Guiding Principles

The mission of Daylighting Innovations is to provide innovative daylighting-related services within a sustainable design context, with an overall goal of improving the energy performance, functionality, and the indoor visual environment of our buildings.  This goal drives our services: general sustainable design consulting, new and retrofit building daylighting consulting, lighting designs, daylighting research, daylighting product development, educational services, and energy modeling, optimization, and analysis.

Our planet is being pushed to the limits due to our rapidly expanding human population.  Her finite resources are depleting at an alarming rate.  It is of utmost importance that we figure out how the 7 billion + of us can live in harmony with our mother earth, in a sustainable manner that leaves future generations the same resources and opportunities.  Much of this responsibility falls on developed countries where we are consuming more per capita than any other civilization in history.  Ecological footprint analyses will tell you that if everyone consumed at the rate of the average American, we would need 4+ planets of resources.

Our lifestyle is clearly not sustainable but can be made more so through the efficient use of our natural resources, through dietary and lifestyle changes which reduce dependence on consumption, and through cooperation, collaboration, and ingenuity.  The timing is becoming critical as our dependence on non-renewable energy (namely natural gas, oil and coal) is already starting to have devastating effects on our environment.  To get there we need to be diligent and focused in implementing ideas of sustainability in all areas of our lives, from farming to business to construction to entertainment.

These ideas of sustainability drive all operations at Daylighting Innovations LLC.

History

Founded by Zack Rogers in 2010 as a sustainable design outlet, Daylighting Innovations is an engineering firm in Lafayette, CO. Zack’s interest in sustainability and the built environment was instilled at an early age.  After finishing his Architectural Engineering degree at the University of Colorado in Boulder with a focus on the general sustainability of our built environment and lighting design, Zack joined Architectural Energy Corporation (AEC) and their sustainable design assistance (SDA) group in 2000.  While with the SDA group, Zack gained experience with sustainable and energy-efficient building design and engineering practices.  During this time, Zack developed a daylighting team within the SDA group with a stronger focus on daylighting analysis and design.  Zack led this daylighting team, growing to 4 people, until the summer of 2008.

While working with AEC, Zack helped develop the award-winning LightLouver daylighting system and commercialize the product by establishing LightLouver LLC in 2004. Zack provides technical support and development services for this company since its inception and managed the day-to-day business activities from 2004-2007. Zack continues to provide technical and engineering support for LightLouver and optical development. A new LightLouver 3.0 product has been under development and in 2018 resulted in 2 new US patents, as well as patents in Mexico, Canada and India.

While working at AEC, Zack developed the award-winning Sensor Placement + Optimization Tool (SPOT) software aimed at bridging the gaps between good daylighting design and intent and the electric lighting and controls design ("Daylight Harvesting").  The SPOT software suite continues to be developed with the latest version, SPOT Pro v5.3 released in January of 2022.

After AEC, Zack joined the sustainably-minded electrical and lighting design firm Integrated Design Associates, Inc (IDeAs - now part of Integral Group) based out of San Jose, CA. This move reflected his interest in gaining more experience providing design engineering services and integrating daylighting design with electric lighting and control design.  For 2 years Zack established and co-managed the Colorado office for IDeAs working on a number of highly sustainable, zero-energy projects throughout California and in Colorado.

Daylighting Innovations, LLC was formed in 2010 to provide innovative daylighting analysis and design services to project teams in a flexible and integrated way.  Since its inception, Daylighting Innovations has been involved in commercial daylighting projects around the country and a variety of daylighting research activities.  Zack has remained involved in various professional activities over the years including Illumination Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) daylighting committees and Collaborative for High-Performance Schools committees.  

In January of 2012, Daylighting Innovations, LLC established headquarters in beautiful downtown Lafayette.  Along with this move, Zack began as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, teaching a graduate-level course on Daylighting in the Architectural, Civil and Environmental Engineering department of the Engineering School.