On the trail of advanced lighting entrepreneurs and manufactures in Michigan, one of the more interesting lighting innovations comes out of a company in Jackson, Michigan. Full Spectrum Solutions, Inc. was founded in the last decade by Michael and Diane Nevins, who were drawn to the health benefits of daylight colored lamps. The Nevins experienced the effects of Malillumination, or lack of natural light, firsthand when they moved from Colorado to Michigan during the winter months. I spent some time on their ‘illuminating’ web site and did a double-take when I saw this! (see photo) This is a real self sustaining lighting system from fullspectrumsolutions.com.
Imagine an out door utility lighting system that is totally off-the-grid using a combination of wind and solar PV to power area lighting for true sustainability in almost any location. This is a 44 ft tower with 500 watt wind turbine and two PV (photo voltaic) 175 watt panels each connected to a battery that powers an outdoor ‘induction’ parking light. Thinking about how nice this would be ‘up north’ at the cabin, I began calculating if these units have enough power to charge a cell phone or laptop too! To see this light in action there is an installation in Buhr Park in Ann Arbor, and also in the parking lot of the Full Spectrum Solutions, world headquarters and manufacturing facility, a LEED certified building, at 2021 Wellworth Ave., in Jackson, MI., 49203. If you can’t visit their WHQ in Jackson, make a virtual visit and check out their online catalog (see link above) and learn more about the health and productivity advantages of high definition ‘full spectrum’ lighting.