One thing I noticed when I traveled to New York City last month was that the rest of the country still isn’t as green as California in its lighting codes. Now, for any who knows me, I’m definitely a California girl and I am used to designing energy efficient lighting. California has the strictest Energy codes in the Country!

I was so excited when I stepped off the train platform in New York’s Grand Central Station and noticed that they had changed out ALL the incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents! And you know what? They looked great!!

When I’m teaching my lighting class, I always ask, “Who likes fluorescent lighting?” My students generally moan and say, “We hate fluorescent lighting!” I can’t blame them. They tie their feelings about fluorescents to their school days when the lights were greenish and they flickered a lot.

These days, fluorescent lighting is much improved. It is warm. It glows. (No flickering) And it looks so much like incandescent that I had to look very closely in Grand Central to be sure that they had made the change.

The rest of the country will eventually catch up to California’s Energy Efficient Lighting!
Until then, keep your eyes open. And the next time you are in the Big Apple, look up. You might be surprised – and delighted!