david k warfel
Would you rather invest in expensive electrical equipment or your quality of life? Recently one of our custom integration partners asked me why homeowners should choose digitally controlled lighting over panelized dimming systems. As a lighting professional, the choice is so clear to me that it can be difficult to imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to go... Continue Reading →
It is time for our lighting systems to move out of the analog Stone Age and into the Digital Era. I'm working on a new CEU focused entirely on the topic and actively exploring the case for change, the systems, and the benefits. I got a jump start writing for Residential Systems in January's issue... Continue Reading →
So much of our modern lives is digital that we scarcely stumble across the archaic digital versus analog debate. No one uses an abacus in high school math class. Finding a land line to make a phone call is increasingly difficult. Clacking typewriters have given way to silent computers. Some of us wear watches that... Continue Reading →
It is time to retire your light switches and dimmers…if you want to get the full benefits of good light back into your life. Get them back? Yes, you and I lost out on natural light’s benefits when our ancestors decided houses were better than tents and offices were better than fields. They moved indoors,... Continue Reading →
The third article in my series on Lighting Hope is out in Designing Lighting! I learned a few things writing this article about the future of power that surprised me, particularly that my focus on low voltage lighting may be suitable for the near future...but there could be something even more revolutionary ahead. Digital power... Continue Reading →
In the October issue of Designing Lighting, I appeal to the lighting industry to redesign the downlight. There are some amazing downlights made - and none of them are compatible with any other. We - the industry - are creating a potential mess for our consumers down the road, and this is especially true in... Continue Reading →
A few years ago I spent a rather silly amount of time buying and testing light bulbs from local retailers in the hopes of finding something I liked. I failed. I tried again in 2020 and found a few I liked and our team built a buying guide around them. Now that buying guide is... Continue Reading →
"What is the lighting budget for our new home?" "We have 68 recessed cans at $150 each." The Lord of the Rings books and films are staples in our household. The kids share LOTR memes, we have the extended-way-too-long movies, and there are copies of all the books strewn about the house. The beloved stories... Continue Reading →
My Gear Talk series is an excuse to geek out a bit while attempting to simplify some of the complex conversations we have about lighting. It is less about the theory, science, and application and more about the tools. And one of those tools has almost nothing to do with the photons themselves: voltage. We... Continue Reading →
Just about two and a half years ago I saw my first sample of COB tape light and I bet my jaw literally dropped. Tape light- a generic name for flexible linear LED strips- is a key tool in our quest for good lighting. We use it just about everywhere, and that makes us a... Continue Reading →
the language of light 