Ruth tells Webster and Ron how PNNL (Pacific Northwest National Laboratories) has focused for years on solid state lighting research, but has now seen the value of controls and is now focusing on that. They’ve gone into the field to see what happens in real time. Ruth expected that the research would be about the technology but she discovered that it’s really about people, or, more to the point, the intersection of people and technology. You know if PNNL is looking at it, it’s going to grow in importance! Ruth Taylor currently serves as a program manager on the Advanced Lighting Team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where she manages the Next Generation Lighting Systems (NGLS) Program. NGLS uses “Living Labs” to conduct observational research in real-world settings—indoors at Parsons School of Design in New York City and outdoors at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia. NGLS is gathering valuable information on how systems are installed and configured, how well they perform, and how users operate them with the goal of identifying approaches that work, revealing needed improvements, and publishing findings for the benefit of the lighting community.
