“The National Lighting Bureau has once again performed yeoman service for North America’s lighting community.” So said National Lighting Bureau Chair Howard P. Lewis (Viscor Group of Companies) in reviewing the Bureau’s 2013 accomplishments at the conclusion of his fourth year in office. The Bureau serves as an independent, IRS-recognized not-for-profit lighting-information source created (in 1976) to help people make better decisions about lighting.
The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America’s (IES’) representative to the Bureau, Mr. Lewis noted that the Bureau in 2013 reached as many as six million people, if not more, “because we only monitor the Internet, and only partially at that. Hundreds of thousands of Websites fly under the radar, and there’s much that happens in thousands of print and electronic media that we learn about second-hand.”
Mr. Lewis characterized 2013 as an eventful year, if only because it marked “the end of the line for the most commonly used, inefficient general-service incandescent lamps, America’s most relied-upon nighttime companion since 1879. I can only wonder what, 25 years from now, graphic artists will use to signify ‘I have an idea!’ I can easily think of a dozen lighting products that would fill the bill nicely, but that’s today. The pace of technological development is such that, in 25 years, who knows what will be providing the light we need to see or what, in addition to light, the sources may provide.”
The future – 2020, in particular – was the focus of a special Bureau activity in September 2013, when the Bureau’s board of directors assembled with lights, cameras, and action for a discussion of issues that has been turned into an Edison Report TV panel discussion rendered in 15 brief, hard-hitting segments that present a variety of opinions on many key issues, ranging from tomorrow’s lighting sources and 3D printing of luminaires to the role of marketing channels and industry diversity.
Internet TV appearances notwithstanding, the Bureau continues to get its “word” out principally via news releases. It also maintains a Website that Mr. Lewis characterized as “a go-to source for thousands, kept interesting by the continuing success of our media outreach. Our website also includes an interactive database of more than 300 professional lighting designers whom we list free of charge, as a public service. Website visitors are also able to use our Information Desk service. Staff responds quickly to those seeking answers.”
Concluding his remarks, Mr. Lewis noted that “my fellow Board members believe as I do that volunteer service to the National Lighting Bureau is an opportunity to serve the lighting community to which we owe so much. It’s also extremely satisfying work, to see us achieve exactly what we set out to do.
