A collaborative effort among California’s Public Interest Energy Research program, the California Lighting Technology Center, and several manufacturers resulted in a dimmable downlighting design based on an indirect optical design that reduces glare, decreases installation time, smooths out light-emitting diode color variations, and improves thermal management. A commercialized-version product draws about half the power of a typical compact florescent downlight system, provides 41 lumens per watt, and offers an estimated life of 50,000 hours—five times longer than the typical compact fluorescent lightbulb.