Last week Philips Lumec received the great news that two of their products, UrbanScape and MetroScape were finalists in Novae’s 2012 Ecodesign Contest. The mission of the Novae competition is to highlight and reward the best initiatives in ecodesign across the province of Quebec.

Last Sunday, we all had to switch our clocks back from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. The Daylight Saving Time is in fact the principle of advancing time one hour in the spring and backing it up one hour in the fall. Since 2007, we advance the time on the second Sunday in March and we back it up one hour on the first Sunday in November. Previously, we had to do it the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday of October. Do you know why this change was made? [...]

UrbanScape and MetroScape are made of first rate recycled aluminum which does not affect their strength and durability. In addition, we have reduced by 23 % the weight of the luminaires just by making better choices in terms of look and design. This way, we reduce transportation costs and we also facilitate on site the installation. [...]

Thus, in terms of energy consumption, it is interesting to note that Canada finds itself in sixth place behind Ireland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Finland. Canada has reduced its energy consumption by 34% since 1971. The vast geography and its four seasons are the main reasons why Canada remains a major energy consumption country. The report also states that Canada should encourage economic activity that is not at the expense of increased energy consumption. [...]