Lumen on the Horizon

Gary Novasel is a residential lighting designer in exurban New York and a partner in Patdo Light Studio.

"People are under the impression that Congress has declared that incandescent lamps are going to be outlawed by 2014. And that’s not true. Certain incandescents will be, but there’s a provision that allows for significant strides in efficiency, which have been realized by some incandescent lighting manufacturers. So what you’re going to see is the rebirth of the longer life, more efficient incandescent light source. Harvesting daylight is going to be a large part of lighting design. Much more in commercial properties, but in residential only—and this is important—if it doesn’t distort the architecture of the house. I think we’ll see more of this as energy costs continue to climb and green becomes more of a social consciousness issue."

Matt Mazzuchi is vice president of market and business development at QD Vision, Inc., a company that makes quantum dot adapters for LED-based products.

"Consumer experience with LED technology has been less than positive. Inexpensive LED lamps produce a harsh white-light quality, or what is referred to technically as poor ‘color rendering index,’ or ‘CRI’—the color and light is not pleasing to the eyes. We believe that quantum light technology offers the most efficient and cost-effective way for lamp and fixture makers to create high color quality light (high CRI) and reproduce the color and warmth of incandescent bulbs. Quantum dot technology will have a significant impact in the area of energy conservation while delivering high efficiency." 

Johanna Grawunder is a designer and architect in Milan and San Francisco.

"The future of domestic lighting will be colorful and material. The movement away from incandescents, toward energy-efficient lighting, will greatly influence for the better how we light our homes. On the architectural scale, we’ll see a lot more integrated lighting in the architecture itself. Traditionally, architects have been very worried about natural light, but generally relegate the artificial light—the nighttime light especially—to objects. I think architects more and more will worry about the night light as much as the daytime light by integrating artificial lighting directly into the forms and details of the built space."