What is a LED Tube Light?

With advances in technology, whether wireless Internet or state-of-the-art communication systems, accessibility and affordability have meant that working from home is a reality. A home office is considered an important part of a home.

So, how does one go about creating one? Shweta Gupta, Partner, Soulscape Furniture & More advises, "First you need to write down what you will be doing from your home office. Your office space at home could be used for a conference with your team or it could serve as your private corner for very serious work.

Mostly the home office needs a computer linked to the web, printer, scanner and telephone. Some more elaborate ones also need tablets, speakers, mic, camera and gaming consoles. In all, this could mean a lot of cables which must be concealed." The interiors should neither be overly professional and understated nor too loud and informal.

"The office space should be effectively distinct from the home environment. Personal preferences of colour, choice of design and layout, whether contemporary, modern or traditional should be kept in mind. Don't use dark colours; use shades of white, pastel shades of blues and green which will lighten your mood," says Harshawardhan Jayant Honmode, Division Manager for Architectural Markets, 3M India.

It is preferable to have your home office in a designated space where you can work in isolation, away from distractions. Ventilation and natural lighting are the two most important aspects for creating an ideal work environment.

"Make sure that the room has ample doors and windows to let in enough fresh air and sunlight.A bright and airy room makes for an ideal workspace. In case this is not available, then consider investing in full-spectrum lights and using a couple of air-purifying plants. Also consider the use of an AC to maintain air quality and temperature where natural ventilation is not possible. Use carpeting and create barriers to block noise. If you can afford it, consider wiring the walls with the new hybrid telephone cable that mixes traditional copper lines, coaxial cable and fibre-optic technology," says Kochutommen Mathew, Kochuthommen Associates.

It goes without saying that the furniture in the home office needs to be both comfortable and ergonomic. The area also needs some storage to keep your laptop/system, books, CDs and stationery. "The chair used should be ergonomic with height adjustment, tilt and adjustable arms," says Gupta.

Modular fittings work well in this space. "Instead of a real desk, you can opt for one or two dining tables with a comfortable chair. You should have the space to work, so go for the biggest option possible," says Christian Beettjer, Head Design, OMA Living.

"A home office desk unit in durable materials like wood, steel or glass and which integrates compartments for all PC parts and also storage for essential items will help transform your home office into a professional environment.

According to Greenbiz's Michael Ellis, the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) featured a wide assortment of home energy management systems. As Ellis put it, "the home energy management ecosystem is rife with competition across the entire value chain, creating a range of viable solutions for consumers".

Savant Systems is just one company among many to showcase their residential energy management system at the CES.

Their system, called Smart Energy, is a whole-home platform designed for Apple devices, including iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches, rather than control panels.

Savant's Smart Energy System has many automated and controllable features for saving energy.

The system automatically adjusts lighting not only based on motion and occupation sensors, but also in coordination with the amount of sunlight. Residents can use their Apple devices to turn off all intelligent lights when they're not home.

The Smart Energy platform also regulates the home's thermostat based on the outdoor temperature. The system can close the window shades to block out sunlight and keep the home cool in warm weather.

Aside from these automated and intelligent features, residents can control their home's systems remotely using their Apple devices. Also, they can use their iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to track their energy consumption, meaning that they can make adjustments that will optimize their energy savings.

The Savant Smart Energy home energy management system applies to the LEED for Homes rating system. While the LEED for Homes rating system does not currently address home energy management systems, they could contribute points in Innovation in Design (ID).

Clearly, LEED for Homes projects have used home energy management systems for ID credits in the past, because USGBC has created an Innovative Design Request Form specifically for energy management and monitoring systems. A system can contribute 1 or 2 points to a LEED certified home based on its functions.

According to the form, "an energy management system that provides the occupant automated control over various loads in the home" will receive 1 point toward ID.

If the system "provides the occupant with clear and regular feedback on their energy and/or resource usage", it will receive 1 point.

If the system both provides automated control AND provides feedback on energy/resource usage, it will be awarded 2 points.

Since Savant's Smart Energy system can provide both automated control and feedback, it can earn up to 2 points in the LEED for Homes ID credit category.

Arman Ahnood, a researcher at the London Centre for Nanotechnology at University College London is working toward a simple goal: "We can have a mobile phone [that] requires charging less often," Ahnood told a November session at the Materials Research Society's fall meeting in Boston. It might soon be possible to go a week or more without charging a smartphone. And eventually, we might see a phone that never needs to be plugged in.

To extend the time between charges, the London group built a prototype device that converts ambient light into electricity using an array of  solar cells made of thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon that's 
designed to sit beneath the phone's screen. The photovoltaic (PV) cell takes advantage of the smartphone display's large footprint.

In a typical organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, only about 36 percent of the light generated is projected out of the front of the screen, says Ahnood. Much of it escapes at the edges of the OLED, where it is useless. So Ahnood and his colleagues set out to harness this wasted light by putting thin-film PV cells around the display's edges as well.

Making the device work required sidestepping another problem: fluctuations in the voltage provided by the solar cell, which could have damaged the phone's battery. The researchers designed a thin-film transistor circuit to smooth out voltage spikes and extract electricity more efficiently.

And instead of charging the battery directly, which would have involved adding complex circuitry, the London group included a thin-film supercapacitor for intermediate energy storage. This combination of photovoltaics, transistors, and supercapacitor yielded a system with an average efficiency of 11 percent and peak efficiency of 18 percent.

If the PV array converts 5 percent of ambient light to electricity, the energy-harvesting system can generate as much as 165 microwatts per square centimeter under the right lighting conditions. For a typical 3.7-inch smartphone screen, that equates to a maximum power output of 5 milliwatts, "which is quite useful power," says Ahnood, though that's only a fraction of a smartphone's power needs.

There are existing CMOS-based voltage regulators that offer higher efficiency, says Ahnood, but they aren't compatible with the thin-film technology used in smartphone displays. Furthermore, Ahnood's thin-film devices can be fabricated at temperatures below 150 °C on lightweight plastic, making them much more attractive for use in mobile phones, where every gram and every penny is a big deal.

The cellular handset prototype is just one example of such small-scale wireless energy harvesting. Another plug-free power source might be magnetic resonance coupling via an induction coil. Alternating current is run through a coil of conductive material, generating an oscillating magnetic field. That field, in turn, generates a current in a coil embedded in, say, a phone or an MP3 player.

Jun Yu, another researcher with the London Centre for Nanotechnology, told scientists at a separate session of the MRS meeting that the team had designed a flat thin-film coil that could be used as a receiver in a display. It was initially conceived for larger displays, such as those in desktop computers, Yu says. But he doesn't foresee the coil producing enough power to run an entire computer. "A computer has a lot of components, so it requires a lot of power," he says. It should, however, be possible to scale down the magnetic coupling scheme for use in mobile devices.

Local banks and companies were joining the government's power-saving crusade as freezing weather gripped Korea on Friday, sparking fears of a supply shortage.

Subject to a 10-percent mandatory cut in demand and heating limits, most energy-intensive companies have already written their own measures to curtail electricity consumption including power protection systems and backup generators.

"We're trying to curb unnecessary consumption as much as possible because electricity makes up a large part of our bills, thus is closely linked with the company's competitiveness," an official at a major conglomerate said.

Concerns have intensified in recent weeks as a string of technical glitches led to temporarily shutting down some nuclear reactors and power plants in the country's south, lowering electricity reserves by 4.6 million kilowatts.

Early this month, an unexpected blackout struck Ulsan, some 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, forcing hundreds of petrochemical plants including those of SK Energy to halt operations.

Banks have been stepping up safeguards against power outages since massive brownouts in mid-September amid an unusual heat wave.

Although most branches have emergency backup solutions known as uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, the sudden power outages retarded operations at more than 400 branches nationwide and stalled numerous automated teller machines.

Millions of residents and industrial workers suffered inconvenience, slamming the government's failure to give advance notice.

To prevent an electricity crunch, Woori Bank secured two power generator trucks and set up regional networks to help branches borrow extra units at any time.

Hana Bank replaced around 100 units of old UPS systems with new ones this month. It plans to install an independent petrol-fueled generator and separate backup system at its headquarters in downtown Seoul.

KB Kookmin Bank said it has also reinforced its emergency response scheme and UPS solutions at all its branches.

"The UPS system could last two hours so we needed further measures to cope with a possible long-standing blackout," a banking industry official said.

"We're working to have partnership with companies that can help us keep charging and rolling out the system."

Major manufacturers including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group and POSCO also have their own power generators. But they said reducing consumption helps lower their utility bills.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's top shipbuilder, has been running a "peak electricity system," which adjusts power levels of equipment in the shipyard or requests staff assistance in the office via text messages when demand climbs to the top.

Other companies including LG Electronics, GS Group and Kumho Asiana are also carrying out company-wide campaigns. They said they are cutting the use of lighting and office gadgets like printers and copy machines, and switching to high-efficient bulbs or light-emitting diodes.

Decorative lighting in Mid Canterbury oak trees appears to be stunting the growth of their leaves.

Parks and reserves manager David Askin said he had noticed oak trees which had decorative lighting in them did not appear to do so well.

His comments come as the Methven Community Board prepares to increase its decorative lighting programme.

It already has lighting in two town centre oak trees, and is planning to install lighting in another two, near the Methven Heritage Centre.

"It just an observation that I have noticed.

"There could be many factors involved," Mr Askin said.

He was aware of lit deciduous trees in cities in other parts of the world not losing their leaves each winter as they "thought" it was daylight all the time.

But he did not know whether it was the lighting as such causing the issue here, or something else, such as nails in the trunks used to secure an electrical line.

He said the council once had a decorative lighting committee which had a programme to hang lights in some of the large oak trees along the East Street Green about 15 years ago.

But he was not sure how many of the lights still worked today.

A quick observation by the Guardian of a line of nine trees opposite the Guardian building revealed two have power boxes installed for lighting, and both trees do indeed appear to have fewer leaves than the remaining seven. Additionally the leaves appear to be smaller and lighter in colour.

Christchurch Botanic Gardens curator John Clemens was surprised by the observation, and said he was not aware of such a phenomenon occurring anywhere.

His only suggestion was that the lights could be affecting the "day length" as perceived by the trees, changing when the leaves fell off each autumn.

"(But) I don't know whether ornamental lights would be bright enough to do that," he said.

An Electricity Ashburton spokesperson said lights in the trees were turned off some years ago as the trees grew and broke their wires, however, he had noticed some of the lights still worked.

It was not possible to turn each one off individually as they had individual isolators connected into the street light system.

He said one tree had had to have its lights cut from it at one stage because branches were growing into them.
He agreed this also "could well be" an explanation behind fewer leaves on trees.

Two oak tree branches from two separate East Street green trees shows they differ from each other in terms of leaf size and colour. The one on the right is from a tree which has decorative lights installed, the one on the left is from one that doesn’t.

Some houses are just jinxed. That might be the case with this Westco Smart Homes project: a 12,000-square-foot modern-style masterpiece that sits in a perfect location in wealthy Bel Air, Calif.

In the past six years, the house, which was originally designed as an Italian villa, has suffered an indoor fire, a lightning strike and an earthquake. Through all of that, the house has changed ownership, changed contractors and changed developers.

But that’s just the sort of challenge that Westco Smart Homes owner Jack Goldberg likes.

Westco took over the job in 2010 from another integrator who had completed the automation and A/V systems “to about 80 percent.” The $14.9 million home has six bedrooms and nine baths, automated waterfalls, whole-house music, climate control, lighting control, 47 Vantage Bticino Axolute keypads, four in-wall touchpanels (one 10-inch and three 6.5-inch), two 7-inch wireless tablets, seven enclosures with 22 modules and 180-plus lighting loads.

The Vantage InFusion control system also manages the access control to the front gate and is linked to a single CCTV driveway camera. In the backyard, the system drives a Jandy pool and spa controller and four 2,000-watt outdoor heaters.

In terms of audio, there are three 4-zone Vantage Axium systems, some of which are being pre-amped out to Niles amplifiers for large common areas. In all, there are 12 audio zones. From a source standpoint, there is an iPort FS23 in-wall iPod dock. Other equipment includes a Lexicon MC12 processor, Conrad Johnson amps, a Samsung Blu-ray player in the home theater and a Digital Projection projector. The cabling is from AudioQuest and Monster.

The biggest challenges were related to the construction. When the fire happened about two years ago, it tore out most of the center of the house. Also, because there had been so many integrators and owners in the house, and changes of style, there have been a number of philosophical changes as well. Indeed, some of the equipment in the rack is discontinued and old. Some of it was original equipment installed from the beginning of the very first installation.

Other programmed modes are “Chill,” “Party” and “Away.” There are several built-in widgets, including one for the security camera and one to check the weather.

Prior the recent sale of the property, the automation system was set up to allow Realtors to showcase the home with a “Welcome” mode that turns on all the lights, all the zones of audio, the theater and the pool fountain. So within 20 to 30 seconds, the house is a complete showroom.

Other programmed modes are "Chill," "Party" and "Away." There are several built-in widgets, including one for the security camera and one to check the weather.

They also took on key corporate strategy roles themselves on behalf of the 10-member board. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital nominated Wilson and Dowd, who are both restructuring specialists, to Visteon's board in August.

Visteon, the former parts affiliate of Ford Motor Co , has four different businesses: climate control, interiors, electronics and lighting.

But its stakes in South Korea's Halla Climate Control Corp and China's Yanfeng Visteon Automotive Trim Systems are seen as its best assets. Analysts have estimated that these two Asian assets alone could be worth $3 billion to $4 billion, exceeding the roughly $3 billion market value of Visteon.

The board, betting on the view that Visteon has more value in pieces than as a whole, is now examining various options to break up the company, these sources said.

One strategy includes selling or spinning off Visteon's 70 percent stake in Halla, as well as its 50 percent stake in Yanfeng, these people said.

Another option would see Visteon sell most of its assets except Halla to become a pure-play climate control supplier with strong exposure to fast-growing South Korean automakers, they said. Halla makes air conditioning and heating systems for vehicles and counts Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp as its major customers.

A Visteon spokesman said: "The board is unified in its desire to have Visteon succeed and is aligned with the management in its commitment to deliver to shareholders."

Wilson, who advised the Obama administration on the 2009 bankruptcy restructuring of General Motors Co , and Dowd did not immediately return calls for comment. Alden declined to comment.

Visteon is one of scores of auto suppliers that went bankrupt in the last few years only to emerge in the hands of hedge funds and distressed investors. A stalled recovery in U.S. auto sales and the economy has made it tough for some of the short-term investors to cash out of their investments.

Other auto suppliers such as Cooper Standard Holdings Inc and Federal Mogul tried to sell this year but failed as financing remained challenging, while Wilbur Ross' auto company, International Automotive Components Group, has postponed a public offering initially targeted for 2011.

Visteon management has previously argued against a breakup of the company, and instead put its smaller lighting business, which accounts for less than 10 percent of revenue, on the block earlier this summer, the sources said.

Visteon's long-time financial adviser Rothschild has been advising on the lighting business sale and is now also helping the company review a potential sale of other low-margin businesses such as interiors, the people said.