BeeP Blog

I was in awe this week at Lightfair 2010. With record attendance, it was the largest Lightfair ever. And some of the biggest news came from Blue Practice client Lemnis Lighting. Lemnis announced a whole suite of Pharox consumer LED bulbs aimed at making it simple for consumers to swap out all the most common inefficient incandescents and mercury-ladden CFLs in their homes, with retrofit bulbs that will burn for 25 years and use on average 85% less energy. Warner Philips is a born spokesman (being the great-grandson of the founder of lighting giant Philips Electronics, one might say lighting is in his blood) so it was a delight to see him connecting with lighting enthusiasts and journalists eager to discuss how Lemnis has been able to sell 2.5 Million LEDs in 2009, be named to Fast Company’s Top 10 Consumer Products list for 2010 and participate with the Clinton Climate Initiative, all while revolutionizing lighting products with much warmer colors of light (the Pharox Flame series) and one of the brightest bulbs on the market (the Pharox 500).

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SPUR  (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research) is a San Francisco gem. I became involved with SPUR’s newly formed Young Urbanist group aimed at the under 40 age group several years ago while still at EDAW, a global planning firm because I was fascinated by the influence the group was able to have on local public policy. The Young Urbanist series of events are held after work in SPUR’s SOMA urbalism museum and always draw a great crowd of smart, inquisitive citizens.

Last week I had the privilege of inviting CEO Jason Kibbey of Blue Practice client PACT to participate in a Young Urbanist event focused on “doing good through economic activism” as part of a panel discussion.

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We’d like to extend a warm welcome to our newest Blue Practitioner, Pete Johnson. Pete comes to us with a background in higher education, book publishing and journalism, although with a botanist grandfather and an environmentalist father, he’s always been a greenie at heart. Pete was raised on Long Island in the long shadow of Manhattan, and has been living in and exploring San Francisco for six years. He considers himself a fervent “San Frangelist”.

Pete is up for long conversations about urban renewal and planning issues and enjoys art, music, biking, hiking, and photographing the rich urban landscape of San Francisco.