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The Lighting Design Lab: A Success Story from the Commercial Sector
Dulce SetterfieldBonneville Power Administration, USA Abstract The Lighting Design Lab (the Lab) in Seattle, Washington is attracting attention in the U.S. from coast to coast and from distant countries. This popular facility opened in 1989 to serve designers and specifiers of commercial lighting in the Pacific Northwest. The Lab is a lighting resource center offering full-scale mock-ups of lighting strategies, design consultations, classes, and other services supporting Northwest utility programs. All services are free of charge. This publicly operated facility is designed, staffed, and equipped to enable clients to readily explore state of the art, energy-efficient technologies and select appropriate lighting strategies. Public interest groups, electric utilities, government agencies, and the lighting industry joined together to create the Lab. Examination of the Lab's origin, operating experience and benefits may provide insights and ideas for the development of similar facilities in other cities and countries. Interested parties may begin to consider the prospects for transplanting the Lighting Design Lab to European soil. Vision teamwork, expertise, and enthusiasm invested by a diverse and growing host of sponsors and advisors have nurtured the Lighting Design Lab since its conception in the mid 1980s. These same ingredients for project success and an in-depth look at the Lighting Design Lab's experience could support a European initiative. A team of public and private sector organizations in Europe could design facilities and services appropriate to their market and clientele, within a shorter time frame than the pioneering effort in the Pacific Northwest.
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