I recently attended OUTPATIENT 100, a gathering of C-level healthcare executives from across the country, where Tec Inc. was a Participant Level Sponsor. Held near Dallas, Texas, the event brought together more than 200 executives for educational and networking opportunities. Keynote speakers included former Health and Human Services Director Tommy Thompson; Joel Allison, President & CEO of Baylor Health Systems; and Wayne Sensor, President & CEO of Alegent Health. As you might imagine, healthcare reform was the major topic of conversation. While no one can be sure yet what healthcare reform might look like, every speaker agreed that healthcare in America is going to change dramatically and healthcare organizations need to be proactive rather than waiting for and reacting to change. There was overwhelming agreement with the assessment that up to 40% of the cost of healthcare is attributable to waste. A simple thing like hand-washing could have a dramatically positive effect on patient health and subsequently the cost to deliver healthcare to the masses. Change is coming!
We’re making progress on the office expansion. The lights are in. The lunchroom walls are painted, storage room walls are painted, with the exception of one that requires some additional preparation. The restrooms are half painted - the walls where the plumbing fixtures will be installed are ready to go.
The plumber will be here this week to install the hot water tank and plumbing fixtures. The restroom partitions will be installed in a couple weeks. Floor covering won’t be selected or installed until after the first of the year - have to pay some other bills first. (The floors look dusty, but it is actually just dried overspray from ceiling)
We’re celebrating Boss’ Day today.
In 2007 Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act. The legislation was created to foster energy independence and encourage production of more efficient technology. Unfortunately, the Act, in effect, also bans the incandescent lamp as we know it. The Act mandates efficiencies that currently have not yet been achievable with an incandescent source by any manufacturers. The efficiency standards will be phased in starting in 2012 with additional limits set in 2014 and 2020. The legislation promotes the use of less flexible technologies such as self-ballasted compact fluorescent lamps and LEDs. The self-ballasted screw-in CFL’s have a lower color rendering index than the incandescent lamps they are replacing, they are not fully dimmable, many cannot be used in universal operating positions and the optics are completely different - meaning lumen to lumen, they just don’t match up. LED’s are still in their infancy, and the industry has just started to develop standards and testing methods for solid state lighting. LED’s by nature are a point source and are not be the best fit for all general lighting applications. Not to mention the lack of standards for dimming and replacement. By 2012, the EISA standards will be mandatory. New amendments for further efficiency requirements have already been proposed for additional lamp types. 
As the country moves toward creating a sound energy policy, more legislation of the lighting industry has occurred. The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) organized the Energy & Sustainability Committee as a method to participate in the process. “The E & S Committee’s purpose is to provide the expertise of IALD lighting designers to address lighting-related aspects of sustainable design and operations of the built environment. The work of the committee will be tested against the IALD’s definition of Sustainable Lighting Design: Sustainable lighting design meets the qualitative needs of the visual environment with the least impact on the natural environment.” Committee members serve on the review boards for ASHRAE, IECC and LEED and actively review new legislation in draft forms. In the past year, the committee has presented a position statement on the Federal Energy Bill - Standards for Energy Efficient Outdoor Lighting; and the IALD has signed a partnership to work with the US Department of Energy to “work cooperatively toward improving the efficient use of energy by lighting equipment and systems”.
As a lighting designer, I do believe, that a lighting system can only be sustainable if it truly satisfies not just energy requirements, but meets the qualitative needs of the occupants and creates harmony with the architecture. Examples of this persist and can be easily seen where office workers have removed the fluorescent tubes from the parabolics overhead. Studies and research in the field of lighting have taught us that better lighting improves worker efficiency and promotes a feeling of positive well-being. But if the toolkit keeps getting smaller, the challenge to meet our directives of thoughtful and sustainable lighting become more and more difficult.
As a member of the IALD Energy & Sustainability committee, I will be traveling to Washington, DC to meet with the offices of Senate and House members serving on the Energy and Commerce committees and additional subcommittees. I will be joined by fellow IALD E&S committee member and Lighting Designer, David Ghatan of CM Kling & Associates from Alexandria, VA and the IALD’s Policy Director John Martin. Our goal is to foster a dialogue between IALD Lighting Designers and our elected officials, to create a partnership with a sustainable future we can all benefit from. Stay tuned for updates from our initial meeting.
Saturday, October 3rd was the annual Tec Golf Outing for the office held at Little Mountain Country Club. We had seven participants from the office and filled the eighth spot with our insurance broker. Although a bit chilly, the weather held out. Heavy rain the night before left the condition of course quite soggy and “cart path only.” Format was two-man scramble with teams created based on handicaps or estimates if no handicap was available.
The Results:
Low-score - 78 - Terry Kilbourne and Fred Gaiser
Second Place - 81 - Jaime Jasinski and Adam Kilbourne
Low Putts - 25 - Tim Pool and Steve Bohn
The 18th Green at Little Mountain C.C.
I took my car in for service yesterday and took a loaner/rental car from the dealer. They brought over a Toyota Prius. This is the first hybrid I have driven - I can’t even recall riding in a hybrid before.
The Prius certainly looks unusual, but all the basics are like any other car - doors, seats, radio, etc. Many new cars have the “push button start”, but in other cars, when you push the button, you hear the car start. In the Prius, when you push the start button, the dashboard lights up, but you don’t hear much else.
The transmission lever is quite different. It’s a little handle mounted on the front of the dashboard. Move the lever left, then down to put the car in Drive. Move it left and up to put the car in Reverse. The lever springs back to the original position automatically. Depress the gas pedal and the car whispers along at low acceleration. If you accelerate, the gas engine kicks in to help, then it begins to sound like a regular car. The most unsettling experience for a newbie to hybrid cars is stopping at a traffic light and the engine shuts off. The car sits quietly as if it stalled. Depress the gas pedal and it gets going again.
When driving at speed the computer in the car seems to determine when is the optimal time to switch between gas and electric. At higher speed or uphill, the gas engine kicks in. In the car I have, there is a slight skip when the engine switches to electric and back to gas, but otherwise the ride is not bad for a small car.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad car to have as a rental. I look forward to the day when there is a larger selection of hybrids to choose from, then maybe I’ll buy one.