Further discussion of the 2016 apparent plethora of celebrity death

A few days ago I posted this item asking if it was really true that more celebrities have died this year than usual. That post went viral, so of course, the famous Doug McIntyre (who is, by the way, originally from Minnetonka, Minnesota) asked me to join him on KABC, McIntyre in the Morning, an…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/31/further-discussion-of-the-2016-apparent-plethora-of-celebrity-death/

Makeblock mBot Add-on Pack-Six-legged Robot

The Makeblock mBot Add-on Pack-Six-legged Robot V1.1 is an add on for the Makeblock DIY mBot 1.1 Kit (Bluetooth Version) – STEM Education – Arduino – Scratch 2.0 – Programmable Robot Kit for Kids to Learn Coding & Robotics – Pink or any of its variants. The makeblock robot is an arduino technology robot. It…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/31/makeblock-mbot-add-on-pack-six-legged-robot/

Is 2016 really killing more celebrities than other years did?

Before we address this question, let us recognize that years do not really kill people. That’s just a poetic way of putting it, in common use. I believe that every year starting around September or October, there is a random spate (spats are generally random, as are small droughts) of celebrity deaths, which lead to…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/27/is-2016-really-killing-more-celebrities-than-other-years-did/

In homage to Carrie Fisher: Read a book

You have already heard the sad news that Carrie Fisher had died, at a young age, after suffering one or more heart attacks. To honor her, you are probably going to go watch some old Star Wars movies. But I have a different suggestion. The woman was a prolific and accomplished author (and more) and…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/27/in-homage-to-carrie-fisher-read-a-book/

Fields and Arenas are Converting to LED and This is The Reason(s)

A sports field or arena calls for some serious lighting. This is especially true for outdoor fields or domes which require high lights, most commonly called high mast lights. These lights need to output large amounts of light per fixture to be able to properly illuminate the field to provide for a good view of the game without troubles.

The issue comes in when these lights do not meet our needs. This can happen through low quality lighting technologies, which are commonly metal halide or HPS in these high mast lights. They can cause underlit fields, low quality illumination, and even annoying flickering and / or buzzing of the lights.

To avoid this, we can upgrade and convert to LED. Not only will a conversion to LED get rid of low quality lighting issues, but they will also bring in some major cost saving benefits. These cost saving benefits (which we are going to cover) are the number one reason fields and organizations are converting to new high mast options which consist of LED technology.

Thus, we wanted to create this post explaining all of major benefits that the conversion to LED high mast fixtures will bring. From higher quality of light to lower overhead, after reading these benefits you may just consider an upgrade to LED when it comes time to replace your lighting system next.

Reduce overhead related to your lighting.

The #1 reason companies and organizations are making the conversion to LED in their light fixtures is because of the major cost savings that will come when they switch. Considering that the most common lighting technologies used in high masts are metal halide and HPS, making the switch away from either of these two technologies would allow you to realize up to a 75% reduction in energy usage directly associated with your lighting system.

Since you can realize such great energy reductions, you will be able to not only save money by less energy usage but realize a positive ROI. In turn, this will allow you to actually save money by choosing LED over these other technologies.

Longer lifespans and two benefits it will bring.

Think about how high up some of your light fixtures are, especially at a common sports arena. They are typically 20, 30, 40+ feet up, and this can be pricey to have someone to maintain these lights.

Since LEDs lifespan is 2-3 or even 4 times longer you will be able to reduce maintenance costs associated with your sports lighting system. This is another major cost saving benefit alongside the energy reduction in this technology.

Another benefit is the fact that you can stop buying replacement lights so often. Since LEDs last 2-3 times longer, you can by 2-3 times less replacement lights for when they burn out.

LED is growing, it’s the future.

As LED grows in reach and market size, the adaptation grows to more areas in all corners, of every market. LED is just starting to really pick up, and there are even a lot of future growth expectations for the future. For this reason it is a highly attractive technology to implement into a sports field. On top of all this growth, this means you will be able to get this technology at cheaper and cheaper prices as time goes on.

Appearance is everything to public sporting events.

If you’ve ever gone to a game where the experience was subpar, why was it? It might be the service, or even the seating; but when it's the lighting it is sometimes nearly unbearable. By upgrading to LED you can have higher quality of light, avoid underlit areas, and get rid of any flickering and / or buzzing lights.

All of these three issues we’ve listed, if they were present in your arena would cause issues with appearance throughout the experience. By upgrading to LED, you can improve light quality, avoid underlit areas, and get rid of buzzing and flickering from ever occurring.

Closing words

Saving money, longer lifespans, and higher quality of light are all the major benefits that an upgrade will bring. By making the conversion, you can realize all of these benefits the technology will bring to your sports field.

Since the fans and visitors are the livelihood of an arena, this is crucial to get right. Your lighting will make or break a good experience, and LED will allow you to provide that for your fans.

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/12/fields-and-arenas-are-converting-to-led.html

Michael Mann Wins Court Decision

The Michael Mann lawsuit is a complicated affair and this is not the place to describe the details. But, a decision was just handed down that I know many of you will want to know about. The brief version is this: Mann sued the National Review and others over defamation. That’s a good suit and…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/22/michael-mann-wins-court-decision/

California’s Amazing Geology

California’s Amazing Geology by Don Prothero is an amazing book about — wait for it — California’s geology! California is one of the most geologically interesting and complex geopolitical units in the world. But so is Minnesota, and Minnesota is boring, geologically, for most people. Why? Because Minnesota is all eroded down and flattened out…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/21/california-geology-don-prothero-text-book-review/

How do you get a sex chromosome? A little bird told me this…

What is sex? Musings at 10,000 Birds: This is a simple question with a complicated answer. Part of the answer is this: The biological identity of an individual that guides its choice of mate. So, in a simple version of the world of a bird, there are two sexes, male and female, and males chose…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/20/how-do-you-get-a-sex-chromosome-a-little-bird-told-me-this/

The End Of America The Free, America The Brave

Putin probably owns Trump. In the past, Trump has spent enough high profile time traveling in and out of Russia, that any smart intelligence agency would have long ago gotten the goods on such a sloppy self absorbed person. Assume there are movies. Young girls. Whatever. Putin probably owns Trump. The ex KGB officer probably…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/16/the-end-of-america-the-free-america-the-brave/

Safer and More Efficient Seaport Operations Through Lighting

A seaport or shipping port can have a lot going on in all areas of the operations, and it can get hectic trying to manage not only day to day operations, but alongside working on your goals of the port. In this post, we are going to try covering how a seaport can become more efficient and safer by installing LED seaport lights in and around their port.

The qualities that LED technology will bring to your seaport (or really anywhere) range from a reduction in energy consumption, higher quality of light (including no more flickering or buzzing fixtures), and even more cost saving benefits.

Can LED really be the way to get rid of common issues related to a lighting system, along with save money at the same time? In simple terms, yes they can. Better yet, they will not only fix those issues, but they will also fix a lot more in both technical and general terms.

What types of lighting fixtures will you commonly and most often find at ports?

Before we get into talking more in-depth about those benefits we briefly mentioned above, let's talk about what types of fixtures you will commonly find in a port. Knowing this, and being able to come back and reference them, will allow you to make better and more educated decisions related to light fixtures that directly relate to your needs. Here are those common lights we often seem to find in a port:

• High masts (used for large areas outdoors, most commonly used high in the air)
• Outdoor lighting (wall packs, parking lot lights, flood lights)
• Hallway / office lighting (for any buildings you may have at the port)

Now, how about we talk about how exactly LED is going to resolve these common issues, and what it might mean for your seaport if you do decide to convert over to LED from other outdated technologies.

Less energy consumption with LED. The #1 reason why companies, ports, and really any other commercial / industrial application are converting over to LED technology in their fixtures is for this very reason; it saving them tons of money every single month. In fact, by converting to LED away from common technologies most often used in ports; you could realize up to a 75% reduction in energy usage associated with your lighting system.

This can be extremely beneficial, especially for a port which has lots of high up, and high output lights around the area. This savings allow you to realize an actual and even measurable return on investment for your upgrade. So, the main takeaway? By converting over to LED seaport lights for your lighting system; you will save some serious money all while taking advantage of the other benefits we are going to list down below...

Flickering. Have you ever been near a flickering light? If so, you probably know how annoying it can be; which seriously takes away from your concentration. This is increasingly worse when you have huge lights (such as high masts) that flicker and effect the entire surrounding area.

When you choose to convert to LEDs in any part of your port, you opt-in for no more flickering. How you ask? In non-technical terms, LEDs just were not built to ever be susceptible to this flaw. And no, not even near the end of an LED luminaires lifespan will it begin to flicker; when we say never, it really is never.

Buzzing. Buzzing fixtures can be just as annoying, and relates directly with the previous point; flickering lights. If you have ever encountered this issue at your facility and maybe even switched out an otherwise perfectly fine light; LED will not allow you to incur this issue ever again.

Overall lesser quality of illumination. Proper lighting, even seaport lighting, should never be overlooked. Not only will you miss out on energy savings related with converting to this better lighting technology; but you will also miss out on higher quality of light from your luminaires.

The biggest factor we consider when it comes to the “quality” of a luminaire is how fast it participates in “lumen depreciation.” This is basically the process of a light losing its output power throughout its lifespan. Sadly, it happens to all lights; even LED. But, the main thing to remember here is about how fast and overall how much one technology depreciates vs the next. Thankfully with LED luminaires, they depreciate at a much slower rate and overall will depreciate at much less.

For example, while a metal halide light might lose 50% of its lumen output by the time it is nearing the end of its lifespan; an LED may only lose 15%. On top of this, since LEDs last 2-3 times longer, it is even less of an issue since that depreciation is spread out over a much longer period of time.

Final thoughts

We hope this post has laid a foundation to a lighting guide for ports. Whether it is a small or large operation, the benefits your port will gain from LED will be the same; just at smaller or larger scales depending on your sizes.

The benefits far outweigh any other technology, and if you or the operations manager is ROI driver; this will be an easy decision since LEDs have a proven track record of returning a positive ROI in nearly every situation where the lights are oftenly used.

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/12/safer-and-more-effiecient-seaport.html

Why Get A Pi? (Raspberry Pi)

There is really no better time to get a Raspberry Pi. The new Raspberry Pi 3 has features that make it much more useful and fun, including more speed, built in bluetooth, and built in wifi. The Raspberry Pi is a small computer that, out of the box, lacks storage drive or device, a monitor,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/13/why-get-a-pi-raspberry-pi/

Is Turkey Hacking Trump?

Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald (author of Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story, Serpent on the Rock, and a few other books) is reporting an interesting story this morning. Here is the short version, as I understand it. Turkey had a coup. The Turkish government, in particular, President Erdogan, blames naturalized US citizen Fethullah Gülen for that…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/13/is-turkey-hacking-trump/

Trump Is Compiling Science Enemy Lists

The Donald Trump transition team circulated an eight page questionnaire to the US Department of Energy. Such questionnaires are not normal. This particular questionnaire is deeply disturbing. There are seventy-four questions. They provide insight into likely Trump administration energy policy, and there is not much of a surprise there. Most disturbing are the questions that…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/12/trump-is-compiling-science-enemy-lists/

My Review Of The White Rabbit Project

The White Rabbit Project is a Netflix project in which former MythBusters cast members Tory Belleci, Kari Byron, and Grant Imahara lead the viewer down various rabbit holes to explore a range of interesting and often strange things. Before going any further in this review, I need to tell you two things. First, since this…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/11/my-review-of-the-white-rabbit-project/

The Best Bird Books

A few suggestions for holiday gifts, or library upgrades, in the topic of birds. Thinking About Birds Thinking Some very interesting books came out this year that investigate bird brains. Bird Brain: An Exploration of Avian Intelligence by Nathan Emery is the best current book on animal intelligence, and one of the best bird books…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/08/the-best-bird-books/

The Political Science Of Science Policy and a Trump Administration

What happens when you imagine the worst case scenario. Then the thing happens, but it was worse than you thought it could be. What is that called? Worchester isn’t just a city west of Boston anymore. We have a new Ikonokast podcast out, and in it, we speak with Shawn Otto about what happened on…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/08/the-political-science-of-science-policy-and-a-trump-administration/

The Art of the Deal

The Art of the Deal isn’t just a book by Donald Trump any more. It is American fiscal and foreign policy. We haven’t even started yet, and we’ve started. This is embarassing.

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/08/the-art-of-the-deal/

Republicans are weakening the “civilian led” US military

The Republicans don’t care at all bout the law, the Constitution, freedom, security, or the people of the United States. One way we ensure civilian control of the military is by restricting military associated individuals from being secretary of defense. It is not like it can’t happen, but there has to be a waiting period.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/07/republicans-are-weakening-the-civilian-led-us-military/

So, what the heck did Trump do with Taiwan?

He started the process of stealing your democracy. Why? How? Have a look: I will hold the electors who put his name in the ballot box as equally responsible. Oh, and by the way, he also did this: Donald Trump Picks GOP Oil Industry Ally, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to Lead EPA

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/07/so-what-the-heck-did-trump-do-with-taiwan/

The CS Detective by Jeremy Kubica

The CS Detective: An Algorithmic Tale of Crime, Conspiracy, and Computation by Jeremy Kubica is the tory of disgraced ex-detective and hardboiled private eye Frank Runtime. Frank Runtime knows Regit and is not afraid to use it. From the publishers: When a robbery hits police headquarters, it’s up to Frank Runtime and his extensive search…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/07/cs-detective-book-review/

How to avoid nuclear apocalypse: this will only take you a few minutes.

Right now the number one problem we face in the US is the fact that a) the president of the United States can not be stopped or deterred from launching nuclear missiles if he choses to do so, by design; and b) Donald Trump will be inaugurated, if the electoral college do decides, in January.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/05/how-to-avoid-nuclear-apocalypse-this-will-only-take-you-a-few-minutes/

5 Benefits of Converting to LED High Bays

A lighting system within any building is crucial to the efficiency of the building. With high bays, which are commonly used in high ceiling spaces, they are no exception to the rule and should not be ignored.

The “easy choice” solution to common issues that old and outdated lighting systems bring can all be resolved with LEDs. High energy costs every month? LED can fix it. Flickering or buzzing lights? LED will fix that too. All of that and more can be resolved by converting over to LED high bay fixtures at your facility.

But, enough with short talk about the benefits of the technology; lets go more in-depth about each major benefit that the technology will bring to your facility by upgrading your high bays.

1. Reduce energy consumption by up to 75%. Did you know that the #1 reason companies are converting to high bay LEDs is because of the amount of energy they will save you? By converting away from technologies like metal halide or HPS, you could be reducing energy usage by up to 75%, talk about a lot of energy!

This in and of itself will allow you to pay back your investment, and then some. On top of that, you are not only saving energy and saving money; but you are also gaining all of the other benefits that the technology offers too. Sounds like a win-win!

2. Longer lifespans have two main benefits. Since LED can last longer by up to 2 or 3 times, you will be able to realize two main benefits from the longer lifespan.

For starters, you will be able to reduce the amount of replacement luminaires that you need to buy to replace the old burnt out ones. This itself is a huge reasons alone, but this isn’t the only reason it will save you money.

They also save you money by a reduction in the amount of time you need to pay someone to replace those burnt out lights. This allows you to reduce your maintenance costs, which is an indirect savings related to your conversion to LED. Another win-win!

3. Turn them on instantly. Time is money in business, and waiting for your lights to warm up in today's world is not acceptable. Older technologies such as metal halide and HPS take time to warm up (also known as strike time), but no longer with LED will you have to wait for them to turn off. They will turn on at full capacity as soon as that switch is flipped, allowing you to get the most out of yours lights “on time” and not waste energy just to wait for them to warm up.

4. High Color Rendering Index (CRI). The Color Rendering Index (or CRI) is a measurement of light, 0 to 100, with the higher the rating the higher the color rendering ability. With LED lighting, you will be able to achieve a wider range of CRI and thus, a higher quality of light is produced.

5. They will never buzz or flicker. Have you ever been around flickering or buzzing lights? If so, you know they can be annoying. And with older technologies they are easily susceptible to these annoyances which cause eye strain, distractions, and more; which are no place to be in workplace environments.

LED will never encounter this issue, in short because of the way they are made. So if you want to avoid this issue from ever occurring, convert your high bays (and all of your fixtures) away from those technologies and over to LED.

Conclusion

Finally, we have gotten through the list of 5 major benefits that will come to your facility by converting and upgrading to LED high bay fixtures. Whether you manage or own a warehouse, factory, or really anywhere with high ceilings; the conversion will benefit you in all of the above ways; if not more.

But don’t stop here, keep learning about the technology and high bay products that will best fit your requirements. Anyone can convert to high bay, just go out there and do your research. You will be thankful once you get the conversion done and start realizing all of the benefits of the technology being in your building.

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/12/5-benefits-of-converting-to-led-high.html

Army Corps on Dakota Pipeline: Pipeline Route Will Be Moved

According to NBC: Standing Rock Chairman: Pipeline Plan Denial ‘A Win For All Of America’ 1:57 The secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers told Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II Sunday that the current route for the controversial Dakota Access pipeline will be denied. “Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/04/army-corps-on-dakota-pipeline-pipeline-route-will-be-moved/

The Best and Most Current Climate Change Books

Time to make sure you are stocked up and up to date on your climate science books. First, you will need reference materials throughout the holiday season, because Uncle Bob is going to challenge you more stridently than usual. Climate change deniers have taken over the US government. You are on the run. Underground. Up…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/04/the-best-and-most-current-climate-change-books/

Go Tell It On The Grocery Store

The press helped elect Donald Trump. The mainstream press loved itself that false balance, giving absurdly pseudo-even coverage to whatever tripe might be spewed by willfully ignorant conservatives. So, screw them, and we await their apology. Meanwhile, the tabloid press has made its own contribution to the problem. Part of that is impressing on so…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/03/go-tell-it-on-the-grocery-store/

2016 Science Books for Kids

Here I have just a few suggestions for science books for the kiddos. See this post for the adult version. The Outdoor Science Lab for Kids and the other books in the same series are excellent, highly recommended, and reviewed here. Treecology is also a science activity book that people seem to love. Chance are…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/03/2016-science-books-for-kids/

Top Science Books: 2016

Here is my selection of the top science books from 2016, excluding those mainly for kids. Also, I don’t include climate change related books here either. (These will both be covered in separate posts.) The number of books on this list is not large, and I think this was not the most prolific year ever…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/03/top-science-books-2016/

The Alligators of Texas

The American alligator is found only in the US, and is widespread in Texas. It is found at several inland localities, and along the coast. And, it turns out that the preferred locations for many of the important activities in the day to day live of the American alligator overlap a great deal with humans.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/12/02/the-alligators-of-texas/

People are missing the importance of Trump’s voter fraud claims

You know that Donald Trump has been claiming very clearly and precisely that he won the electoral vote, and that it only looks like he did not because of voter fraud, meaning, that a certain number of American citizens voted twice, or otherwise rigged the elections. This would have to have involved thousand, tens of…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/29/people-are-missing-the-importance-of-trumps-voter-fraud-claims/

Trump calls for a year in jail for flag burners

… and loss of citizenship, which may amount to be thrown out of the country. Flag burning may be obnoxious to many, but it is a constitutionally protected act, as long as it is your flag and you do it outside. Presumptive President Elect Donald Trump has called for severe penalties for flag burners: Nobody…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/29/trump-calls-for-a-year-in-jail-for-flag-burners/

Science-Nerd LEGO Ideas Ideas

You know what LEGO is. Do you know what LEGO Ideas is? This is a program where people — not normal people but Lego Ninja Expert people — propose lego builds. The builds are normally actually built, but some are just designed or have parts that are just designed. These propose builds are then vetted…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/28/science-nerd-lego-ideas-ideas/

Creating a Better Refinery Work Environment with LED

Being a facility or plant manager of a refinery can seem like a huge task. In fact it is, and being aware of every aspect of the facility can be tough. Luckily, we are creating this piece to take a look specifically at lighting, and how an upgrade to LED refinery lights will benefit you and your refinery a ton.

The benefits of LED are great; from lower energy consumption, no flickering or buzzing, and even higher quality of light. These are only a few of the benefit that LEDs in a refinery will do, but they definitely are the main benefits.

We mentioned flickering, buzzing, high electricity bills, and low quality light. Can LEDs seriously fix all of these issues? The simple answer to this is YES, yes they can. In fact, they will fix all of those issues and more; all of which will produce an ROI and benefit your work safety and efficiency.

Let’s talk about those points that we listed above, and how they are going to benefit your refinery...

Flickering. Other technologies such as high pressure sodium, metal halide, or other HID lights (even fluorescent too), are all susceptible to flickering. As you probably know, being around a flickering light for just 10 minutes (let alone all day), can become very distracting and annoying.

This can take away attention from tasks at hand, which can create a serious security risk on the job. By upgrading to LEDs (which will never flicker), you literally wipe this issue from ever existing in your facility again. How? Well, the way that LEDs are made simply doesn’t allow for such annoyance to every fall into play. And no, not even near the end of an LEDs life span will it start to flicker (unlike those other technologies)!

Buzzing. Buzzing goes hand in hand with flickering, it can get annoying and cause distractions. Once again, LED lighting will never, ever buzz; allowing you to skip right past this issue entirely too.

Lower energy consumed. We bet that you probably have a ton of lights at your refinery, easily more than 100. If not, you probably have a lot of lights; and a lot of high energy consuming ones. What if you could replace those 400w metal halide fixtures with a 100w LED? That would be a huge reduction in energy consumption, and when you start talking about a lot of lights; the savings month to month will be extremely noticeable.

How is this possible that a 100w LED can replace a 400w metal halide (or any other HID technology)? Because LEDs are more efficient, they do this by outputting more light (or lumens) per watt; thus, requiring less overall wattage to output the same amount of light a higher wattage light may be using. It really is a simple concept, and once you understand lumens per watt and how it plays a role into calculating efficiency of a fixture; you will discover how much waste goes into powering a very inefficient fixture.

Low quality of light. LED is known for offering not only the best quality of light, but also it depreciates much slower. When we talk about depreciation with lighting, we are talking about lumen depreciation. In short terms, this is something that happens to all light fixtures. What it does is reduces the amount of actual light output that a given fixture gives out overtime. So while a metal halide at the beginning of it’s life might output at 15,000 lumens, give it a few years and it will be down at 11,000. This makes areas underlit, and again that can cause major safety issue to employees and visitors. With LED, although they too depreciate in lumens, it is a much slower pace and overall much lower than metal halide and HPS light sources. This can allow you to never face an issue of under lighting, or overlighting. Because facilities often over overlight in the start to account for this; which overlighting is no good either. It increases costs associated with buying more fixtures initially, all for what? Nothing, because less fixtures and less energy with LED will produce the same amount of light that more fixtures and more watts metal halide will output.

What types of fixtures are even found in refineries?

Some of the non-tech savvy refinery managers out there may not know the “official” terms of lighting fixtures out there. Believe it or not, knowing what the names ar eis highly important to better know what to look for when researching fixtures you may want to upgrade to. Here is a list of most common fixtures used in or outside of a refinery:

• High Bays (used for high ceilings indoors)
• High masts (used for outdoor lighting, high in the air)
• Hallway Lights (panels & tubes) (mostly for outside)
• Outdoor lighting (wall packs, parking lot lights, flood lights)
• Vapor proofs and / or tights (used to prevent both dirt or gases from entering lights)

Final thoughts

Hopefully all of this info regarding refinery lighting and the benefits of LED will help you when it comes time to make an upgrade in your lighting system at your facility. Remember all of the benefits and how LED will actually produce an ROI, and it will be an easy choice!

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/11/creating-better-refinery-work.html

This is what racism looks like

Trigger warning: This post contains several documented images of racist or similar messages found through history and throughout the world, including a handul from the US over the last few weeks. These are provided as documentation to go along with the text of this blog post and to inform the reader of the nature of…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/28/this-is-what-racism-looks-like/

This is a pretty good example of Trump’s deplorables being deplorable. A similar letter was sent to each of several locations in southern California. Details here.

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/27/23367/

Don’t get mugged by voting irregularities

So, today I was on my way to the pharmacy to buy important medicine for my son. The medicine cost about 50 bucks, and I had a fifty dollar bill in my back pocket. In my front pocket, I had a twenty. Just before I walk into the pharmacy, this dude with a mask comes…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/26/dont-get-mugged-by-voting-irregularities/

Clinton-Trump Gap in Key States

As you know, there is interest in doing a recount for the presidential balloting in three key states. The chance that a recount in these three states would change Trump’s win (290 to 232 electoral votes). But, it is possible that a recount could demonstrate irregularities that should be addressed. Also, there is the possibility…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/25/clinton-trump-gap-in-key-states/

Lego Technic Builder’s Guide

The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide by Pawet “Sariel” Kmiec (Second Edition) tells you how to build machines, models, robots, etc. that will work. You need to construct these things in a way that ensures they won’t easily fall apart, and that requires a certain amount of engineering. There are some fairly expensive and specialized…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/25/lego-technic-builders-guide/

You think this year’s election is strange?

Clinton beat Trump by a large margin, by electoral standards. A couple of percent is actually a lot these days. Yet so far it appears that Trump won the electoral vote, even though those votes are not yet cast and who knows what is actually going to happen. But this year, strange as it it…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/24/you-think-this-years-election-is-strange/

The Feast: A Thanksgiving Day Story

The enemy has arrived, in force, outside your village. The men are armed and wearing the symbols of war, which is appropriate because your group and the group milling about outside your walled settlement are at war. One of the men, wearing war garb but adorned also with white feathers to indicate a peaceful intent,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/23/the-feast-a-thanksgiving-day-story-2/

Emergency Thanksgiving Help: Books for Uncle Bob

When I go to Thanksgiving, all the people there will be reasonable. Also, this will be in Minnesota where politics are not discussed. And if they are discussed, my Father-in-Law has well developed techniques to run interference, as is his responsibility as head of the hosting household. There will be chairs to get from the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/23/emergency-thanksgiving-help-books-for-uncle-bob/

Changing the racist mind after Trump

Question: How do we wipe out racism by making racists not be so racist? Answer: We don’t. We do something else that actually works. The expanding Trump-fueled conversation about racism It has been absolutely fascinating to observe myriad conversations reacting to the Trump electoral win. All the usual suspects are engaged, but also, many others…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/22/changing-the-racist-mind-after-trump/

Hurricane Otto

This is a bit late in the year for an Atlantic Hurricane. The season normally runs from June 1st through November 30th, but that includes a bit of buffer time. Otto is a tropical storm that will turn into a hurricane on Wednesday, probably, and make landfal near the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/11/21/hurricane-otto/

Where are LED Vapor Tight Lights Used

There are tons of applications and environments in which a vapor tight light is needed, or at least recommended. From food grade facilities to garages, the need for vapor tight lights is definitely there.

But why are LED vapor tights the superior technology to use over say metal halide or fluorescent? Here are just a few reasons why a vapor tight LED fixture wins over any other lighting technology by a long shot.

Less energy consumption. LEDs are known to use up to 75% less than other competing technologies, especially metal halide. Even when converting from fluorescent lights you can realize a energy savings of 30% too. This proves LED to be the most efficient technology available on the lighting market today, and it’s one of the major reasons companies are making the switch every single day and realizing the benefits that they bring to any commercial building or space.

Longer lifespans. Longer lifespans allow you to reduce the amount of lights you by when they burn out. By switching to LED, you will be able to reduce luminaire maintenance by 2-3 times! This allows you to reduce costs associated with buying new luminaires, as well as less maintenance costs and fees. This is especially true for those buildings with high ceilings, as lights can get very expensive and timely to switch at higher heights.

Rebates, high quality of light, and more. We think the list could go on and on; and all of these are just a scratch on the surface of why LED wins vs metal halide and really any other lighting technology.

Now let's discuss where exactly these vapor tight LEDs are best used. These are the popular applications that we find LED vapor tight lights:

Parking Garages:

Since parking garages, more often or not, are semi exposed to the elements, a vapor tight light will keep out any moisture or more importantly dirt that would otherwise get into your light fixture and effect its life. By having vapor tights in your parking garage, you will realize longer lifespans and lights that output at proper levels throughout their life.

Industrial Refrigeration:

An often unknown benefit of LED technology is that out perform any other lighting technology in cold temperatures, which makes them the ideal lighting technology for industrial refrigerators and storage. The biggest issue in these types of environments is the buildup of condensation, which is the major reason why vapor tight lights make for the perfect fixture in this type of scenario.

Industrial food processing facilities

The need for a very clean space inside an industrial building which produces and works with consumables is a must. That is why more often than not, often spraying down and cleaning of the lighting fixtures is very common. If you don’t plan for this and don’t install vapor tight fixtures, you are in for some trouble. By having vapor tights you allow for proper cleaning of the fixtures without risking any effect of the light itself.

Conclusion

As you can see, the need for vapor tight technology is there and it’s highly important for many different applications. By installing LED technology ran vapor tights, you also opt-in for the benefits that LED brings to any building, along with the power that vapor tights bring which consists of resisting water, dirt, and dust.

If you are in need of vapor tights, consider LED for your vapor tight solution. Investigate the best options, and find out the true benefits and there entirety that they will bring to your facility.

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/11/where-are-led-vapor-tight-lights-used.html

Quality Outdoor Flood Lights are a Must

Floor lights for businesses are crucial, especially if you want any chance to be able to be seen at night time. But any flood light won’t cut it; that is, if you want to keep a good image and keep overhead costs associated with your lights low.

We want to talk about why quality outdoor commercial floods are vital to businesses, for both security, durability, and even better curb appeal (which we all know is huge for businesses which rely on foot traffic coming in the door).

Here, let's start the list off with security; a huge topic that is important to every single business out there:

Security is huge. Typically commercial flood lights are used to light up the exterior of a building; a lot of the time strictly for security purposes. This is exactly why we are listing is #1, because security lighting is the main purpose of these lights.

If you have lighting fixtures that are meant to light up your outside, but lack the ability to do so; what good are they? This is the issue with technologies like metal halide or HPS, they slowly lose their light output abilities over their lifespan and thus, slowly becoming less and less of a benefit and more and more of a risk. With technologies such as LED, they don’t lose as much light output throughout their lifespan, and thus even nearing the end of their life they will (most likely) still output proper abouts of light. In turn, your security lights with LED will never become so underlit that they are no longer doing their job.

So is curb appeal. Just as security of your people, customers, and property is important; so is getting people to come into your place of business. Without that, you wouldn't have anything to secure because you’d be out of business. Lights that flicker, buzz, or are underlit can turn people off as it not looking professional. With LEDs, you will never have any of these issues due to the way that they are made. So by converting to LED, you allow yourself to create a better curb appeal for your business, along with achieving all of these other benefits that are listed!

Durability = longer lifespan. We all know cheap things don’t last, and it stays true with outdoor flood lights, no exception. When you go after quality fixtures (talking about the exterior right now), you allow yourself to avoid fixtures that will fall apart after exposure to harsh environments that the outdoors presents. Ensuring that you buy outdoor lights of any kind to be tested and proven to withstand these harsh conditions the environment presents, you will be much better off in the long run knowing that they will last. Better yet, go for a company that will back up their claims and will guarantee they last for 5+ years.

Quality luminaire technology is important too. Everywhere on the web goes back to the fact that LED technology is by far the more efficient lighting technology out there, in nearly every aspect. From longer lifespans, to higher efficiency, to higher quality of light: LED wins. In fact, an LED light could use up to 75% less energy than say, metal halide lights would. On top of that, they are known to last 2-3 or even 4 times longer than other technologies; which allows you to reduce the amount of time you need to switch out burnt out bulbs in your fixtures.

Literally every aspect of LED wins over other technologies, and that is why they are always talked about as the “futures light.”

Less energy = less overhead. Like we stated in the previous point, LED uses far less energy than other technologies. For this reason, that is why we define LED as “quality” in regards to the technology itself.

If we said LED will save you 75% in energy usage, which can prove to pay you back (along with all of the other benefits listed here). So why not choose a lighting system that will pay you back and produce an ROI, all while giving you multiple other extremely valuable benefits?

Conclusion

We have done it, we listed all of the major reasons on not only what defines a quality flood light, but also why you need them.

Without quality, you opt-in for higher costs associated with powering your lights, and opt-in for lower sales due to low curb appeal. Both of which, as we know, are no good for businesses. Don’t let your business fall behind simply because of your outdoor lighting system, look into upgrading it!

source http://my-led-lighting-guide.blogspot.com/2016/11/quality-outdoor-flood-lights-are-must.html