Greg Galluccio is a 30 year veteran of the industry, with work experience at UL, Leviton, and MaxLite, and now he’s working as a consultant in product development and marketing at his own company, Lotevo. Lighting is now a commodity good and that means lighting needs to be practical and sellable for everyone in the industry. Over the course of this conversation we discuss issues with vendors, feature creep, patent traps and trolls, regional problems, and why nobody wants to harmonize. Greg and M...
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 202
Burt Grant is the owner of Metro Area Sales, lighting representatives in the New York Metro area, and a co-founder of LEDucation. Caroline Rinker is a Principal at O’Blaney Rinker Associates. Despite being competitors in the same market, Burt and Caroline have come together as co-chairs of LEDucation. It kinda feels like we are talking to a couple of NAILD members. Burt and Caroline describe how LEDucation has grown over the past 14 years into a leading education and marketing conference. They t...
Mar 17, 2021•34 min•Ep. 201
Ruskin Hartley, Executive Director of the International Dark Sky Association joins us to discuss his work and experiences in the association. Right now the IDA is working to grow beyond their roots in amateur astronomers in several directors. The group is forging partnerships with other bodies with an interest in lighting to further their goals, looking at the input of ecologists and medical experts, broadening the ethnic and gender diversity within the organization, working with designers to un...
Mar 10, 2021•51 min•Ep. 200
Thomas Sauvageau of Sauvageau CFO, LLC is more than a bean counter, more than an income tax accountant, he’s here to help businesses be their best. Right now that means letting everyone know about the benefits you may qualify for. There are new small business credits specifically related to the pandemic. The Employee Retention Tax Credit is a potential goldmine for distribution businesses right now. Any business that has been shut down under a government mandate and kept employees on qualify for...
Mar 08, 2021•38 min•Ep. 199
Wattsaver’s Steve Robinson returns to the show after two years to discuss some of the predictions he made at the time as well as how his business has been going lately. Back in episode 90 (https://getagriponlighting.com/episode-90-steve-robinson-lighting-badass) made a guess that 30 percent of fixtures in his service area were LED, now it’s closer to 50, but oddly more outdoor than indoor projects seem to have been done. On the topic of projects, he walks us through his methods and management, h...
Mar 01, 2021•45 min•Ep. 198
In Episode 169 (https://getagriponlighting.com/episode-169-it-might-it-might-not-al-uszynski) we discussed a number of predictions for the industry this year, Michael’s thoughts on Edward Bartholomew’s prediction drew a reaction from a few of our colleagues and we thought the best way to unpack that would be with Edward himself. While his thoughts on growing inclusion in the lighting industry were more aspirational than anything else; we do need to consider where last year’s statements in solida...
Feb 23, 2021•36 min•Ep. 197
Jennifer Jaques of lighting application sciences and new IES membership director joins us to discuss her career. Starting off with her work in software tools the discussion goes through her and Michael’s views on education in this field as well as Greg’s take on the nature of passion before talking about the benefits of membership with IES these days. They went through the new Lighting Library, building better perks, the end of print handbooks and what events in our industry will look like going...
Feb 16, 2021•44 min•Ep. 196
After a successful run of special releases on Get a Grip on Lighting (https://getagriponlighting.com/) Jane Slade and Michael Colligan have launched a new podcast series about dark sky. Jane has been writing and speaking about the need for darkness in design for almost exactly five years and Michael has been trying to break into the movement from the distribution side for the past two. This conversation between the two gets into their histories with the movement, what they believe and how this w...
Feb 12, 2021•50 min•Ep. 195
David Nathaniel, CEO of Ascot Capital is here to talk about operating Stanpro, Lumentruss, Aimlite, Beghelli’s Canadian branch, and Gabriel Scott brands. He discusses what it means to keep up a diverse portfolio, his reputations for being hands-on and that has changed lately. He’s learned how to lead instead of just running his companies. We delve into what makes good business sense right now and his acquisition style with regard to transitioning with owner-operators - it is a bit different from...
Feb 08, 2021•45 min•Ep. 194
Spencer Miles, President of Pacific Lamp and Supply in Seattle and immediate Past President of the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors checks into the studio to see where things are at. We talked about distribution, a lot about UV, circadian, health effects and how distributors can survive and even thrive during the pandemic. Spencer grudgingly admits that he misses the manufacturer representatives and all of us feel the loss of in person human interaction.
Feb 05, 2021•35 min•Ep. 193
Ellis Yan and Lesley Matt are here again to talk about business in 2021. Shipping costs are rising as shipping speeds are slowing for everyone, there’s really nothing to be done about it. Beyond the macro scale problems, we're noticing small-scale disruptions all around us. The conversation moves past shipping and into currency exchange rates, busting myths about Chinese New Year, and setting your margins right. On the upside from this year Ellis is excited to share the new things his company ar...
Feb 01, 2021•54 min•Ep. 192
Optician and author, Doctor Jacob Liberman joins Jane and Michael to discuss his thoughts on darkness in his work. He shares how he keeps darkness in his regular routine, his thoughts on dreams and where he thinks they fit into inspiration and understanding. This conversation gets wild with thoughts on mysticality, metaphysics, pretending to be himself, light as homeopathy and living without the benefit of safety nets.
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 191
The last time Lux Review’s editor, Ray Molony appeared we promised we’d have a beer with him when we met again. LuxLive might be cancelled, but we still did pour a round before starting to talk about business travel problems, the person-to-person value in conferences and what it takes to run a virtual award show. Beyond plague-related woes, Ray gazes into the future of the IoT finding sales features that match consumer pain points, offices that look more like hotel lobbies, dark sky moving from ...
Jan 26, 2021•59 min•Ep. 190
Professor Mark Rea is getting ready to move from the Lighting Research Center to the Light and Health Research Center at Mt Sinai, but before that he joins us to discuss his latest report on UV disinfection products (read that here: https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/publicationDetails.asp?id=949&type=2 ). He goes into detail about wavelengths, devices, safety tolerances, application issues, concerns about breeding superbugs, the value of not saying the word radiation too loud, and other...
Jan 17, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 189
Al Uszynski returns to the podcast to discuss the 11.5 Predictions for 2021 article that ran on his site, Inside.Lighting. Spinning off from those predictions we discussed: ● Dark skies ● Dynamic lighting in the workplace ● The speed of economic recovery ● Adoption rates for human-centric lighting ● How our industries adapt to social changes ● Collaboration at a distance ● The future of trade shows ● Where the DLC goes from here ● How the channels of business are shifting Plus, a little fun at t...
Jan 11, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 188
Ron Gibbons is the director for the Center for Infrastructure-based Safety Systems and an associate professor at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and here is to discuss his work and experience in the dark. As a Canadian, he grew up with outsized access to dark spaces, sharing stories about being so far from any light source he hit a tree in front of his face. Now, as a researcher he is very happy to be spread across any number of field studies, ranging from his two miles of test road o...
Jan 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 187
2020 was a hard one for all of us, but to help us to look at the future is The Edison Report’s Randy Reid is here to help us look into 2021. Beginning with his Director’s Notepad piece, we go discussed: ● Changes in business travel, the lack of networking online, ● The power of virtual education options, ● Randy’s Man(crush) of the Year, ● The blast of price increases coming at us in the next quarter, ● Pushing back on China not just as policy but as a social movement, ● The future of UV and hyg...
Jan 04, 2021•53 min•Ep. 186
We welcome our first ever electrician on to the show, George Filtsos was there at the beginning of Daintree and has been working to push controls into more projects through all of the booms and busts in that field. We discussed how dimming is an unknown factor in improving the lifespan of LEDs, his refusal to take the quick turn and burn retrofit contracts, the nuts and bolts of wireless controls, sales technique and the layers of complexity involved in his work.
Dec 28, 2020•45 min•Ep. 185
Gabe Arnold joins us from the Pacific Northwest National Labs after his recent work in DC lighting and PoE systems. But before we can that get to that we had to bring up his past at the DesignLights Consortium in the early days of the qualified products list, he explains why utilities needed the DLC’s help, where lighting dorks missed out on their rationale and some hindsight about the rush for high lumens for few watts. But when it comes to DC power, it’s not going to replace the grid, but as w...
Dec 21, 2020•41 min•Ep. 184
It’s time to bring the question of design into this series. Nick Dunn has been trying to balance the question of people’s need for light and natural darkness as an ecological concern since he spent one sleepless night walking around Manchester. Discussing his work with the Institute for Social Futures and the IDA with Michael and Jane he explains how he builds awareness for dark skies in society that vilifies the very idea of darkness, the need for night-time urbanism, and experiments with alter...
Dec 17, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 183
How do you keep a company running for 150 years? CN Robinson has been in distribution since before electric light bulbs existed, first in seeds and then ladders and other equipment. Executive VP and Director of Sales Peter Gray is here to explain how he keeps looking forward and finding new ways to keep his business vital. He’s not planning on going back into horticulture, but he is adding more project business, bringing back some electrical supply and adding new people to his team. Peter is a f...
Dec 13, 2020•45 min•Ep. 182
Sibylle Schroer is an ecologist from IGB, and joined us to discuss the role the increasing amounts of light at night plays in the experience of human and non-human wildlife. We discussed citizen science and the need for multidisciplinary approaches in the field as well as the barriers in perceived security and legislation. What emerges in the conversation is a need for night studies, not just late economics, but a genuine understanding of the purpose for each light turned on outside at night. We...
Dec 10, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 181
This episode features the return of the UL's Adam Lilien and the introduction of the GSA’s Bryan Steverson as they discuss creating better workspaces with light. The GSA has partnered with the Lighting Research Center and the UL over the past five years on different human-centric lighting projects. Our conversation ranges from reconsidering the importance of horizontal luminance, what we know for sure about improving people’s experience indoors, adapting existing fluorescent systems and issues r...
Dec 07, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 180
The International Dark Sky Association’s Technical Director joined us to discuss the mechanics of dark sky-friendly projects. Start from tasks; most outdoor lighting is based on pathfinding, not offering reading lamps to the general public; while color temperature has become a focus point, the direction is still the real issue when discussing skyglow issues; and he’s not with the Dark Ground Society, you can create beautiful and useful lighting systems everywhere and still respect your neighbour...
Dec 03, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 179
Aleddra’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Dr. Matthew Maa is here to talk about being different in the Disinfection technology business right now. He tells us what separates PECO tech from UV-based options. Aleddra uses PECO and UV-A and UV-C in different cases because not all applications are the same. We discuss the current market for disinfection, different types of applications and what we really need from these technologies. We also brought up the idea of selling some quick hygiene theater versu...
Nov 30, 2020•43 min•Ep. 178
In the second part of our special dark sky series we are joined by Paul Bogard, author of The End of Night and What if Night. Our discussion opened with our sense of safety - it’s easy to think that more light makes us safer, but glare makes it harder to see and without other meaningful changes related to security increasing light levels is more about having done something than done something effective. Darkness can be a place for contemplation if you let it in. Jane and Paul discuss their eveni...
Nov 26, 2020•55 min•Ep. 177
Christina Calaway of Spark Media is a real old school lighting dork, which means our conversation begins with pulsed-start metal halides and other semi-forgotten lamp and fixture features. Before this turns into another scrub session, we transition to her current job in the industry: freelance marketing specifically catering to the lighting industry. The marketing departments of lighting vendors and manufacturing have always had a power over language that comes from having to convince people tha...
Nov 23, 2020•43 min•Ep. 176
The IDA and NAILD have not only signed a memorandum of joint understanding, but will be working together for the next five years on joint efforts for darker, better nights. LS Evolve will have a module on the technical aspects and best practices of dark sky-friendly outlighting, but for now Michael Colligan and Jane Slade will be hosting a series of special releases on the moral, psychological, and physiological reasons to pursue dark sky lighting projects. In this first part, we discuss how bri...
Nov 19, 2020•36 min
Alp Durmus is a Lighting scientist and assistant professor of architectural engineering at Penn State. He came on the show to discuss his research in optimization of lamp color; reducing light use by aiming for the most reflectivity of the object you’re lighting. We care more about seeing things than we care about energy use, the idea of saving power and making things look better is an appealing one, but are his methods too complicated to apply in the field? Aside from our own struggles to make ...
Nov 16, 2020•1 hr
Dr Jacob Liberman is here to explain the nature of light and consciousness to Michael and Greg. He starts with the idea that seeing is more than just vision before explaining his background overcoming his astigmatism, his work as an optometrist, and growth in spiritual self-reflection. The conversation stray fairly far from the nuts and bolts of lighting and more into the relationship between humans, light and darkness and how that can motivate us to design and build better lighting systems. You...
Nov 09, 2020•1 hr 5 min
