The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is holding a special exhibition entitled Smart Home: Green + Wired, which includes a “real, three-story modular and sustainable home in the Museum’s own backyard.” Going on until January 3, 2010, the Smart Home features everything green, from building materials to furniture. One of the products inside the house is the Z-Bar High Power LED Desk Lamp by Koncept.

Z-Bar High Power LED Desk Lamp. Manufactured by Koncept Technologies.

This is a brighter version of the original Z-Bar LED Desk Lamp that won multiple awards in 2007, including Time Magazine’s Best Invention of the Year. At the Museum, the Z-Bar High Power LED Desk Lamp graces a glass-topped metal desk in a small office space beneath a staircase. The contrast between the older desk and the newer lamp (in silver) plays well with the rest of the Smart Home, which carries an eclectic design sensibility throughout—proving that hi-tech doesn’t have to be cold. And while the Z-Bar High Power LED Desk Lamp is available in a Daylight model comparable to fluorescent lights, it also comes in a Warm-White model.

The Warm-White model mimics the quality of regular incandescent bulbs, creating a softer light that still works extremely well for task lighting. Using higher wattage LEDs than the original Z-Bar, the High Power Z-Bar saves energy, emits more light, and lasts longer. Like the original, the High Power version generates little heat—a benefit of LED generally, as is the case with the competitive Airline and Tunto lamps. The great thing about the new High Power Z-Bar LED Desk Lamp is that its intensity is tempered by a 4-step dimmer, so you can adjust the amount of light needed as natural light changes throughout the day. The Z-Bar Lamp itself can sit on your desk or be mounted to the desk’s edge, saving valuable space. With a color choice of silver, metallic black, or red, Z-Bar works in virtually any environment. If you’re in Chicago to see the Smart Home exhibition, you can also catch Koncept’s contemporary LED lamps at NeoCon09, where you can examine the two lighting options—Daylight and Warm-White—and decide which works best for your needs.