Cooper Lighting Solutions / Jyoti Kumar and Glenn Siegel

LED lighting from Cooper lasts up to 23 years!

Why is lighting so important to the sustainability of a building? 

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Transcript

Cory Connors: 0:15

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guests are Glenn Siegel, the Director of Product Management, and Jyoti Kumar, the director of Engineering for Cooper Lighting. How are you both today? Real good. Doing great. Joti, if you don't, if you don't mind, telling us a little bit about your background

Jyoti Kumar: 0:37

first. Sure. thank you Corey. My name is Jyoti Kumar. I'm the engineering leader for Connected Residential Solutions at Cooper Lighting Solution. I've been here with the company for 14 years and I'm mechanical engineering by trade.

Cory Connors: 0:54

Wonderful. Thank you so much, Glenn, how about you sir?

Glenn Siegel: 0:57

Corey, Thank you so much, Corey, for having us today. I've been with the company now going on almost 39 years. I've held, positions in sales, marketing, and now product management. obviously seen the lighting industry. change over those decades. it, has never stopped the innovation and, the way applications the customers are looking for have also evolved, but has kept it interesting over, over that time period.

Cory Connors: 1:26

Glen, this industry that you're in has really innovated and has really moved into more sustainable lighting, as in, in a major way, recently, but, over the years constantly changing. Can you tell us a little bit about the history, Glen of Cooper Lighting?

Glenn Siegel: 1:45

So, I haven't been around as long as the company has been in existence, but I'm sure back up. halo started back in 1956, as a standalone company and then was acquired, over time by different corporations. and now we are part of Signify, which is actually the largest lighting manufacturer worldwide. And, what makes this fantastic is this is really the first time that the lighting group that Halo is part of, is now part of just a lighting company. So, the innovation, and again, is why we're on this call about sustainability are really the hallmarks of our company. and really the best example of. where this has been part of our D n A over time Halo introduced the world's first. the world's first. Yeah. energy star, compliant. L e d, downlight. Now, when you think about that, l e d now just seems to be what we all know and, rely on. We were the world's first. So again, you think about all the things that l e D has done Yeah. to our world at this point. And we focus on designing products for our customers, whether they're builders or contractors. and we get affirmation that we're doing the right things. we've actually won for 24 years in a row. Builder Magazine runs a, survey and for 24 years in a row, halo has been voted number one by that community, that, over and over again for brand preference, quality, most used. And again, that just tells us. We must be doing some things right? Yeah. and again, we cover both residential and commercial, construction as a company, and we sell through both electrical distributors, retail, online brick and mortar and, again, nationwide. So, halo has been a staple in our industry and certainly is now part of signify. you can see again that, we definitely have a keen eye towards sustainability and the market, and making sure that we're doing the right thing for the market.

Cory Connors: 4:03

Yeah, well said. I was really impressed with your packaging and that's why I reached out to your team to try to set this meeting up because it's not only is the, Item sustainable. It's an, it's a replacement for, an incandescent light bulb that burns out quickly and, is not as sustainable for the environment as the l e d option, but your packaging was so sustainable right down to the, sachet for the, screws was made out of paper. I thought, oh, I gotta reach out to these people. So well done. Keep up the great work. And, I'd really like to know a little bit more about, some of the sustainable trends in the industry. g o t, can you fill us in on that and where you're at on there?

Jyoti Kumar: 4:49

Sure Corey. so let's take a step back and understand the history. Yeah. So in the past, lighting industry has been one of the prime contributors of energy consumption and carbon emissions. However, sustainable building trends, they have been pushing the industry in the direction of environmentally friendly practices. The lighting industry has been adopting these green technologies to promote energy efficiency and to decrease the carbon footprint among these technologies. As you talked about l e D, which is the light emitting diodes right? they are the most widely adopted due to their low energy consumption and their longer lifespan. LEDs can last up two 70 a thousand hours compared to an incon land, that just last up to a thousand hours. Regulators have been adopting policies, that promote energy consumption, and conservation. And the environmental sustainability. These regulations include California's Tile 20, tile 24 Energy Star Program, United States EISA , which stands for Energy Independence and Security Act. Legislation wipa the, production of incandescent lamps certifications, on the other hand, have become very instrumental to promoting sustainable building trends. organizations like lead, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Certification Program and the Well Building Standards, they have emerged offering cert certifications to promote sustainable building through adoption of efficient lighting solution. In conclusion, if I'll put this together, sustainable building trends, in the lighting industry is driven by the need to promote energy efficient use, reduce carbon footprint, and to improve environmental sustainability. Green technologies like LEDs. Sustainable regulation and the certification have been instrumental in promoting sustainability. And the adoption of these practices will not only enhance environmental sustainability, but also lead to significant cost savings over the life of the building.

Cory Connors: 7:02

That's a great point. Not only is it better for the environment, it's a huge cost savings and. Some of these light fixtures are so hard to get to. You have to bring in scaffolding, to a, to an office building where it's a, in a hallway above a stair or something like that. And, if you don't wanna change that light bulb every year, switching to a, an, co Cooper l e d light is a much smarter way to do it. Did you really say it's 70,000 hours? Yes. 70,000. That's incredible. How many have you done the math? How many years is that?

Glenn Siegel: 7:39

Well, it's six hours a day. that's 23 years from now. That's incredible. So, yeah, we'll do, and that's basically how we look at it. and the reality of it. it's still gonna put out light at 70,000 hours. that's the point here is that, it. Really is generational lighting, basically how we look at it today. in fact, Joe T is building products that, change the color temperature so you can change, in the field. Now, it used to be you would pick a color temperature, and that's what you had for the lifetime of the l e d. Now, Jo t has built in the ability to have multiple color temperatures just by changing a switch. On the product. So as we age, our visual acuity goes down. and so we really, it's better the higher the color brightness, to see better. And so you might start out in a, in your home with a warm color temperature because. It looks great and you can see everything super. And then, 20, 30 years down the road when you're going, I'd like it to be brighter in here. Yeah. Actually just change the switch over time and not have to change out the entire fixture. So really phenomenal innovation, that's coming out of, signify and halo, to do these things. Which again is sustainable because now you don't have to get rid of the fixture. you just change the

Cory Connors: 9:04

switch. That's incredible. and such a great point. you can change the whole feel and look of a house or wherever these are installed, just with the flip us of a switch on the back of this fixture and what I was so impressed with, For the fixture that I purchased, you didn't even need to install a new fixture. You just screwed it into the socket where the bulb used to go, and it slid right in. You can see it right over my head. There's one of your products and it's, it looks beautiful. It looks like it's, built in the house and it's just incredible. So, well, well said and well done. Let's talk a little bit about why is there such an increase on the focus of sustainability? G O t, if you could speak to that a little bit. you mentioned some, go ahead, Glen.

Glenn Siegel: 9:57

Do you want me to pick this one up or?

Jyoti Kumar: 9:59

Yeah.

Glenn Siegel: 10:00

about the company? Okay. Yeah. So, Cory, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring our c e o, Eric Ron lot into the conversation cuz it really starts from the top down. As I said, we are a lighting company through and through. And, which is great because then you have that. That affirmation throughout the entire organization quoting Mr. Ron, because I think this is pretty important, brighter Lives, better World is not a standalone program. It is hardwired into our purpose, our strategy in the way we do business, and we need to address some important challenges of our time, climate change, resource scarcity, population growth, and urbanization. So I wanted to. Bring that quote into the conversation because that's really how we look at this as a company. And it's all phases of our production, whether it's our products or services. Our focus on sustainability, and here's some pretty cool facts. our production has zero waste to landfill since 2020. Oh, wow. more than 70% carbon emissions reduction since 2010. 27% of our revenues come from lighting innovations that increase food availability, safety and security, and health and wellbeing. And then 29% of our revenues come from circular products, systems or services. So this is pretty, interesting. We are now creating lighting fixtures that are 3D printed. I knew that would, pique your interest there. And again, this circular economy and being able to, is, we just talked about how long LEDs last, but the reality of it is that, Taste change and, when you look at commercial installations, retail store construction, things like that, where they want the look of that particular store to change depending on who the client is or the tenant or a hotel or whatever. And now these fixtures, the actual shrouds and parts and pieces, can be reused, that material can be broken down and reused to create new lighting fixtures in the future. So the 3D printed really is that next huge leap, for us go going forward, and again, give our customers our specifiers and the end users. All throughout the process of construction. Yeah. What they want. and that's, and at the same time, be very friendly to the environment. and again, at the bottom line, as I said, our mission is to make people's lives brighter and create a better world. So, that excellent gives you an idea of where the genesis and that, what we believe in.

Cory Connors: 12:56

Yeah. Well said. And the circular economy is the future. Absolutely. it's exciting to think about how these raw materials can be reused and recycled in perpetuity. Jodi, I noticed you've got a few boxes behind you there of the product. Yes. Do you wanna show the, the audience here, what we're looking at? Yes. I feel like, your packaging is very sustainable. I'd love to focus on that a little

Jyoti Kumar: 13:21

bit. Agreed. and as Glen mentioned, right, we are taking several actions and today I'm very excited to highlight one of the initiative that we are doing is the Plastic Free Initiative. ocean Pollution. We don't think about it much, but then, it has become a global environmental issue every year. If you think about it, 2 billion tons of plastic waste is produced. And a 70% increase is predicted by 2050 8 million tons of this plastic ends up in ocean every year killing marine birds. And this plastic waste, it has a negative impact on our planet and its biodiversity. And to help fight, the global plastic waste issue, we are taking a huge step in phasing out plastic from our. Consumer PA product packaging. So I'm super proud that I'm working in an organization that is taking a leading role and has started on the plastic free initiative in signify. We have pledged to avoid the use of over 2,500 tons of plastic every year. I. So to put in perspective, it is filling up 1500 garbage truck with plastic. Wow. This is the right thing to do and it needs the increasing expectations of our, customers on Halo packaging. As you see here, we subs, we used to have these plastic windows, if you, can see the image over here, and we substituted that with a very high resolution image, so it does the exact same thing. But it's very sustainable. Now you can recycle this package because of this plastic window. You couldn't recycle it. Yep. Then we took this accessory bag, that had all the accessories in it. that plastic bag is now replaced with, biodegradable solution of a paper bag. So the same thing, but we are started using a more biodegradable, environmentally friendly solutions halo. Just new product. what we have done is illuminated the use of plastic, which is all almost over hundred tons. Wow. Which is two 220,000 pounds of plastic from our PA packaging. phasing out plastic, is a further way of driving our sustainability in our business, and it's another milestone in our brighter lives, better world sustainability program.

Cory Connors: 15:45

That's amazing. Incredible job. And it's exactly what we're talking about with our clients about how to reduce, how to eliminate plastic where you can, like you said, that window is not necessary. When I bought those at, Lowe's, I opened the box to see and make sure it's the right color. But the box was easy to open. It was easy to re-close, and it looked amazing. And, just right out of the box it worked and I felt it felt good to be able to put all of the packaging in the recycle bin. So well done. So happy

Glenn Siegel: 16:20

to hear. Kind of, add to that, yeah, we, we do quite a bit of business with the professional channel and, we were getting feedback from, our clients that dun and the cost of. Breaking apart the plastic from the, the corrugated wa cost them money. And also they had to pay to have it, taken away. So a another, feedback point from our customer base. That it, it made sense not only from the sustainability, but then their costs and to reduce the cost that, that they were paying. we are going to more and more multi-packs as well. So instead of having individual packs, we're taking products and, putting 6, 12, 18, 24, units within a single master pack. So again, to reduce that, that waste. of the, even of the paper products. So

Cory Connors: 17:18

yeah, it, that's an excellent point. Yeah. Very important to think about. The contractor pack as we, as it's normally called on the shelf at the store or even the industrial pack, which maybe doesn't need printing at all. can be a craft RSC and, no, no printing needed because the people installing them. They know what they look like. Right. So well done. Sounds like you're making the right moves. Anything else that we want to cover in this discussion?

Glenn Siegel: 17:48

Jot anything else or.

Jyoti Kumar: 17:51

Yeah, just wanted to close it, saying that, Hey, this plastic free initiative is not just a standalone program, with the United States. A United Nations sustainable Development goals, that is our strategic compass, and we launched our brighter lives. Sustainability program, which kicked off in September, 2020. We are making progress in our commitments, to double our positive impact on the environment and society. we are providing solutions that address the important, challenges of our time, for bar bright lives and variable reshape the needs of our customers, employees, and the society we live in at signify. We are the mission to make people's lives brighter and to create a better world with an environmentally friendly

Cory Connors: 18:41

light. Well said. What a great way to end this. Thank you so much, Jodi. This has been awesome. Thank you Glenn. Really appreciate your wisdom and I'd like to thank Orora Packaging for sponsoring this podcast. If you're listening, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next episode, and stay tuned for more. Thank you.