’, 8’ and 12’ lengths, Staple luminaires can be installed as individual units or joined together to form continuous runs.

All Peerless® luminaires, including the Staple suite, are available nationally through Acuity Brands sales representatives and authorized distributors. For additional information, please visit the Acuity Brands and Peerless websites.

Virginia’s Largest Pet Supply Store Installs Acuity Brands Integrated LED Lighting and Controls

Care-A-Lot Pet Supply reduces energy use and effectively highlights merchandise with integrated LED lighting and digital controls. 

Leading Virginia pet retailer, Care-A-Lot® Pet Supply, installed more than 200 indoor and outdoor LED luminaires and poles and digital controls from Acuity Brands in its new 20,000-square-foot facility in Virginia Beach, Va. A combination of Lithonia Lighting®, Winona® Lighting, Gotham®, and Sensor Switch® LED lighting and controls solutions work seamlessly together to highlight merchandise and reduce energy usage. It is estimated the store will save $5,000 annually in energy costs compared to typical HID and fluorescent lamp sources.

Working with PM&E Design Group and Resource Lighting, Care-A-Lot selected a variety of Acuity Brands lighting solutions to solve unique challenges. Challenges included lighting a space and merchandise effectively with 30-foot-high-ceilings, as well as achieving optimum lighting and minimal glare for the aquarium displays. On the exterior, Care-A-Lot needed a solution to provide quality lighting in their large parking lot, while minimizing light pollution to the neighboring residential community.

“We wanted to work with one lighting manufacturer for the new Care-A-Lot store,” said Jake Stevens, a project leader with Resource Lighting who helped design the lighting solution. “Acuity Brands was the perfect partner because it delivers a wide range of indoor and outdoor lighting products, very high quality fixtures, as well as beautiful, decorative fixtures.”

I-BEAM® fluorescent highbays from Lithonia Lighting were installed throughout the sales floor to enhance the lighting for two different shelving types. RT5™ volumetric recessed lighting fixtures from Lithonia Lighting integrated with ceiling and wall controls from Sensor Switch were installed in the veterinary exam rooms, kennel rooms, washrooms, offices, break rooms, hallways and restrooms. For aesthetics and energy savings, Care-A-Lot installed Gotham EVO® LED downlights, as well as recessed DoM series LED luminaires from Lithonia Lighting to minimize glare on aquarium tanks.

On the exterior, Lithonia Lighting ALX LED luminaires help keep light within property lines to eliminate light spill and light pollution in the neighboring residential area. Winona Lighting Winscape™ Hensley LED ingrades and Winscape ™ Benton LED wall-mounted cylinders illuminate the columns and entryway to the store.

For information about LED lighting and controls solutions for indoor and outdoor applications, visit www.acuitybrands.com. For more information about Care-A-Lot Pet Supply please visit www.carealotpets.com.

Luxury Condos Achieve Energy Saving & Aesthetic Goals with LED Lamps from Acuity Brands

Los Angeles-based 1100 Wilshire projects annual energy savings of $17,000 through the installation of more than 700 Acculamp LED lamps.

1100 Wilshire, a 38-story luxury condo high-rise in downtown Los Angeles, installed more than 700 Acculamp® ALSMR16 LED lamps from Acuity Brands to reduce energy and maintenance costs, while still achieving the same look and feel as the original incandescent lamps. Acculamp ALSMR16 LED lamps are ideal for indoor lighting applications where color, extended lamp life and efficacy are critical.

“The space looked the same, and I could not see the individual diodes from the LEDs, which was very significant,” said Gregg Evangelho, building manager at 1100 Wilshire for Action Property Management. “The LED lamps looked like a traditional source, but provided the energy savings we needed. Additionally, installation was incredibly easy, and we were thrilled to use our internal maintenance staff. It really was as simple as changing a light bulb.”

1100 Wilshire reduced wattage from 50-watts to 6-watts by installing the LED lamps. It anticipates approximately $17,000 in annual energy savings.

“The installation at 1100 Wilshire embodies the Acculamp promise of ‘look, performance, and confidence, and exceeded 1100 Wilshire’s criteria for the indoor lighting renovation,” said Seth Owen, Acuity Brands Lighting Vice President, LED Lamps and Track Lighting. “The LED lamps contributed to overall building efficiency, while providing a quick return on investment.”

Winona Lighting Receives 2012 Architectural Record Product Award

Full Circle curvilinear luminaire recognized as one of the most innovative building products in 2012. 

The Winona® Lighting Full Circle luminaire from Acuity Brands has been acknowledged as one of the most innovative and useful building products of 2012 by Architectural Record. A panel of judges selected the Full Circle luminaire as a lighting solution for architects, specifiers and designers to help distinguish the best product options for 2013 projects.

The Full Circle luminaire breaks away from traditional recessed linear fluorescent slot fixtures. It allows light to curve and flow through a space with freedom and flexibility. Available in four forms – full circle, radius, straight and organic – it can be used as an individual luminaire or combined to create a unique pattern or shape for any space.

“This acknowledgement is an honor, and affirms that Winona Lighting continues to deliver unique product offerings that enable customized lighting design,” said Tony Speltz, Product Design Manager, Acuity Brands Lighting. “The Full Circle luminaire is another example of how Acuity Brands continues to excel in offering a variety of lighting solutions to accommodate any design and space.”

The Full Circle luminaire can be used in suspended grid ceiling or hard ceiling applications. For more information about lighting solutions from Winona Lighting, please visit www.winonalighting.com or www.acuitybrands.com.

Electrical Co-Op Integrates Acuity Brands LED Lighting and Digital Lighting Controls Technology

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. headquarters reduces maintenance and operations costs with integrated LED lighting and digital lighting controls solutions.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc., a wholesale electric power supplier in Westminster, Colorado, installed advanced LED lighting and digital lighting controls solutions from Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) for its 116,000-square-foot office expansion and renovation at Tri-State’s headquarters. Hundreds of Lithonia Lighting® RT Series LED luminaires, nLight® lighting controls and occupancy sensors from Sensor Switch® were installed to meet maintenance and operational savings goals and enhance energy efficiency.

“Tri-state was very interested in using LED lighting technology everywhere it was appropriate,” said Bob Hawkins, Lighting Applications Engineer, The Lighting Agency, who helped evaluate the best LED lighting solution for the job. “They had a great experience using LED lighting technology outdoors and wanted to achieve the same benefits indoors. We conducted a demonstration with the lighting and digital controls, and Tri-State determined the RT Series with embedded nLight controls would be the best fit for their facility.”

Through integration of the RT Series LED luminaires, nLight lighting controls and occupancy sensors, Tri-State calculated it will achieve a 10 percent energy savings over the system life. Furthermore, the flexibility of the controls provides Tri-State with simple reprogramming capabilities that enable the system to fit the changing needs of the space. In open office spaces where furniture is changed often, it is critical to have a lighting system that can be programmed to work with different or adjacent zones without the cost and hassle of rewiring.

“The Tri-State Headquarters is a perfect example of the benefits of integrating high-performance LED lighting with a digital control platform,” said Dave Ranieri, Acuity Brands Lighting Vice President and General Manager, Indoor lighting. “Embedded nLight controls and occupancy sensors create a tailored lighting system that sets a precedent for all indoor lighting.”

Visit www.AcuityBrands.com for information about digital lighting and controls solutions integration.

Acuity Brands Extends Leadership Position with High Lumen LED Downlighting Series from Gotham Architectural Downlighting

New Incito series of solid-state luminaires handle a wide range of lighting scenarios with up to 2,000 possible performance combinations.

Acuity Brands continues to demonstrate its innovation leadership with the introduction of the Incito™ LED open downlight series from Gotham Architectural Lighting. Incito is a new series of solid-state luminaires that combine the performance characteristics of multiple light sources and handle a wide array of lighting scenarios.

Incito downlights feature top performance characteristics – lamp life, dimming capability, color, efficacy, and lumen packages – from multiple light sources in a single system, allowing designers to configure luminaires for a variety of ceiling heights from 12- to100-feet. The series also combines long-life LED technology, seamless dimming capabilities and numerous lumen packages, ranging from 2000 to 6500 lumens.

“The design team at Gotham has created a revolutionary LED platform combining the best attributes of quartz, halide and metal light sources for up to 2,000 possible performance combinations,” said Douglas Grove, Gotham Value Stream Leader. “The result is a dramatically increased variety of spaces – from retail stores and restaurants to hotel lobbies and auditorium theaters – that can be illuminated with greater precision and more freedom.”

Incito downlights deliver the energy efficiency and long life of solid-state technology, which results in both energy and maintenance savings over downlights using traditional light sources. It also provides system-wide control because every device in every zone or network is digitally addressable using nLight® technology from Acuity Brands. Incito downlights also offer ultra-smooth dimming capabilities from 100 percent to less than 1 percent standard.

Abundant lumen packages allow Incito downlights to work in many different spaces from atriums to lower corridors. Its diffused lighting, aesthetic appearance and color consistency complement the popular EVO® line of LED downlighting luminaires from Gotham. For more information about LED lighting and controls, please visit Acuity Brands and Gotham on the web.

 

Illuminating Engineering Society Selects 12 Acuity Brands Lighting Solutions for Annual Progress Report

The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) 2012 Progress Report features 12 lighting solutions from the Acuity Brands LED lighting and OLED lighting portfolio. The IES Progress Report documents significant worldwide developments and achievements in the lighting industry, including new products, applications and design tools.

The innovative Acuity Brands products selected by IES include a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting solutions spanning commercial and industrial applications:

• HLH LED High Bay, Holophane®
• SHIVER™ Refrigeration/Display, Lithonia Lighting®
• I-BEAM® LED High Bay, Lithonia Lighting
• Z Series LED Striplights, Lithonia Lighting
• D-Series Area Size 1 and 2 LED luminaires, Lithonia Lighting
• D-Series Parking Garage LED luminaire, Lithonia Lighting
• Incito™ LED downlight, Gotham®
• VTLR LED Relight retrofit assembly, Lithonia Lighting
• Peerless Mino LED Luminaires, Peerless®
• Trilia™ OLED luminaire, Winona® Lighting
• Canvis™ OLED luminaire, Winona Lighting

“It is an honor for so many of our lighting solutions to be accepted into the IES Progress Report, signifying an advanced level of innovation,” said Rick Earlywine, Acuity Brands Lighting Senior Vice President, Innovation & Technology. “The IES Progress Report is further industry validation that Acuity Brands is at the forefront of the digital transformation. We are leading the charge and creating the change, innovating and harnessing lighting technologies to create some of the most desired products in the world.”

For more information about the 2012 IES Progress Report, please visit www.ies.org.

Acuity Brands Launches New Lithonia Lighting P-Series Modules

P Series LED Downlighting Modules use seamless point source dimming and instant-on capabilities to generate a look and feel reminiscent of incandescent lamps.

Lithonia Lighting® P Series LED Downlighting Modules from Acuity Brands, Inc. offer increased energy savings, long life and flexibility compared to many competitive LED downlighting modules. The P Series LED Downlighting Modules have a bar-setting efficacy of 70 lumens per watt, which is more than 86 percent more efficient than incandescent luminaires. They are designed for general-purpose lighting in residential and light commercial applications.

P Series LED Downlighting Modules use advanced Center2Edge™ technology to dim seamlessly from full illumination, creating the look and feel of a single-point source. Center2Edge technology triggers the module’s LED board to act like an incandescent point source while dimming. With a wide area of distribution, P Series LED Downlighting Modules can illuminate a room or hallway and are wet listed for use in bathrooms and areas subject to water exposure.

“The flexibility of the P Series modules is unlike any other LED downlighting module in its category,” said Michael Bruce, Lithonia Lighting Value Stream Manger, Residential Downlighting. “Equipped with our patent-pending driver technology, the fixture turns on instantly just like incandescent, and over 60 P Series modules can connect to a single 600W dimmer – trumping the 8 units capable from a traditional LED downlight. This is a huge advantage in light commercial applications.”

P Series LED Downlighting Modules deliver unprecedented versatility through three different mounting options, which provide the ability to fit 6-inch recessed can-style housings from any manufacturer. The product is easy to install for new construction or retrofit projects with the included E26 adapter for retrofit wiring or a splice kit to meet Title-24 compliance.

For more information about LED lighting, please visit Acuity Brands at www.acuitybrands.com and Lithonia Lighting at www.lithonia.com.