Lighting Designer Qualifications

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The National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professionals has a certification for lighting professionals. http://www.ncqlp.org/
But like any other certification, PE, electrician, etc., experience and work ethic make a big difference on the level of skill of those certified.
 
RR, I can't think of how many times I have tad to tell a "Lighting Designer" about Title 24, and get the "I've never heard of such a thing" look.
 
Another thing good lighting can do is if you exceed the energy load requirements on a building design/installation, the owner qualifies for a federal tax rebate. Efficient lighting= less power=more money for owner and you. Some of the rebates can be quite substantial to the owner and a great way for the electrical engineer or remodeler to get better fees. The rebate levels are slightly more rigorous than the Florida Building Code and are scaled. 1.13 Va /square foot. Better energy usage, bigger % rebate. It will be ending in 2007, but a great way to help your owners/clients get more bang for their buck by using your expertise.
 
The whole lumens vs. watts issue and the various control methods are the numerical puzzles that engineers like to try to solve. The other major portion of lighting design is in designing the asthetics side of it. Finding the right looking fixtures is one challenge. Finding the right light intensity, color, and illuminating the space to highlight the architecture is a lot more difficult (IMHO). That is where engineers (myself included) struggle and some lighting designers / consultants excel. The real challenge is ballancing both the technical side with the aesthic side. I can teach you to lay out 2x4 troffers to meet code in few hours. I think where the experience that everyone is talking about is required is for the aesthetic issues.

On a more important topic. Finally this forum has gotten to a topic I know something about. It only took me 200 posts to get there. What is this crazy talk about good scotch needing 20 years. Have you ever had 18 year old McCallan? $160.00 a bottle and worth every drop. Look; you could buy 20' of 500mcm copper or go with aluminum and get a great bottle of single malt scotch. I think I just made the best argument for Aluminum wire yet on this forum. Now, where can I put single malt wiskey in the specs????
 
sceepe said:
Finally this forum has gotten to a topic I know something about. It only took me 200 posts to get there. What is this crazy talk about good scotch needing 20 years. Have you ever had 18 year old McCallan? $160.00 a bottle and worth every drop.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had the same reaction but was afraid to respond and get the thread too far off topic. :)

18 yr old Lagavulin is one of the finest scotches released for general consumption. I have an 18 yr old Talisker that's pretty hard to beat, too. So I'm willing to allow that a good scotch only needs slightly better than 17 years in the barrel to be fit for human consumption. :) :)

I think Charlie would agree that 18 years in the field is a good start for any lighting designer, too.
 
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