5 lighting news sites that stay on top of industry happenings

Our goal here on the Lighting Insights Blog is to offer helpful answers to common lighting questions and to keep you posted on key developments in the industry.

Lighting news may seem niche and sporadic to those outside the industry, but if you're in the industry, you're probably well-acquainted with the rapid pace of development. The emergence of LED lighting solutions has busied the news cycle pretty substantially, with new products and creative innovations making their way to market all the time.

Not every lighting story will make its way to this blog, though. So we wanted to let you know where we like to get our industry news.

Here are five top-notch lighting news sources that all industry folks should have bookmarked:

1. LEDs Magazine

This publication, as you might infer from its name, covers a single lighting technology: LED. That's not too different from a lot of other lighting news sites, however, as the rapid pace of innovation in the LED world creates a lot more headlines than the occasional fluorescent phase out or incandescent development.

LEDs Magazine houses everything from a suppliers directory to white papers, a jobs board, a press releases clearinghouse, and a fantastic news page.

Here's a recently published story on ledsmagazine.com about the Department of Energy's findings on outdoor LEDs in a harsh environment.

2. Edison Report

Edison Report acts as a news aggregate, delivering mostly headlines, with a handful of full stories and link-outs to boot. According to its About page, it has been around since 1999.

One interesting feature on the site is a "Price Increases" page, which has headlines like "Philips Day-Brite Announces Price Increase" and "25% Fluorescent Price Increases."

Like a lot of industry sites, Edison also has a section for press releases as well as a jobs board.

All in all, Edison Report is relatively bare-bones –– both in form and function –– but is definitely handy to those looking to quickly skim the latest developments in the industry without getting tangled in long, complex articles.

3. Architectural Lighting

Architectural Lighting is a go-to site for designers and lighting designers looking for inspiration. Most of its online content is dedicated to featuring high-end architecture with excellent photos and in-depth writing.

The site also houses a good deal of educational material in addition to a Product Directory, which showcases innovative products ranging from ballasts and controls to solar products, specialty fixtures, luminaires and the like.

Architectural Lighting is an excellent resource for lighting professionals, but may be too advanced for those who aren't immersed in the lighting world daily.

4. LightNOW blog

Like Edison Report, LightNOW acts as a lighting news aggregator, just usually with more verbose posts. Intermingled with that kind of reporting, too, are opinion pieces which are meant to "make you consider another point of view," according to the site's About page.

LightNOW is easy to navigate, thanks to a stripped-down, simple format. Veteran lighting journalist Craig DiLouie provides clean copy and frequent updates as the lead producer of the blog. The blog also features weekly product highlights in an installment called 'Product Monday.' Here are the last two such posts:

· Product Monday: Soraa moves beyond lamps with new ambient luminaires

· Product Monday: Rubik by Mark Architectural Lighting

5. Energy.gov – Solid-State Lighting News

Unlike most of the sites above, the Department of Energy website –– Energy.gov –– generally only publishes releases related to its activity, like this announcement about a report on flicker meters.

A lot of news originates on this site and ends up trickling to sites like ours or any of the above.

This section covers solid-state lighting, in particular, and includes a host of related helpful educational resources.

Our goal here on the Lighting Insights Blog is to offer helpful answers to common lighting questions and to keep you posted on key developments in the industry.

Lighting news may seem niche and sporadic to those outside the industry, but if you're in the industry, you're probably well-acquainted with the rapid pace of development. The emergence of LED lighting solutions has busied the news cycle pretty substantially, with new products and creative innovations making their way to market all the time.

Not every lighting story will make its way to this blog, though. So we wanted to let you know where we like to get our industry news.

Here are five top-notch lighting news sources that all industry folks should have bookmarked:

1. LEDs Magazine

This publication, as you might infer from its name, covers a single lighting technology: LED. That's not too different from a lot of other lighting news sites, however, as the rapid pace of innovation in the LED world creates a lot more headlines than the occasional fluorescent phase out or incandescent development.

LEDs Magazine houses everything from a suppliers directory to white papers, a jobs board, a press releases clearinghouse, and a fantastic news page.

Here's a recently published story on ledsmagazine.com about the Department of Energy's findings on outdoor LEDs in a harsh environment.

2. Edison Report

Edison Report acts as a news aggregate, delivering mostly headlines, with a handful of full stories and link-outs to boot. According to its About page, it has been around since 1999.

One interesting feature on the site is a "Price Increases" page, which has headlines like "Philips Day-Brite Announces Price Increase" and "25% Fluorescent Price Increases."

Like a lot of industry sites, Edison also has a section for press releases as well as a jobs board.

All in all, Edison Report is relatively bare-bones –– both in form and function –– but is definitely handy to those looking to quickly skim the latest developments in the industry without getting tangled in long, complex articles.

3. Architectural Lighting

Architectural Lighting is a go-to site for designers and lighting designers looking for inspiration. Most of its online content is dedicated to featuring high-end architecture with excellent photos and in-depth writing.

The site also houses a good deal of educational material in addition to a Product Directory, which showcases innovative products ranging from ballasts and controls to solar products, specialty fixtures, luminaires and the like.

Architectural Lighting is an excellent resource for lighting professionals, but may be too advanced for those who aren't immersed in the lighting world daily.

4. LightNOW blog

Like Edison Report, LightNOW acts as a lighting news aggregator, just usually with more verbose posts. Intermingled with that kind of reporting, too, are opinion pieces which are meant to "make you consider another point of view," according to the site's About page.

LightNOW is easy to navigate, thanks to a stripped-down, simple format. Veteran lighting journalist Craig DiLouie provides clean copy and frequent updates as the lead producer of the blog. The blog also features weekly product highlights in an installment called 'Product Monday.' Here are the last two such posts:

· Product Monday: Soraa moves beyond lamps with new ambient luminaires

· Product Monday: Rubik by Mark Architectural Lighting

5. Energy.gov – Solid-State Lighting News

Unlike most of the sites above, the Department of Energy website –– Energy.gov –– generally only publishes releases related to its activity, like this announcement about a report on flicker meters.

A lot of news originates on this site and ends up trickling to sites like ours or any of the above.

This section covers solid-state lighting, in particular, and includes a host of related helpful educational resources.