LUX
TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL
MAY 2015 | ISSUE 45 | www.luxreview.com
Is there anything lights can’t do? Now they’ve joined the internet of things, it looks like the answer is no
Target’s LED-powered location system
TRIED & TESTED: LED BULKHEADS
PLUS »
We test out 10 LED replacements for 2D fittings
O THE GRAPHENE BULB O LIGHTING FOR ART O LIGHT AS A SERVICE O POWER OVER ETHERNET OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF
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EDITOR’S COMMENT 05
Welcome to the future
ROBERT BAIN EDITOR
L
KATHRINE ANKE DEPUTY EDITOR
ooking back, it’s hard to pinpoint the moment when the lighting world went completely bonkers. If you’d said a few years ago that your lights could be controlled remotely from a mobile phone, or could track people around a shop, or could sense demand on the grid and switch to battery power automatically, you’d have been burned as a witch. But now all these things are happening, and plenty more besides. Of course, ever since LEDs appeared, the lighting business has gone a little bit crazy – startling new product designs; energy savings of 70, 80 or 90 per cent; tunable colour... But the latest changes in lighting take things to a whole new level. As we were putting together this special edition of Lux x focusing on the technology behind lighting, there were moments when I wondered if it was actually a magazine about lighting, or something more. Because light is just one of the things that today’s lighting products can do. Companies are now bringing connectivity, sensing and intelligence into LED products. It’s all part of the emerging ‘internet of things’, in which all sorts of everyday devices, including lights, are connected to the internet. What’s exciting about this isn’t just that it will make our lights more efficient and more useful, but also that the light fittings in our ceilings could become the
ALAN TULLA TECHNICAL EDITOR
MARK HALPER ONLINE NEWS EDITOR
RAY MOLONY PUBLISHER
GORDON ROUTLEDGE CONTRIBUTOR
DAVE TILLEY CONTRIBUTOR
LIZ PECK CONTRIBUTOR
LUX
TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL
MAY 2015 | ISSUE 45 | www.luxreview.com
Is there anything lights can’t do? Now they’ve joined the internet of things, it looks like the answer is no
Target’s LED-powered location system
TRIED & TESTED: LED BULKHEADS
PLUS »
We test out 10 LED replacements for 2D fittings
O THE GRAPHENE BULB O LIGHTING FOR ART O LIGHT AS A SERVICE O POWER OVER ETHERNET OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF
Cover: Lighting and the internet of things – see page 39
www.luxreview.com
Twitter @lux_magazine
LinkedIn linkd.in/lightingtalk
backbone of a network of sensors and cameras that will make our buildings smarter and safer. In this issue, we look at how the internet of things will change the lighting industry (see page 39). If you’re baffled by all this internet of things talk, skip straight to page 124 for Lux’s handy Jargonbuster. We also check out some of the latest lighting technologies and innovations, including the graphene LED bulb, power systems for lighting that take drivers out of the picture (page 52), and location systems based on visible light communication (page 18). New technology is influencing the business models behind lighting too – and on page 44 we look at how light can now be delivered on a ‘pay as you go’ basis. And don’t forget to stay tuned to Luxreview.com, which is where you’ll find our latest breaking news, exclusive analysis, standout case studies, product reviews, practical advice and video reports. And if you haven’t already, sign up for our regular e-newsletters. Enjoy the issue. Robert Bain Editor
Upcoming Lux specials Transport, outdoor and industrial – June LuxLive preview – October
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– For us, every year is the international year of light ROBERT BAIN Editor robert.bain@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387 07720 677 538
PETER ROWLEDGE Commercial director peter.rowledge@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387 07740 110261
JAMES POUNTNEY Sector marketing specialist (OEM, controls, emergency) james.pountney@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
KATHRINE ANKER Deputy editor k.anker@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
ROBERTA BONTEMPO Sector marketing specialist (retail, hospitality and leisure, residential) roberta.bontempo@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
MIRIAM HIER Events manager miriam.hier@luxmagazine.co.uk 07882 224682
RAY MOLONY Publisher ray.molony@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387 07834 990577
ANDREW BOUSFIELD Sector marketing specialist (industrial, outdoor, transport) andrew.bousfield@luxmagazine.co.uk 07713 567290
JUDY KENNY Art editor e: judy.kenny@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
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06 IN THIS ISSUE
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IN THIS ISSUE 07
Target leads the way with in-store location systems – powered by LED lights Page 18 www.luxreview.com
08 IN THIS ISSUE
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IN THIS ISSUE 09
Daylight and artiďŹ cial light in balance at this Sydney warehouse Page 55 www.luxreview.com
10 IN THIS ISSUE
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IN THIS ISSUE 11
How LEDs are changing the way we see art Page 66 www.luxreview.com
12 CONTENTS
44
61
7 Lux Technology Special, 2015 Features
News and views News News analysis Your views Opinion Gordon Routledge Ray Molony Interview: Alan Mitchell Interview: Paul Glennie Named and shamed Batwing
16 18 22 24 30 32 34 36 110 130
THE 11 BIGGEST TRENDS
COVER STORY THE INTERNET OF THINGS
SCHIPHOL AIRPORT
ALAN MITCHELL, SOUTHAMPTON UNI
www.luxreview.com
34
How this Belgian police station has adopted an innovative power system for its lights
55
PROJECT: MONTFORTHAUS, AUSTRIA 61 39
New LED lighting at a cultural centre
LIGHTING FOR ART
66
Seeing the world’s most famous artworks with fresh eyes under LED lights 44
Amsterdam’s airport adopts a pay-as-you-go lighting solution
The most difficult An LED refit at the UK supermarket saves thing to deal with in 52% on energy bills my job is that people PROJECT: JUMET POLICE STATION don’t like change”
PROJECT: YUSEN LOGISTICS How this Sydney warehouse adopted energy-saving lighting
...and how it’s about to turn the lighting world on its head
PROJECT: ICELAND
‘‘
14
We reveal the hottest trends running through the world of lighting technology right now
THE HISTORY OF LIGHTING
72
The story of light, from prehistoric times to the present day 48
WILL LIGHTING SAVE THE WORLD?
74
Niels Carsten Bluhme and John Bullock go head to head on the topic 52
RECYCLING LEDS How can we better extract and reuse the rare materials that go into LEDs?
76
CONTENTS 13
55
87 66
83 Hands on WHICH CITIES ARE SMARTEST?
78
...and how is lighting helping them do it?
POWER OVER ETHERNET
83
The latest technology offering to make lighting control cheaper and easier
OPEN INNOVATION IN LIGHTING
87
Design clinic: laboratories Design clinic: breakout areas Lighting economist Reviews
90 92 106 112
New products Jargonbuster Lux videos Upcoming events
121 124 126 128
What if LED innovators pooled their resources?
LED DIMMING: DOS AND DON’TS
96
Dimming LEDs can be pretty hit and miss...
LIGHTING GRAPHS
99
The 7 graphs that tell you everything you need to know about lighting
DATASHEETS
103
The 14 key pieces of information you should expect to find on a product datasheet
LIGHTING FOR LARGE ESTATES
Reviewed: Bulkheads
112
108
A preview of our upcoming conference
www.luxreview.com
14 TRENDS
11
pivotal trends in lighting technology
There’s so much going on in lighting these days that we couldn’t fit it all into a standard list of 10. So sit back and bone up on the technology trends to watch
1
2
1
With LEDs comprehensively in the mainstream, the next frontier in lighting is controls. Call it smart, call it connected, call it what you like – the point is that your lights can be controlled. Dimmers and sensors have been around for donkey’s years, but the challenge now is to make them more sophisticated, get them to communicate with other devices and make sure people use them. Energy saving is only the start of the potential benefits – connected lighting also promises to make us safer and pave the way for…
2
3
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THE INTERNET OF THINGS
The internet of things is the term used to describe what happens when it’s no longer just computers and smartphones that are connected to the web, but also your fridge, your coffee cup, your heart monitor and your LED lights. Lighting is an ideal network for internet-of-things services to be built on – because it’s already there in the ceiling of every building, looking down at us, wired up and ready to go – you only have to add a few sensors or cameras and some kind of data connection.
5 4
CONNECTIVITY
3
BUILT-IN LIGHT SOURCES – GOOD IDEA?
Because LED light sources don’t have to be replaced very often, and because no standards have emerged for what they should be like, manufacturers have got used to building them into fittings, rather than designing new luminaires around replaceable ‘lamps’. But what happens if they fail early? Or a better, more efficient module comes on the market? Organisations such as Zhaga have sought to address the issue by coming up with agreed designs, but integrated modules are becoming the norm. Will we regret lumbering our clients with light sources they can’t change?
4
NEW POWER TECHNOLOGIES
Until now, LED luminaires have typically come with a ‘driver’ that converts the mains electricity supply into a form the light can use. But now new power technologies are appearing, with a range of benefits. Drivers are often the first component of a lighting system to fail, so some companies are taking them out of the equation – Iviti has a lamp with a DC LED chip that needs no driver at all, and Isotera
6
TRENDS 15
sells a power system for lighting using a central hub, with each fitting connected directly to a bus cable. The latest innovation is power-over-Ethernet, which provides electricity through data cables (see page 83).
5
RETROFIT LAMPS – ON BORROWED TIME
According to Timee magazine, 2013 was the year of the LED lamp. That now seems a long time ago, as manufacturers begin to wonder what happens once the market for these long-lasting lamps is saturated. There are two ways they can go: up or out. Either move upmarket by adding value to this commodity product (internet connectivity, colour-changing and so on) or leave the market completely. Osram, Philips and Samsung all tried option one, then opted for option two – Osram is selling its general lighting business, Philips is selling a big stake in its own, and Samsung pulled out of lamps completely.
6
HEALTHIER LIGHTING
Light influences how productive we are at work, how well we learn and how quickly we recover from illness. The rise of LEDs means it’s gradually getting easier and cheaper for lighting manufacturers to
7
8
saving energy. But the Wild West of the LED market is being tamed, and even those who had their fingers burned in the early days are coming back wiser, with a renewed focus on quality.
REVOLUTIONARY MATERIALS
Nobel Prize winner Shuji Nakamura has moved from blue to violet LEDs. Nakamura’s violet LEDs put the gallium nitride on a base of some more gallium nitride rather than sapphire – ‘GaN-on-GaN’ in technical parlance. Not only do they render colours better, they also open up the possibility for longer lives and greater efficiency. Also set to revolutionise the world of LEDs is wonder material du jourr graphene, which its proponents would have you believe will be used in everything from phones to buildings to water filters (see page 20). Researchers at the University of Manchester say graphene’s high conductivity will make for brighter, longer-lasting and more efficient sources, and they hope to have a graphene LED lamp on the market soon.
11
BEYOND LIGHT
Lighting isn’t just about light any more. It’s about data. Technologies such as Li-Fi (like Wi-Fi, using light) and indoor positioning (that tracks people’s position using LED luminaires and their smartphones) are both based on visible light communication. It’s set to transform our shops, museums and indoor spaces, and to turn the industry on its head as lighting products are used for completely new purposes.
11
LOOK, NO WIRES
Everything’s going wireless these days, and lighting control is no exception. It’s particularly appealing for retrofit projects. As well as radio-frequency-based systems, there are technologies such as power-line communication, which uses mains power lines to carry data to and from your fittings. And even for traditional wired control systems, it’s going to be more and more common for the user’s control device to be a tablet or phone that’s not wired to anything.
7
put this knowledge into practice, and make products that promote health – usually by adjusting the brightness and colour of the light during the day to mimic natural light.
9
THE LAST FEW APPLICATION AREAS FALL TO LED
‘LEDs aren’t for every application…’ That’s something we’re hearing less and less. Some areas have been slower to adopt them than others – the efficiency of T5 has been tough to beat in offices and LEDs have struggled to match the output of floodlights until recently – this year’s Super Bowl took place under LED light. In the past 12 months, manufacturers who had clung to old technologies such as metal halide and cold cathode have had to embrace LEDs.
10
10
THE FLIGHT TO QUALITY
We’ve all seen examples of poorquality LED retrofits that make a shop, café or office look dreadful, all for the sake of
8
9
www.luxreview.com
16 NEWS
STREETLIGHTING
EUROPE
Europe delays halogen ban until 2018 The European Commission has listened to the arguments of the conventional lighting industry and voted to postpone a ban on halogen lamps until September 2018. It did not, however, extend the ban until 2020, which lighting industry body Lighting Europe had lobbied for. The decision will be unpopular with newer LED specialist companies such as Neonlite and its Megaman brand, which had argued against any extension. The EC set the 2016 date in 2009, giving the industry seven years to prepare for it. Halogens are a form of incandescent lamp – the EC has already banned others – and are highly inefficient compared with newer LED and CFL energysaving lamps. But the industry lobbied hard in recent months to delay the ban, saying that seven years was not long enough. It argued among other things that Europe would face a lamp shortage because there would not be enough quality LED lamps to meet demand. It also said the industry needed more time to develop LEDs with features to which consumers
are accustomed – such as dimming as standard, multi-directional light beams, and good colour rendering – at an affordable price. The commission said: ‘Postponing the phaseout will bring more efficient products to the market and give consumers the possibility to choose the best performing lamp for their needs.’ ‘Switching from an average halogen lamp to an energy-efficient LED will already save approximately €115 ($129) over the LED’s lifetime of up to 20 years, and pay back its cost within a year,’ the commission added. ‘This will increase further by 2018 with lower LED prices and better LED performance.’
BULB BAN
Incandescent bulb ban on the cards in Qatar Qatar is considering following other Gulf countries in banning incandescent lamps. Arabic daily paper Arrayah quoted Mohamed Saif Al-Kuwari, an official in charge of testing and standardisation at the Ministry of Environment, saying: ‘The decision to ban tungsten lamps is being made as they are found to be at least 30 per cent more energy consuming and studies have found the lamps are making enormous amounts of thermal emissions which contribute to harm the environment.’ The country is looking to adopt standards for energy-efficient lighting as part of its new construction code. The warmth and sparkle of incandescent has proved popular in chandeliers and decorative fittings in the Middle East, where energy costs are relatively low. But a renewed push for energy efficiency, and the rise of LED alternatives to traditional light sources, has turned the attention of governments in the region to the advantages of banning inefficient lighting technologies. Bahrain is considering steps to phase out incandescent and halogen this year, and an incandescent bulb ban in the UAE came into effect on 1 January. Saudi Arabia is also considering regulations for light sources as part of its national energy efficiency programme.
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Paris rejects LEDS but goes smart Paris is forsaking LED streetlights, for now, in favour of a traditional look. But that’s not stopping the city from implementing intelligent controls. It’s working with Californian firm Silver Spring to expand a pilot programme that connects traffic lights and a variety of existing streetlight technologies – including high-pressure sodium – into a wireless control network. Evesa, the body responsible for public lighting and light signalling in Paris, has already deployed the network on a small scale and will roll it out across the city. Brandon Davito, Silver Spring’s vice-president of smart cities, said: ‘While they do not benefit from the more advanced adaptive lighting and dimming schemes that LEDs offer, implementing a controls network gives a services provider or utility the ability to monitor light performance and outages, provide proactive maintenance, and reduce energy use by more precisely managing the lighting schedule.’
NEWS 17
TECHNOLOGY
Outdoor lighting lab heads indoors to evaluate power over Ethernet The Danish Outdoor Lighting Lab, which tests and develops smart streetlighting in a suburb of Copenhagen, is to open an indoor lab to evaluate smart ceilings and power over Ethernet. The indoor lighting lab, which is expected to be ready next summer, will become a test bed for lighting systems powered and controlled through data cables, known as power over Ethernet. City planners, lighting manufacturers and researchers will work at the lab to develop technology for the ‘smart cities’ of the future. ‘We’re developing applications for smart things you can do inside buildings, based on lighting technology,’ said Niels Carsten Bluhme, director of city, environment and employment at the municipality of Albertslund, one of the
public sector partners of the lab. ‘The lab will have an intelligent ceiling with power over Ethernet, where you replace the traditional light installations based on electricity with a data cable. ‘Then you add sensors to the luminaires so you can register mobile phones and control not only installations in the house but also functions – meetings, bookings, and so on,’ Bluhme said. He added that the indoor lab will also create biodynamic lighting – that simulates daylight – using a system based on data cables. The lab will be the home of Gate 21, an organisation that fosters public-private partnerships to develop green technology. O For more about power over Ethernet, turn to page 83.
DLR eyes ‘smart’ emergency lighting East London’s Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is considering deploying a ‘dynamic’ emergency lighting system that would intelligently illuminate the fastest and safest exit route from stations. Paul Meenan, electrical and mechanical engineer for the DLR, told the Lux x Emergency Lighting Conference: ‘We generally just do plain old functional lighting, but in the past year or so we have been looking at where there could be an opportunity to do some dynamic lighting, and we
are looking at new canopy concepts.’ The DLR has included the lighting in its ‘railway of the future’ review, which spans the gamut of digital technologies including touchscreens for passenger information and
advertisements. ‘Part of that would involve some dynamic lighting,’ Meenan said. ‘Not just normal discreet lighting [but] also some sort of emergency wayfinding that you don’t see unless it’s an emergency.’ Meenan said dynamic emergency lighting at DLR is, at the moment a ‘concept,’ that will require ‘finding the right approach and the will to want to do that’. He told Lux that DLR is considering Royal Victoria station for a possible first installation.
Egypt fights blackouts with solar streetlights The Egyptian government is fitting entire cities and villages with solar LED streetlights in a bid to ease the load on the electricity network and prevent power cuts. The transition began in 2013 with the installation of solar streetlights throughout Cairo’s major districts, bef extending to the seaport city of Suez in 2014, where they light the 8km Misr-Iran Road.
By early 2015, numerous streets in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el Sheikh, 15km in length, had been fitted with solar LED lighting by the state-owned Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI), with an nvestment of around $2.1 million. day, similar work is taking place in Alexandria, New Valley, Ismailia, and Kom Ombo in Aswan.
Lighting by numbers
3 YEARS UNTIL THE EU BANS HALOGEN LAMPS
$124 SAVED BY SWITCHING FROM A HALOGEN LAMP TO LED, OVER THE LED’S 20-YEAR LIFETIME
%
45
ENERGY REDUCTION PARIS IS HOPING TO MAKE WITH STREETLIGHTING CONTROLS
13,000 LIGHTS INSTALLED IN SCHIPHOL AIRPORT ON A ‘PAY-AS-YOU-GO’ BASIS
%
10
ENERGY SAVED BY A GRAPHENE LED LAMP, COMPARED WITH A NORMAL LED LAMP
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18 NEWS INDOOR POSITIONING
EXCLUSIVE: US retail giant Target pioneers in-store navigation systems based on light
U
S retail giant Target, a self-confessed long-time technology laggard, is on a mission to catapult itself into the digital vanguard both inside and outside its stores. Top of its list: an in-store mobile phone navigation system that guides customers around its cavernous floors using what could become the hottest information delivery mechanism in brick-and-mortar shopping since the barcode – lights. Lux has learned that technology based on digital lighting – most likely visible light communication (VLC) – is almost certainly a key component of what $73 billion (£48 billion) Target is trumpeting as its new, customer friendly, transformative, ‘mobile in-store experience’. A bouncy promotional video on Target’s website shows a happy, confident, digitally-enabled young shopper entering a Target store where her smartphone – for much of the time mounted on her shopping trolley facing up toward the lights – invites her to have a free cup of Starbucks coffee, shows her the fastest route to the Tide laundry detergents, and sends her comparison information on a variety of soaps once she gets there. At the end of her journey, the phone app helps her pay at the checkout. The same LED The video doesn’t mention lights, technology that but the supplier of the system, Point Inside, says the technology it has slashes energy provided to Target enables location and maintenance solutions based on a number of costs can now technologies, including lighting. ‘Target has integrated our play a role in IT” StoreMode platform into their mobile app,’ a Point Inside spokesperson said. ‘The StoreMode platform supports a range of indoor location solutions that augment our core product location services. These include beacons, WiFi, mobile phone sensors, lighting technology, and other emerging technology.’ The spokesperson declined to elaborate on the lighting deployment, saying: ‘We can’t comment on the specific elements or technology that are included in our partner implementations.’
‘‘
Getting in position The technology is believed to be VLC, a fledgling tool that could become an invaluable means for retailers to engage customers. VLC has many possible applications, but the one expected to take off first is ‘indoor positioning’, in which LED luminaires pinpoint a smartphone’s exact location in a store so retailers can send shoppers information on nearby products.
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VLC taps the digital nature of LEDs, encoding data in light by tweaking the frequency of light emission, a variation that can be detected by the camera in a smartphone. It works much the same way as a remote control sending a signal to a TV using infrared light – except it uses visible light from lights are already on. An app on the phone uses the data to pinpoint the phone’s position. The technology is a potentially excellent fit with retail infrastructure because all stores have lights. The same LED technology that slashes energy consumption and maintenance costs can now play an role in information technology operations – the same idea that drives the deployment of intelligent, internetconnected LED streetlighting in cities such as Los Angeles. Vendors of VLC include US firms GE, Acuity, ByteLight and Scottish startup PureVLC. GE has been partnering with ByteLight, although that relationship will likely change with the acquisition of ByteLight by Acuity, which itself has partnered with Qualcomm in developing VLC. Philips has also championed the technology.
Starting small It is not clear how many of Target’s nearly 1,800 stores use VLC. The number is thought to be small, but is expected to grow this year. Minneapolis-based Target declined an interview, and would not confirm that it uses lighting as part of its in-store navigation. At Target’s recent corporate analyst meeting, the company’s chief strategy and innovation officer Casey Carl described the in-store system as part of an overarching plan to embrace digital technology and the ‘internet of things’ so customers – Target calls them ‘guests’ – can shop, buy or browse from home, remotely or in-store using their digital devices. The scheme puts a heavy emphasis on mobile phones – Target says nearly all of its customers use mobiles to shop – and on making shopping easier. ‘We’ve seen nothing short of explosive growth in mobile,’ Carl said at the analyst meeting. ‘If you look at our guests and how they want to shop, mobile is truly the new front door to Target. Now, this is a staggering statistic. Ninety-eight per cent of Target guests shop digitally, and the vast majority of that shopping occurs using a mobile device. From a routine trip for groceries to creating a wedding registry, almost everything begins on mobile. Last year mobile traffic grew 44 per cent and conversions shot up 69 per cent.’
Mobile, mobile everywhere The in-store navigation system marks an ambitious attempt to extend Target’s mobile offering. ‘We’re going to continue to improve on the mobile experience in
NEWS 19
a number of ways this year,’ Carl said, ‘evolving the user experience by improving our in-store location and navigation capabilities, greater mobile payments integration, and testing new technologies like iBeacons to make shopping even more personalised.’ He did not refer to lighting technology. An iBeacon is Apple’s version of a technology called beacons, which transmits data using low-energy bluetooth technology. They are typically used indoors where GPS doesn’t work too well, or just isn’t precise enough. Target chairman and CEO Brian Cornell was similarly imbued with the spirit of smartphoneism. ‘We will be a brand that separates itself from others based on merchandising authority and experience, centred on ease and on inspiration,’ he told analysts. ‘We’ll enable mobile to be the front door to all of Target. Importantly, we’ll reassert our cultural leadership to build unparalleled guest affinity. And we will be a more agile, a more efficient, and a more guest-focused headquarter team.’
growth in physical stores, although Target has now combined digital and physical world sales into one ‘single-segment’ business. ‘Many of you ask us to isolate the economics of our digital business,’ chief financial officer John Mulligan said at the annual analyst meeting. ‘It’s a natural question, because we have some online-only competitors and some other brick-and-mortar competitors who treat the digital channel as a distinct business. ‘However, given our operating model and our strategic plans, we don’t think of our digital channel as separate. At the highest level our goal is to grow both top line and the bottom line by creating profitable retail relationships with guests, and we are agnostic to the channel in which a guest chooses to interact with our brand.’ The VLC-linked ‘mobile in-store experience’ puts teeth into that combined digital/physical approach. For instance, shoppers who arrive at a store with shopping lists and product information already prepared on their Target app can then tie into the navigation system to find their items.
Reversal of fortune? The company’s born-again technology movement is an attempt to reverse years of digital dawdling, according to Target executives. ‘As consumers rapidly embraced digital, we reacted too slowly,’ Carl said. ‘We played catch-up, and we treated the businesses separately while competitors who doubled down their investments and moved to integrate their organisations grabbed market share. We learned a lot, and we will not be caught flat-footed again.’ Target has been on the financial mend over the past few years. Its troubles have included a massive breach of credit card data security in 2013, for which it ended up paying $19 million (£13 million) as a settlement to credit companies. In 2013, sales dropped by 0.9 percent and it suffered a slump in same-store sales for four consecutive quarters, until it reported a rise in November last year.
Blurring the line Digital sales grew 30 per cent and represented 0.9 per cent of the comparable growth in 2014. They are expected to outpace sales
Anything that can be digitised, will be Target is also developing other digital technologies that link into a user’s app, such as the Zero Click programme in which intelligent sensors note when someone is running low on a product such as nappies and prompts the customer accordingly. To hasten development of all of these technologies (and perhaps to address privacy concerns), the company created a ‘transformation office’ last year, headed by Carl. It hired a new chief information officer, Mike McNamara, formerly of UK retail giant Tesco. ‘We have been aggressively hiring data scientists, engineers, product managers, and visual merchandisers,’ Carl noted. That crop of new hires almost certainly includes lighting engineers, whose job description will go well beyond simply illuminating the shop floors. Light for light’s sake? That’s so last year. Next time you walk in as a Target ‘guest’, you might not know it, but they could be welcoming you to the era of converged lighting and data.
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20 NEWS ANALYSIS
Analysis: Is the graphene lamp the next big thing? The new wonder material will boost efficiency and longevity, and it’s available in a few months. Mark Halper reports
Q
uestion: how is deflation like an LED light bulb? Answer: both discourage you from buying now, because if you wait just a little longer, the deals will be better. For LED lamps, that means not only that prices are coming down, but also that the lamps themselves keep getting better. The latest example: in a few months you’ll be able to buy a lamp that incorporates everyone’s favourite miracle material, graphene. Graphene is a one-atom thin sheet of carbon with exceptional strength and conductivity (see box). The graphene LED lamp, from a UK startup called Graphene Lighting, ‘is expected to perform significantly better and last longer than traditional LED bulbs,’ according to the UK’s University of Manchester. Perhaps the most telling thing about that statement is that they’re already referring to ‘traditional LED bulbs’. ‘It is expected that the graphene light bulbs will be on the shelves in a matter of months, at a competitive cost,’ the university said. That’s a lot of expectations from the university, which is excited because, among other reasons, it has a financial stake in Graphene Lighting. The company is a spin-out from the UK’s National Graphene Institute, founded at the university with British and European government funding to advance commercial applications of graphene. Graphene Lighting will coat a lamp’s LED chips with graphene, so heat will be removed from the lamp more effectively, a university spokesperson told Lux. x (For those who need reminding: LED lamps give off light from semiconductors known as light-emitting diodes. And although LEDs are far more efficient than incandescent sources, they’re still inefficient enough to generate heat that must be dissipated.) According to the press release, the graphene leads to ‘lower energy emissions, longer lifetime and lower manufacturing costs’. The university would not quantify those improvements. A BBC C story suggested that the graphene will cut the lamp’s energy consumption by 10 per cent over other LED lamps because it enhances electrical conductivity. The Financial Times, which appears to have broken the story, also suggested a 10 per cent improvement. The university told Lux x that ‘it’s too early to say’, whether the 10 per cent figure is accurate. The BBC C story said the lamp uses a filament-shaped LED source. The FT T said it will be priced lower than the ‘£15 and
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more’ that it said is typ for comparable dimmable LED lamp. The University of Manchester is the birthplace of graphene. Scientists Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov first isolated the material there in 2004, an achievement that earned them the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. While the wonder material originated in the UK, at one point China had shot ahead in the graphene intellectual property race. Potential uses span from building materials through energy and electronics, including semiconductors, solar cells and of course, light bulbs. The BBC noted that it is already used in tennis rackets and skis. Two years ago, researchers in South Korea and Vietnam said graphene would help dissipate heat from LED lamps, and that would help make the lamps brighter. Prof Colin Bailey, one of Graphene Lighting’s directors, says the ‘light bulb shows that graphene products are becoming a reality, just a little more than a decade after it was first isolated – a very short time in scientific terms’. Graphene Lighting appears close to delivering a graphene lamp. They’ll be under pressure to come through, lest they fail to meet expectations.
WHAT IS GRAPHENE? Graphene is a real-life material with such magical properties that it makes schoolboys flying on broomsticks seem quite ordinary. As you probably know, diamonds are made of carbon. But the black graphite used in lubricants and pencils is also made of carbon. It’s the same stuff – the difference is in the way the atoms are bonded together. In the scientific parlance, diamond and graphite are both allotropes of carbon. Graphene is another allotrope of carbon, developed in the last decade or so. What makes graphene special is that it is just one atom thick – it’s sometimes described as a ‘two-dimensional solid’. This makes it the thinnest compound known to man – and it has other remarkable properties: it is the best conductor of heat at room temperature and the best conductor of electricity, which is why it’s of interest for lighting. It’s also extremely light, yet 100 times stronger than steel – a one-square metre graphene hammock would support a 4kg cat but would weigh only as much as one of the cat’s whiskers. Wow.
22 YOUR VIEWS
Chemist customers have a ghastly pallor Today I walked into a chemist that I know was recently refitted. They have had 40W+ LED square panel fittings installed, and they proudly told me they were energy-efficient LED fittings proposed by a lighting professional working with the shopfitting company. It is good that these people are at the chemist because the light from these fittings suggests the healthiest person is near death. Then the coup de grace of LED energy efficiency: the luminaires are installed on a 1.2 x 1.2m grid with a flash of design brilliance – there is an LED accent light in every tile around the perimeter, accenting nothing. MARK CUNNINGHAM Managing director, Trinity Lighting
Don’t rush to market I am an electrician and have supplied LED lamps to a few customers – replacing standard GLS and GU10/MR16 halogen. I have had some serious problems with the GLS. One manufacturer’s lamps were failing after just a few weeks – a 40 per cent failure rate. This reputable manufacturer did respond appropriately, ceased the production of the particular model and reimbursed the cost. Another make of product failed on initial installation where the nature of the fault would in my view render the product a potential hazard.
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PICTURES
The most difficult thing to deal with in my job is that people don’t like change” Alan Mitchell, University of Southampton, page 34
Lux snapped this picture while visiting iGuzzini’s headquarters in Recanati, Italy – this is the company’s Lux Award-winning Trick luminaire, casting shadows on tiny metal buttons attached to the wall.
I raised this with the supplier but had no response. I feel that there has been too much of a rush to market on the part of the manufacturers without really considering the effect of the environmental temperature and light fitting that LED is installed within. Also I don’t believe that the manufacturers or designers have
Graphene products are becoming a reality – just a little more than a decade after it was first isolated” Prof Colin Bailey, Graphene Lighting, page 20
considered the potential danger where internal circuitry uses a heatsink that forms the external body of the LED lamp as is the case with many GLS versions. I am now reconsidering supplying LED lamps to customers. GES via www.luxreview.com
When is a warranty not a warranty
if so would they need a copy of readings taken at the time of installation?’ None has answered, so my guess is that five-year warranties aren’t worth the paper they are written on. The best I got was that it should be returned to the manufacturer and a replacement would be sent, but this does not answer the question of related installation/return/transport and labour costs. Fluorescent fittings were basically a tin box and reflector and the light source was a ‘consumable’. Unless manufacturers can show that LED sources can be replaced then I don’t think we will still be seeing five-year warranties for much longer. GRAHAM YOUNG via www.luxreview.com
Dirty talk I have asked many manufacturers how they would honour a five-year warranty on an LED product if after four years I came back and said the light output of the LED was no longer appropriate for the application – it was, say, 70 per cent or less of the initial output. I asked: ‘Would I need light level readings from the installation to compare, and
In response to ‘Lighting’s dirty secret’, a column in which Ray Molony said that office regulations on lighting are a big screw up. Tell that to the electrical consultants who write generic specifications copied from the last project, quoting Cibse guide this, EN number that, UGR this, CRI that, LG5, LG6, energy this,
YOUR VIEWS 23
LED that. They have no idea what it all means, but they can use this against the design-and-build contractor if they want to prove their worth. NIGEL SMITH
WHAT’S HOT ON TOP TWEETS paul bracciano @paulbracciano @LuxReview EU:”Great new LED products - BIG future EU savings” But “Big Savings” = noone WOULD buy without ban =Not-so-great products!
In general, I’ve been very satisfied with ‘general’ office lighting through my entire career. I had louvred luminaires in the first office I was in back in the mid 1980s, and have ever since. I have never had any complaints. There is no more economical and efficacious way of providing a practical solution to the functional visual requirements in the application area. Don’t get me wrong, I hate box-ticking and the increased bureaucracy involved with engineering-driven lighting design. However, most projects are ‘boring’, are conceived speculatively, and do not warrant elaborate planning and equipment. Thankfully there are de facto standards, or market forces would further erode what quality we have. Look at developing countries with little standardisation; lighting there can be dangerous, glaring and tiring, they would aspire to be boring.
Ray Molony’s article on office lighting standards is an eyeopener. Companies are selling a solution that is uniform for all without considering the varied requirement based on age or work requirement. The focus is always on lighting the floor. Liked the view that the mantra should be ‘light the walls, not the floor’.
ANDREW NAGY
NEERAJ SRIVASTAVA
HAVE YOUR SAY editor@luxreview.com LinkedIn linkd.in/lightingtalk
James Poore @JamesTPoore @Lux_magazine It must be established from day 1 who’s taking ownership of the emergency lighting design & who’s independently signing it off Massimiliano Guzzini @maxguzzini Lights that talk. Smart-retailers using #LED to engage customers. #Socialinnovation through #lighting @Lux_magazine Invisua Lighting BV @invisua Lux Review: branding with light is the second biggest trend in retail lighting. We couldn’t agree more! goo.gl/2NXKcK
GRAPHENE LIGHTING – SMOKE AND MIRRORS OR THE REAL DEAL? I can’t help but wonder if this ‘disruptive’ approach to technology is just another way of not allowing things to mature – as if maturity is a bad word, so the best thing to do is to keep heading off in all sorts of directions. John Bullock, Lighting designer
As a lighting grandad I welcome graphene as a solution to not just lighting enhancement but all the benefits of a superconducting super strong, lightweight material. Really excited to see development in light-emitting objects. George DeLights Ashley-Cound, lighting consultant, Light Fantastic
We do not need anything more than a view of a development pipeline on graphene because it is not about to hit our markets in the next year. So let’s quell the hysteria of lighting’s new brave new world because we haven’t fully dealt with the old brave newish world yet. Mark Cunningham, managing director, Trinity Lighting UK
Twitter @lux_magazine and @luxreview
If our lighting industry/galaxy expands outwards too quickly without solid sage guidance, like the universe’s big bang theory, it could also retract imploding into a black hole (pun intended), if there is no foundation for longer term investment. And I mean investment in totality, not just funding. If the ROI is constantly undermined by disruption then we will have problems. Mark Cunningham, managing director, Trinity Lighting UK
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Join thousands of lighting professionals in our Lighting Talk group on LinkedIn linkd.in/lightingtalk
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24 OPINION
Opinion
NIGEL HARVEY CEO RECOLIGHT
STEVE HARE GENERAL MANAGER HBW LIGHTING
Make sure you recover all those rare earths
Don’t get hung up on nostalgia
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o ensure rare earths can be recovered from waste LEDs, it is essential to collect LEDs separately from other waste. Without a distinct LED waste stream, it will be harder to recover the rare earths – the concentration would be diluted by scrap metal or general electrical waste. The Environment Agency has pragmatically agreed that waste LED lamps and gas discharge lamps can be placed in the same recycling container. That makes sense: many end users cannot distinguish LEDs from other lamps, most LED lamps are processed in the same way as fluorescents, and producers must record both in the same WEEE category anyway. So we should encourage end users to put fluorescent and LED lamps in the same container. Over time, the proportion of gas Collectors discharge lamps will fall, and that of LEDs will rise. This way, must view an we ensure a distinct LED waste LED lamp as a stream for the long term. lamp, not an item When LED recycling becomes economically and technically of general metal feasible, we may have to separate waste” LED and non-LED lamp waste. The best way may be to co-collect and separate at the recycler. Or a second collection container may become viable. Either way, for collectors to continue to view an LED lamp as a lamp – and not an item of general metal waste, is vital for the long-term success of LED recycling. In the same way, LED luminaires and conventional luminaires should be co-collected to ensure the LED light sources are identifiable as a separate waste stream. But in 2014, less than one per cent of waste luminaires were separately collected. Most luminaires were probably recycled along with the millions of tonnes of scrap metal collected each years. To address this, two key actions are needed. First, producers of LED luminaires should join a WEEE PCS that separately collects waste luminaires. Second, end users must return waste luminaires through the WEEE system, and not as scrap metal. Until these changes take place, the opportunity to recover rare earths from LED luminaires will be more limited.
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et engines are amazing. They are unbelievably simple and supremely efficient. Thanks to Sir Frank Whittle we enjoy the benefits today. But there’s nothing exciting about them anymore. I recently flew in a small propeller plane. Now that was exciting. The raw sound of the engines. I could see the pilot – I could even see out of the windscreen. As we embarked on our journey, the small plane turned on to the runway and the engines were set to full throttle, lifting the plane into the air. The sound of the engines engulfed the cabin. And then the excitement diminishes, your headache sets in and you can’t wait to land. It becomes clear why jet engines are so prolific in aviation. In 20 years, or maybe even 10, there will be similar comparisons between LED and HID sources. We will be so used to LED lighting that coming across a high-pressure sodium or a tungsten halogen lamp will be exciting. Like the jet engine in comparison to the internal combustion engine, LEDs offer many benefits over traditional light sources. But like any transition to a new technology, there will be hesitation, scepticism and caution. As in any But LED lighting has developed considerably over the past five years. transition to new Problems with colour shift and technology, there ‘binning’ have been largely solved. will be hesitation, Efficiencies are increasing beyond those of traditional light sources. scepticism and Many luminaire manufacturers are caution” beginning to understand the heat and voltage sensitivities of LEDs. So confidence can be had in the installation of LED luminaires. Even the price is coming down. Glare and good colour rendering are two of the few remaining technical barriers to LED adoption, and glare can be minimised with well-designed optics. Pin this to your fridge, or to the shortcut bar if you’re reading the online version, and look back in 10 years to see how we’re going.
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OPINION 25
WILL GILBERT LIGHTING SOLUTIONS PRODUCT MANAGER SOLID STATE SUPPLIES
LANCE STEWART MANAGING DIRECTOR CREATIVE LIGHTING
Not all LED drivers are created equal
LEDs: I didn’t see that coming
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ED lighting is growing fast as customers buy into the benefits. At the same time, luminaire manufacturers are being pushed to provide longer warranties with fewer operating conditions. The driver is typically the most complex part of an LED luminaire and the most critical component upon which a warranty is built. Research has shown that most luminaire failures Manufacturers can be attributed to the driver. But in the race to reduce costs, driver need to take lifetime is often misrepresented. a ‘don’t trust Should failures begin to occur the datasheet’ early, and manufacturers start to read the small print, they may find approach. they don’t have the comeback Be wary. Ask they expect on the driver supplier. questions” This is not helped by the fact that there is no industry standard yet published on LED driver testing, nor is there a standard datasheet format or a rigorous checklist for driver manufacturers to follow. The lighting industry needs to wake up to this ticking time bomb and challenge driver manufacturers to lift the lid. Lighting manufacturers need to take a ‘don’t trust the datasheet’ approach. Be wary. Ask questions. Perform your own tests. Check the conditions under which lifetime guarantees and warranties are made. Is the lifetime given in hours (of continuous operation) or in years (based on an average use per year)? Is it stated at full load, over the entire power range? What about operating temperature? The biggest threat is heat. Check whether the stated lifetime on the datasheet is at maximum case temperature. If not, look for the graph that shows how lifetime decreases as temperature rises above ambient. Look for products that provide surge protection, short and open circuit protection and overload protection. There are many other factors to be considered, but lifetime at what operating temperature is the most critical of all.
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he lighting world is in a spin. But is it a whirlwind of activity taking us to new heights? Or a whirlpool that threatens to drag us down to our doom? I have been saying for years now that the LED revolution would see suppliers and their customers competing with each other, ‘dogs and cats living together’, carnage and mayhem. Lighting controls companies would expand into LED luminaires and LED and luminaire manufacturers would try to ‘own the space’ of lighting controls. The distinction between clients and competitors would become uncomfortably blurred. At the big end of town, Philips, Osram, GE, et al had, been largely supported by ongoing income streams from replacements for their consumable light sources. How, I wondered, could they achieve a payback for the massive investments required to develop LEDs? I think it’s great that they did this. Or was it the relatively new players at that time, like Cree, who gave them no choice? Unsurprisingly then, these companies have been trying to move into other areas, such as lighting control systems. Now we hear that ‘Big Data’ is interested in the information that can be gathered by lighting and sensors. And LEDs are simply electronic components, how long will it be before electronics manufacturers outside the lighting industry decide there’s money to be made by making lighting and controls themselves? The advent of LEDs has already Is it not pushed us in one direction, big data time that threatens to push us in another. Is the lighting it not time that the lighting industry took back control of its future? industry took In the rush to adopt new back control of technologies and find new revenue its future?” streams, have we forgotten that our senses derive most of the information about the world around us from our vision? Is it about time, in this Year of Light, that we talk more about lighting’s primary benefits to humanity and less on the benefits, challenges and complexity of light sources? If only we could have seen all this coming. Wait….
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26 OPINION
Opinion A bright future Marcus Brodin, commercial director at Future Energy Solutions, examines what the future holds for this LED technology and those using it
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he lighting industry has changed significantly over recent years thanks to LED technology. Its long life, low carbon emissions, efficiency and quality of light have helped it gain an ever-growing market share. The Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories at the Industrial Technology Research Institute has suggested that the global LED lighting market value was worth $30.5 billion (£20.3 billion) in 2014 and will increase to $51.6 billion in 2018. Clearly it has a bright future, but it is a constantly evolving market that is set to see further significant changes over the next few years as the technology matures. In the early days, the biggest barrier to widespread adoption of LED lighting was its price. This changed in 2012 when increased competition and lower production costs resulted in improved return on investment. At present, most LEDs offer an average of 115 lm/W, yet some leading manufacturers have already demonstrated the capability to produce 200 lm/W sources, which LED need less than 5W to produce the lighting is on same amount of light as a traditional the radar of 60W incandescent lamp. Some manufacturers say their everybody from products could last up to 100,000 homeowners to hours, based on design and operating multinational temperature. Such claims about product lifetimes are now under corporations” scrutiny and independent testing will separate fact from fiction. The ‘life’ of an LED is the period after which the luminaire emits only 70 per cent of its original output. This L70 rating is a measure of lumen maintenance, the term used to measure the light produced by a light source at a certain point in the future when compared with its output when new. If a light source emits 1,000 lm when new and 700 lm after 60,000 hours of use, it has a lumen maintenance of 70 per cent at 60,000 hours. In other words, it has an L70 of 60,000 hours. L70 is used because the human eye cannot detect the difference until output has declined by 30 per cent.
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MARCUS BRODIN commercial director, FUTURE ENERGY SOLUTIONS
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Interchangeability of LED lighting products will be important in the years ahead, and the Zhaga consortium is leading the way. Its members include hundreds of companies from around the world and it is developing specifications that will enable users to replace LED light sources from one manufacturer with those from another. In December 2014 it signed a liaison agreement with the International Electrotechnical Commission to help define standards in this area, and it should be published over the next few years. This is a positive step, but the lack of recognised and enforced standards has resulted in a dramatic variation in the quality of products on the market. One of the biggest problems has been the proliferation of low-cost and poor-quality lighting products from China. These products usually have poor colour rendering – an indication of the way objects will appear under the light source, on a scale from 0 to 100. In September 2013, a European eco-design regulation, DIM2, came into force and LEDs with a CRI below 80 are now banned from sale in Europe. DIM2 sets minimum performance requirements and has created a more level playing field by banning low-quality lamps from the market. LED luminaires sold on the European market should, by law, also carry the CE mark, which is a statement by the manufacturer that the product complies with all relevant EU legislation, including product safety standards and directives. As the market matures, the amount of low-quality products should diminish further. With LED lighting becoming mainstream, the next generation of solid state lighting technology is already creating interest. Organic LED lighting works by passing electricity through one or more thin layers of organic semiconductor material. Massmarket adoption of OLED lighting is not expected to occur for at least two years, but it is already being used in TVs and phones. The return on investment argument for using LEDs involves a number of considerations including energy, maintenance, life, colour quality, colour consistency and using best available technology. However, LED lighting is on the radar of everybody from homeowners to multinational corporations and will become more attractive and affordable as time goes on.
28 ANALYSIS
Analysis: Halogens – the third way As Europe’s ban on halogen has been postponed to 2018, Mark Halper argues that the halogen lamp should stay on the market – but be taxed like alcohol or cigarettes
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hereby announce that I will not run for political office. I can’t. I’m about to advocate a tax, which is something any politician with a survival instinct is supposed to avoid like the plague. Even worse, in the eyes of some, my tax would be a ‘green’ tax. Yup, a save-the-planet, Kumbaya, we’re-all-in-this-together, jackup-the-price intervention in free market economics. But it would spare something precious that otherwise soon faces a certain demise: the halogen lamp, which faces extinction by European mandate. A quick review. The European Commission decided back in 2009 to ban the sale of halogens from September 2016 under a planned phase-out of energy-hogging lamps that has already banished many other incandescents. The idea is that LEDs and CFLs, with their 80 per cent or greater reduction in electricity consumption (it’s closer to 90 per cent for LEDs these days), will help Europe meet its mandatory carbon-reduction targets. There are Recently, the ban has been postponed to 2018. The a few places conventional lighting industry where I still wants to push it until 2020. LED want the glow companies say that’s ludicrous, and see no reason to change a ban for that, to my eye, which the industry will have had LED does not many years to prepare. provide” I propose a ‘third way’: tax the halogens, and put the money toward ‘green’ objectives. The extra dosh could fund eco-friendly low-carbon electricity generation, such as renewables or nuclear. I’m personally a fan of developing a new generation of advanced nuclear reactors that depart from the old-fashioned ways of today’s nuclear power. There are a half dozen or so potentially safer, cheaper and more useful approaches to nukes, and although China is putting significant amounts of money into these, most Western countries are not. I’m writing this opinion column for an end-user focused lighting magazine, so forgive me the little digression in the previous paragraph. But please do keep in mind that as obsessed as we are here at Lux with lighting efficiency, we are
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not oblivious to the big picture that includes supply of energy as well as demand. Back on the demand track: the tax funds could help develop more efficient LED sources. LEDs might be 90 per cent less energy-hungry than incandescents, but they could be improved. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they convert less than half of the electricity they consume into light. That’s one reason they require reliable heatsinks that dissipate the heat that builds up in the grinding process of converting electrons into photons. Even the recently heralded graphene LED lamp will make only a small improvement in efficiency, according to various reports. Surely we can do better.
The heart of the matter Or, getting to the heart of why I’d like to continue to have a halogen option: there is nothing like halogens in the LED or CFL world for creating that warm glow that those of us who grew up with incandescents – that is, all of us – expect from our lighting. LED manufacturers will dispute that. They’ll say that’s an old argument, that they have warmed up their wares from the early days of icy blue light to light that is now the equal of fiery hued incandescents. They even stamp their LED packaging with a ‘2700K’ label, a ‘colour warmth’ metric that is statistically equivalent to the old cosy incandescents. But, like beauty, warm light is in the eye of the beholder. And I’ve been beholding the difference since the Christmas buying season. On a whim, I had purchased a simple halogen table lamp from John Lewis for £65 (about $100 at the time). The lamp’s stylish and tactile ‘touch control’ allows me to tap it into three different brightness settings. At the two lowest – the two I use most – the visual ‘warmth’ radiates like fireplace embers, at least compared with any LED or compact fluorescent lamp in my house.
Having it both ways Let me be clear: I’m all for LEDs. I’ve been buying them for a few years now. I like them for saving energy, I hope they last the 20 years that manufacturers claim, and yes, they are getting ‘warmer’. I very much look forward to continued progress in that area. It’s safe to say that I already willingly use LEDs more than I do halogens or any other lingering incandescent lamp in my house. But there are a few places where I still want the glow that, to my eye, LED does not provide – claims of ‘2700K’ nothwithstanding.
ANALYSIS 29
We tax beer and cigarettes, why not halogen lamps?
And I’m willing to pay a little extra – a tax – to have the option. Goodness knows I’m paying a premium for LEDs. Yes, prices are coming down rapidly, but even at, say, £8 for an item that was once about £1, we’re all still adjusting. A little green surcharge on my halogens would be okay by comparison.
full refund for my LIFX future, but I also found myself drawn back to the halogen touch lamps on display. So much so that I purchased another. It was a modern day consumer epiphany. If I was impressed enough to welcome two relics of the past into my home while rescheduling the future, then could I put my hand on my heart and say ‘to hell with halogens’? The answer was ‘no’. That’s not to say we should ignore their environmental consequences, hence the tax. Consider halogens as cigarettes or alcohol or marijuana (in, say, Colorado) and let people enjoy them for a little levy. I would even propose limiting the numbers per individual or per household, although I have no idea how that could be policed. Some of the other arguments in favour of keeping halogens alive veer towards specious. The conventional lighting industry, for instance, has noted that banning halogens would confuse the consumer. With due respect, that is a disingenuous remark; the industry largely has itself to blame for confusing consumers with misleading and inconsistent language regarding the ‘eco’ nature of various lamp types (old-timer Osram recently recognised this and decided to stop referring to halogens as ‘eco’).
Accidental halogen hailer As I scribble these words, I realise I might be surprising some readers, colleagues, acquaintances and sources. In fact, I’m surprising myself. Had I written this column in mid-December – as I almost did – I’d have dashed off a diatribe about how foolish it would be to give energy-guzzling halogens one more breath of life than they were due. Then I switched on my accidental halogen lamp after Christmas. And something else happened that made me think twice about banishing these halogen things: on that same whimsical family gift shopping excursion to John Lewis, I had also came home with an £80 (about $125 at the time) all-singing, all-dancing, all app-controllable LED smart bulb, from Silicon Valley vendor LIFX. Not the bog standard expensive LED, but the really, really, really expensive LED with all the intelligent, smartphone-connected bells and whistles. Yes. One bare bulb, eighty pounds sterling, one hundred and twenty-five dollars. ‘Ah, but it’s Christmas, and I will buy my family the future of lighting,’ I said to myself. When the excitement of rum pudding and tinsel wore off, I came to my senses. I had overspent. Something had to go back. I decided it was the future. The highly intelligent light bulb could wait until prices tumb time-honoured glow of light would sta (after all, humankind has been lighting homes with fire since cave days, and incandescents are, essentially, the fire of a burning filament).
Halogen in wonderland And in a chequered case that gets curiouser and curiouser, LightingEurope – which represents venerable vendors such as Philips and Osram – contends that the LEDs that the industry implores us to buy now are not quite ready to replace halogens, and won’t be until 2020. It has made the questionable assertion that consumers would face a shortage of bulbs if the EC sticks with a 2016 halogen ban. I think consumers would basically manage just fine should the 2016 hammer fall. But they would have less choice. As the conventional industry rightly says, LEDs don’t yet do everything that halogens do. They don’t dim reliably, for example. They also don’t give off that glow that halogens do, although, ironically, the conventional industry seems loath to admit that. The case for a halogen extension has a whiff of Wonderland, but it also includes nuggets of merit. It would be more convincing if the industry were to come around to a third way, and agree to a tax. The views expressed in this column are those of the author, not of Lux. x He was not smoking anything when he wrote it
Give me another hit In fact, on my return trip to the retailer, not only did I receive a
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30 OPINION GORDON ROUTLEDGE
Reality check It’s lighting’s turn to be converged Gordon Routledge, lighting expert and publisher of Lux
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turned 40 last year, and I now feel really old. I’m So what has this got to do with lighting? A host of starting to sound like my father when talking companies have worked out that the LED light in the to my kids or an old boss when discussing ceiling can transmit data to smartphones through business with colleagues. the forward-facing camera. You can surf the net at I remember the days when, if you were driving super-fast speed or apps can pinpoint you indoors to a city you’d never been to, you’d buy an A-Z to within 10cm. If I were 10 years younger I’d be street atlas to find the street you were going to, and packing up my desk drawer now, and heading off to pull over to consult it again when you got lost. Or start ledatalighting.com. you might wind down the window and ask a local As the organiser of the LuxLive lighting event, resident: ‘Where the hell am I?’ what if we could plug our visitor data into the Then satnav came along and overnight my lighting system at the ExCeL exhibition centre? You impressive collection of A-Zs was consigned to could download an app and check in by walking the bin. An entire generation has lost the skill of under the lights. You could be guided around the reading a map while driving, and venue to the exhibitors you’ve understanding directions delivered expressed an interest in, or those you in a broad range of regional visited last year. Or we could use your A host of accents with pubs or churches as online search history to steer you companies have way stations. towards products you might like. worked out that Then satnav merged with We could let exhibitors know you mobile phones and the internet have arrived, and that you aren’t the LED light in and the makers of satnavs became planning to visit their stand. We the ceiling can software providers. At a stroke, could use information about how transmit data to satnav took away the skill required long you spent on stands to tailor the to be a taxi driver. Finally, the information we send you in future. smartphones” converged mobile phone/ But what about privacy, I hear you satnav/internet device cry. Well, all this is exactly the kind revolutionised the very business model of of information you hand over in the online world, taxis in the form of Uber. whether you are aware of it or not. Black taxis in London are great until So what does this scenario do to the business you need one, when they all vanish. After model for lighting? Well the venue could charge us waving in the middle of the road like an to access the data that has been gathered, and we idiot for half an hour you finally get one, but in turn could sell the services and data on to our chances are they don’t take credit cards, or if exhibitors. The lighting in the venue becomes a money-earning tool and not an expense. they do you will be charged a king’s ransom. Think about how this scenario works out in your I first used Uber late last year, it’s great. Open up the app, enter where you want to go, business. The crowded underground platform choose the type of car you want and sit back, with users hungry for the internet, the busy airport finish your meal and you’ll get a message when with missing passengers delaying the flight, the the car arrives. Take the journey, get out and the university where the Wi-Fi is too slow. bill is charged to your credit card and the receipt In retail this is a reality. Target in the US is using is emailed. The only downside is that you feel like light in a micro-location initiative (see page 18). you are crossing a trade union picket line as a line Just as businesses today get paid to have mobile of black cab drivers stare daggers at you as you phone transmitters on buildings, companies will soon open the door of the pristine Mercedes E Class. be greedily eyeing up your lighting infrastructure…
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32 OPINION RAY MOLONY
Ray Molony Has lighting run out of ideas? Ray Molony, publisher, Lux magazine
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or Lux’s sister publication, Lighting and which everyone seems to love. Then there’s the magazine, we recently compiled a list of Belgian firm Kinetura, whose luminaires actually the 40 greatest designs of all time. Simply change physical shape as well as light distribution. because, these lists are fun to write and fun to read. But let’s face facts. Groundbreaking stuff has The editorial team considered hundreds of classic been a bit thin on the ground. Especially when you luminaires and after much debate and argument in compare what’s happening in other industries. Think the office came up with the list of the ones that we of the sophistication of modern cars, smartphones, believe will stand the test of time. computers and music. In the lighting industry, we’ve It was only after the list had been written up and just got rid of the incandescent light bulb. After, oh laid out that we realised that we hadn’t included let me see, 136 years. And that has been a battle – many light fittings from recent years. In fact, I because customers think we’ve nothing decent to checked and discovered that we had included just replace it! one from the last decade: the Caravaggio pendant from Lightyears. A golden age? You may not be familiar with it, but The advent of LEDs should have unleashed a golden you’ve certainly seen it in a age of design but it’s been a big hundred cafes and shops even if disappointment. In theory, you’d you don’t know its name. It’s an expect the size and controllability I defy you to instant classic, and it well deserves of the light source to lead to a its inclusion. But it’s an elegant whole new generation of awesome name five truly and clever design, not really a products, but no. original ideas technological advance. Steve Jobs is on record as saying from the lighting that people over thirty develop Original ideas tram-track thinking that inhibits true industry in the So where are the big innovations of invention. Of course, like a lot of the last decade” recent years? I defy you to name five utterances of this undeniable genius, truly original ideas from the lighting the statement doesn’t stand up to industry in the last decade. scrutiny (Leonardo, anyone?). But OK, I’ve got one: the CoeLux artificial hey, you get where he’s coming from. skylight. It’s certainly the most If we in the industry don’t step up, then your groundbreaking product I’ve seen this Apples and your Googles (both of whom have people millennium. Others appear to agree; our video working on lighting projects by the way!) will come of the product has accumulated over a million in and do our innovation for us. views on YouTube. That would be terrible wouldn’t it? We’d be like But here’s the thing. CoeLux was developed the school on special measures which has a know-itin an Italian university by a professor who was all headteacher from the local Ofsted ‘outstanding’ interested in whether we could replicate Rayleigh school parachuted in to ‘advise’ us on where we are scattering – the phenomenon that makes the sky going wrong. blue – in the lab using nanotechnology. He’s from Personally, I believe we have talent and the technology to do it ourselves. I want the future to be outside the industry. So, in my view, it doesn’t count. Next! shaped by the great brands and companies in the OK, there’s been some special stuff from lighting sector. I have hopes that a new generation iGuzzini recently which have won a couple of of product designers and R&D guys, who are Lux Awards: the Laser Blade linear fitting which entering the lighting business without any baggage gives a circular beam distribution, and the of the traditional technology, will point the way. Let’s Trick, which emits a 360-degree beam of light get to work.
‘‘
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34 WHAT I BELIEVE ALAN MITCHELL
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The most difficult thing to deal with in my job is that people don’t like change”
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WHAT I BELIEVE 35
Alan Mitchell Principal engineer, University of Southampton They call me Mr LED I got the nickname Mr LED because I was always pushing LEDs, even from the early days. Since then we’ve been trialling different LED luminaires. We have an inordinate amount of 600x600mm module fittings around the university and we’ve looked at various LED panels to replace them. We’ve completely re-lit our administration building with LED panels, and we’ve not had a single complaint. People don’t like change, but we’ve been in there nearly a year now and we’ve not had any complaints. There’s been only one failure and that was a driver that was quickly replaced. We have a thing called a carbon management fund at the university. A few years ago it committed itself to cut carbon emissions by 20 per cent before 2020, from levels about six years ago. This is difficult because we keep building new buildings. One of the biggest areas of saving is undoubtedly the lighting. It’s difficult to upgrade lighting when the buildings are in use all year round We have about a hundred buildings – more if you include the halls of residence. The student accommodation is getting to the stage where it needs refurbishment, and that’ll be done with LED lighting. Student accommodation is very difficult to upgrade because we also have conferences and summer schools and all sorts of other stuff. We used to have a few months when we could go in and take them apart, spending a lot of time and energy doing whatever needed doing. We struggle with that now because of the fact that they’re used, well, not quite every day of the year, but very close. We’re building a new building, Chamberlain Halls, that will be totally LED. That’s a 380-bed unit. We’re upgrading lighting when we get the opportunity The university doesn’t stand still, so we do take an active interest in where we can save energy on lighting. We have a couple of other projects going on where we are relighting some internal corridors. Twelve hundred fluorescents are being replaced with LEDs. We don’t have a specific plan rolling across the university, but as we get the opportunity we go in quickly and do it.
The University of Southampton recently opened a new building, Mayflower Halls, an £80 million new-build three miles from the main campus of Southampton University. Its three blocks accommodates 1,100 students in a variety of rooms, including some designed for couples. The self-testing emergency
A fitting that has LED light sources isn’t necessarily an LED fitting I’ve been to a few lighting shows and I get very frustrated when I find a luminaire where the 2D lamp has been replaced with LEDs and they call it a new fitting. LEDs technology is such that the luminaires can be completely redesigned. There are a few manufacturers out there that do look ahead. One of them is P4 – it looks ahead, and they worked with us to produce specific emergency luminaires for student accommodation. We’ve installed a new emergency lighting system We decided to trial a P4 emergency lighting system in a small area, and they’ve worked with us with to design luminaires for specific areas and applications, some of which have just been patented. P4 produces a very good fitting, a very good system and it saves us a massive amount of time and energy. P4 has a good warranty and they’ll send an engineer down to fix any problems. There’s resistance to change and LEDs are too expensive The most difficult thing to deal with in my job is that people don’t like change and LEDs do tend to be a whiter light. The other one is that luminaire costs are so high. We’re trying to encourage the use of low-energy sources, but you can buy six hundred modular fitting from a wholesaler for about £30 or £40 ($46 or $61), but an LED version costs £90-150 ($138-230) so it’s sometimes difficult to justify that. Manufacturers definitely need to address the costs of these fittings, bearing in mind these things are made by the millions. It’s new technology and if you can milk the market at the beginning, that’s what you do. OLEDs have a lot of potential One of the other things I was looking at a while ago was OLEDs. There was an article in your magazine about a lecture or presentation area that is all lit by OLEDs which I found fascinating. At the moment they’re extremely expensive, even in comparison to LEDs, but LEDs have come down in cost. I’m very keen on OLEDs.
lighting system for the building was supplied by P4, and encompasses 1,200 luminaires in corridors, circulation areas, the plant room and gym. The other components are 16 collector boxes that monitor the luminaires and an M-web Ethernet interface. The principal advantage of the system is that the facilities team can monitor
the installation remotely from the estates department on the university’s main campus, and staff can see if any luminaires need attention. This lets the estates department make better use of its resources. Staff only have to visit Mayflower Halls if there is a confirmed problem.
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36 WHAT I BELIEVE PAUL GLENNIE
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LED is the way forward at this stage. If you get the right luminaire and the right design, it will look after itself”
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WHAT I BELIEVE 37
Paul Glennie Team leader, strategic planning, city networks, Wellington City Council, NZ I am responsible for a range of infrastructure My role is varied and involves a lot of cross-council work. Responsibilities include the passenger transport network, bus infrastructure and street furniture. Lighting plays a part in this and at the moment it represents about 30 per cent of my work. The time to upgrade is now We have lengthy delays getting the lights fixed, and the previous electricity load frequently caused outages. We were faced with either rebuilding the network or changing the lighting. Lighting upgrades have to suit Wellington’s weather and we’ve looked at many systems. The topography doesn’t lend itself to solar systems: sunshine is inconsistent. There is a lot of wind. We have looked at wind power, but we have concerns about moving parts, but that’s not to say it won’t happen further down the track. LED is very solid and the way forward at this stage. The understanding I have is if you get the right luminaire and the right design, it will look after itself. All lights have to pass the New Zealand Transport Agency specs. We must keep up with technological advances Technology is moving quickly so we put a lot of effort into maintaining an involvement to see where it’s all going. We trial a number of products and chose the ones with the best outcomes. We’re working on a trial with Telematics, the Israeli CMS company, and we’re trialling the NXT-S-24 from Canadian company LED Roadway Lighting and an infrared system from Tvilight in the Netherlands. This is a passive IR system so the LEDs are on constantly, lighting up when vehicles, cyclists and people are present but drop to 20 per cent output when no-one’s around. It is a radical and expensive system but is a good quality of lighting – we expect it to pay for itself within 10 years. The LED rollout will take six months We will roll out 500 LED lights with photocell units in the posts in Wellington City over the next six months and have tried to create a system so lighting is consistent through the region. This ensures we
Lighting innovations in Wellington include one lane where the light changes as you walk thorugh it. Opera House Lane used to be the type of pathway people avoided at night. Now, an interactive LED lighting scheme with presence sensors triggers a number of different scenes depending on how many people are in
have a good solution to build on should other councils want to join us. We will also be trialling 270 LED lights (NXT-S-24) with Tvilight motion sensors. Feedback from residents is positive; the visual impact on residents’ homes is less intrusive than high-pressure sodium or metal halide, but there is still light where it is needed. Most residents think dynamic dimming is an extra security feature. Savings will be significant Our modelling indicates over 90 per cent savings on some streets, but generally we’re expecting an average of 80 per cent. In some cases we’re putting in low-wattage lights, which have given absolutely phenomenal light. We’ve replaced 9 x 70W highpressure sodium with 12 x LED Roadway NXT-S-12. We recently replaced 160 metal halide lights in a major entertainment precinct with three different Philips LEDs – reducing demand from 19 to 6.5kW. This has rapidly reduced the drain on the network and we have had less outages. There are many more applications Many of Wellington’s parkways and hilly bushy areas are too difficult to light because of the logistics of installing poles and powering the area, so we’re looking at 40m LED strips in handrails. This is not only a very efficient way to light the pathways, but it won’t not upset the wildlife. We also have a free public light festival, the Wellington Lux, that turns Wellington’s waterfront and laneways into a captivating celebration of light, art, technology and design. This is getting bigger and we’d like to see more artists get involved to make it a true festival of lights. In the future, we’d also like to look into lighting solutions for the harbour, and some of Wellington’s heritage buildings. One area we are looking at closely is the ‘smart city’, which I believe will offer more to ratepayers. At the moment we’re getting a free network with the lighting, but the lighting may become subordinate to the network usage – in future we may be getting free lighting with our network.
the lane and what time of day it is. The system is made up of a series of moving-head spotlights and an eye-catching chandelier made with translucent sheets of kaynemaile, a locally manufactured chainmail mesh made of polycarbonate rings that can refract and reflect light.
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38 INTERNET OF THINGS
9
cool things lights can do thanks to the
INTERNET
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INTERNET OF THINGS 39
Gone are the days when lighting was just about light. The internet of things has given lighting all sorts of new advantages and abilities, as Robert Bain and James Holloway discover
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OF THINGS www.luxreview.com
40 INTERNET OF THINGS
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f it sounds like a buzzword, don’t be deceived. The market for the internet of things (IoT), or internet-connected objects, is exploding, and it’s going to change the lighting industry, our homes and our cities, in very big ways. Some of them are undeniably gimmicky, while others do really useful things in the background. Here are nine really cool things lighting can do thanks to the internet of things.
1
MONITOR URBAN AIR QUALITY
2
KEEP AN EYE ON THE MASSES
The ubiquity of streetlighting makes it the ideal platform on which to add hardware to do new and useful things in the urban environment – like monitor air quality. Add sensors that can measure airborne particulates, and devices to report its findings via a mobile data network, and your streetlights become a distributed network to monitor the environmental health of the city. This is one example where the height of streetlights is especially handy, so sensors measure the ambient air quality rather than snorting nitrogen dioxide from exhaust pipes. There’s the expense of adding that hardware, but a massive saving on providing poles and power supplies, which the streetlight already provides. It doesn’t have to be air quality here – the key point is that lighting is the perfect Trojan Horse for IoT applications (see point 9, below) – especially those using sensors.
A wireless lighting network at Newark Airport in the US can monitor the movement of people and vehicles. This has numerous applications (parking, sending promotional coupons…) but the main advantages for the airport are surveillance and security. City authorities, too, are beginning to use lights to keep an eye on the general public.
3
IMPROVE PARKING
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4
DIRECT TRAFFIC
5
DEMAND ATTENTION
In the smart city, systems that might once have worked separately can now share data and interact. Combine cameras and sensors in streetlights with your traffic lights and signage, and you have the means to monitor traffic, regulate flow, and, if necessary, redirect traffic. Flir’s Traficam uses camera technology to detect the presence of traffic, log traffic data, and stream video. Mounted at road junctions, the system can be used to adjust the cycle of traffic lights in real time, reducing waiting times for drivers. Over 3,000 sensors have been installed in Moscow in a bid to ease the city’s crippling traffic jams.
If every light fitting has its own network IP address, facilities managers may as well use that to their advantage. IoT lighting enables remote monitoring of lighting installations for lamp failure, emergency lighting faults and potentially even light output depreciation.
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If you need an incentive to hook your streetlights up to the internet, how about clamping down on illegal parking? Siemens has developed a system which uses streetlight-mounted radar to detect cars, motorbikes and even bicycles which are parked where they shouldn’t be, and automatically alert the authorities. If that sounds like all carrot and no stick, the same technology, paired with a smartphone app, can tell drivers where parking is available, even sensing the size of the gap to check it’s big enough. There’s just the tiny circular problem of needing to find a place to park to be able to use the app legally to find a place to park. The gadget also logs data, building up a picture of which parking spaces are most in demand – information that could prove handy to planners. In time, the technology could be paired with a mobile
payments system to make it quicker and easier to pay for parking.
42 INTERNET OF THINGS
That way facilities managers can make the call on when to go into the building to perform maintenance. And by the way, there’s nothing to say you’d need a human to do the remote monitoring. Sure, this calls for some extra gubbins in the light fitting, but in time, the cost should easily be offset by the efficiency gains in maintenance procedures.
6
MAKE TV IMMERSIVE
One of the coolest things that a smart lamp like the Philips Hue can do is talk to your TV, so your lighting can complement what’s happening on screen. Philips has programmed its Hue LED bulbs to automatically flash, dim, change colours and pulsate along with shows – the first show to benefit being the Syfy series 12 Monkeys. Viewers tune in, sync the lights with the TV using a smartphone app, and sit back. Philips described the development as ‘the world’s first-ever immersive lighting experience for an entire season of original series programming’. For Philips, it’s an extension of its Ambilight technology, where lights around the edges of Philips TVs glow different colours based on what’s on screen. But that was limited to the lights on your TV, and was simply based on whatever colours were on the screen – now the lights can respond more dramatically to cues set by the show’s producers. When the hero steps into a darkened room, your room is dark too. When the alarm sounds, the red lights flash in your room as well as on screen. The same technology can be used to make videogames more immersive too.
7
TEAM UP WITH YOUR SMOKE ALARM
Who would have thought a smoke alarm could be a desirable consumer product? And yet the Nest Protect is one of the
HOW IT’S DONE Some of lighting’s internet of things applications are already happening – others are on the horizon. Companies like Sensity and Philips are creating their own systems, while module makers including Xicato are building sensing and intelligence into LED modules. Meanwhile Gooee, a new startup with connected lighting in its sights, wants to become a de facto standard for IoT technology built into light fittings. Gooee has created special microchips and sensors to build into light modules made by other manufacturers, the first of which is Aurora. It is mass producing the chips with the aim of getting them built into as many luminaires as possible at very low cost, and has teamed up with Evrythng, a company that makes software and data processing services for IoT devices. So the technology will be there in the light fittings for the benefit of luminaire manufacturers, other tech companies, or end user organisations themselves.
hottest gadgets around (Google certainly thinks so – it bought the company for $3.2 billion). Now lighting is part of Nest’s plan too. Philips’ Hue wireless lamps have joined the ‘Works With Nest’ programme to interact with Nest’s products. This means when your Nest alarm senses smoke, your lights can come on full automatically, or when presence detectors spot an intruder, they can flash to warn you of danger. Lights are just one type of device that Nest can now talk to – others include kitchen appliances, phones and even lawn sprinklers.
8
POWER SERVICES BASED ON AGGREGATED DATA
If light fittings are equipped with sensors and connected to networks, they’re going to generate a lot of data. What do we do with it? Of course, it’s useful to the facilities manager of the building in question. But the data could also be used for plenty of purposes that go well beyond the person who created the data. If car park lights are monitoring traffic flows, the local highways authority might be interested. Energy use patterns are bound to be of interest to energy providers. And if you’re luminaires are equipped with temperature sensors (why not), well, that may be useful to someone too. As the custodians of this data, building owners will be in a position to trade it with others who want it.
9
PROVIDE A BASIS FOR OTHERS TO BUILD ON
Lighting is the Trojan Horse of the internet of things – it’s the connected network that’s already there in the ceiling of every building – in many cases, with sensors already hooked up. As Sam Woodward of Lutron puts it, lighting has its ‘beach towels on the ceiling’. All these clever new IoT companies looking for a network of powered devices in buildings around the world, positioned with good lines of sight for cameras and occupancy sensors... look no further, it’s already there: the lights.
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44 PROJECT SCHIPHOL AIRPORT, AMSTERDAM
Pay-as-you-go
LIGHT
Why pay for a lighting upgrade when you can just rent the light itself? Mark Faithfull takes a look at a new business model being pioneered by Philips at Schiphol Airport
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A
msterdam’s Schiphol Airport won’t be paying for its new light fittings – it will just pay for the light they emit. Schiphol, Europe’s fourth busiest airport, has opted for ‘light as a service’ in its terminal buildings as part of a deal with Philips and energy services company Cofely. It will pay for the light it uses, and Philips will remain the owner of all fittings and installations. Philips and Cofely are jointly responsible for the performance and durability of the system and ultimately its re-use and recycling at the end of its life. By using energy-efficient LEDs, the airport expects to cut its energy consumption in half compared with a conventional system. Philips worked with architect Kossmann.dejong to
PROJECT 45
Now arriving at Schiphol: a new way of paying for your lights that leaves maintenance and replacements in the hands of the supplier
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develop light fittings for the project that are expected to last 75 per cent longer than conventional fittings because they are easier to service. Also, the fitting’s components can be replaced individually. This will reduce maintenance costs and means the entire fitting does not have to be recycled, reducing the consumption of raw materials. Frank van der Vloed, general manager at Philips Lighting Benelux, says: ‘We are pleased to make an important contribution to Schiphol’s ambitious sustainability targets. We believe that more and more forward-thinking businesses will move to a light-as-a-service model. After all, most of us are used to this kind of model – for example I drink water but I don’t have a reservoir in my basement. Many people are used to pay-as-you-go models.
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46 PROJECT SCHIPHOL AIRPORT, AMSTERDAM
Add to this considerable energy savings from LED technology and the sustainability of the overall system and the proposition is compelling.’
Circular economy Philips says light as a service demonstrates ‘circular economy principles’; a move towards access rather than ownership (see box). It is an innovative business model based on services and solutions rather than one-off transactions, and on innovations in the use of materials and components to make products easier to service, disassemble and reuse. Schiphol Group, Cofely and Philips have, says the lighting manufacturer, ‘created a new standard in the transition towards sustainable lighting’. The design also ensures a better lighting experience for travellers and is part of an extensive renovation of the terminal intended to increase passenger comfort and capacity at Schiphol. Jos Nijhuis, CEO and president of Schiphol Group, says: ‘It is Schiphol’s ambition to become one of the most sustainable airports in the world. We believe in a circular economy and want to play an active role in its realisation. The collaboration with Philips and Cofely marks a good step in this direction. Together we left the beaten path to develop an innovative, out-of-thebox solution. We set a new standard that matches the ambition of the airport.’ Philips will lease all the equipment to Schiphol for the duration of the contract. At the end, fittings will be upgraded and reused elsewhere. Supported by Cofely’s 24-hour presence at Schiphol, Philips and
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The light-as-a-service model is ‘a new standard in the transition towards sustainable lighting’ says the team behind it
Cofely can manage the lighting system in real time to generate the best possible lighting experience and sustainability. At the same time, the company will be responsible for the intensity and reliability of the lighting, based on a KPI model. This is not the first time that Philips has been involved in such a project. The Washington Metro in the US signed a 10-year contract in November last year that will be paid for by an anticipated $2 million (£1.3 million) annual saving on energy and maintenance from the LED upgrade. About 13,000 fittings will be replaced under the deal. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has 25 car parks covered by the arrangement. The lighting-as-service contract was a first for Philips Lighting. In the UK in 2013, the National Union of Students installed a pay-as-you-go lighting scheme at its London headquarters, with the help of Philips. The scheme lets the NUS pay for only the energy it consumes under a 15-year contract. During the period of the contract, Philips will guarantee that light levels are maintained to L70 levels – at least 70 per cent of the original output – and will ensure the energy savings agreed. The lighting will be monitored online and Philips will prepare an annual report for the NUS. It will also carry out annual health checks and preventative maintenance of the lighting. Macadam House has recently been refurbished with LEDs throughout to achieve a Breeam ‘excellent’ rating. The pay-per-lux scheme is one of a range of services that Philips offers through its Philips Lighting Capital division, with the aim of helping clients overcome the upfront costs associated with installing energy-saving lighting. As a result of the scheme, Fortune magazine named Philips CEO Frans van Houten one of the world’s top 25 ‘eco-innovators’.
ACCESS IS THE NEW OWNERSHIP Four things you can use even if you don’t own them FILMS Services such as Netflix let you stream movies and TV shows from the internet for a monthly subscription. A huge library of content is at your fingertips, and you can clear away all those shelves of bulky DVD box sets. MUSIC Streaming services such as Spotify mean there’s no need to buy records anymore, and it’s so popular that music charts have had to start taking streams into consideration. However, artists complain that the cut they get from user fees is tiny. SOFTWARE From free web-based email services to advanced software such as Salesforce and Adobe Photoshop, there’s no need to buy a disk in a box anymore. CARS Members of car clubs such as Zipcar pay an annual subscription fee, then pay by the hour to rent cars, which are dotted around the cities where Zipcar operates, so there’s always one nearby. You can get wheels when you need them, and you never need to worry about oil changes or how much it’s depreciating in value.
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British supermarket chain Iceland has halved energy use at this store with new LED lights. Robert Bain reports
PROJECT 49
Cool as
The LED refit is part of a wider energy-efficiency initiative by Iceland
I
ICE
n the last five years, supermarket chain Iceland has invested more than £5 million ($7.5 million) in energy-saving upgrades. It’s part of a sustained sustainability effortsby the company. It achieved the Carbon Trust Standard sustainability certification in 2010, and it also has partnerships with the British Retail Consortium Environmental Policy Action Group, and Wrap, a charity that works to reduce waste.
Bills halved
V
This branch in Gillingham in the southwest of England is one example of Iceland’s energy-saving efforts. The store has managed to halve its lighting energy bill and maintain a bright, high-quality lit effect, thanks to new LED fittings from local manufacturer
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50 PROJECT ICELAND, GILLINGHAM
Dexretail, part of the Dextra Group. Iceland’s store development team approached Dextra looking for a cost-effective, environmentallyfriendly lighting system that would create a better environment for customers and staff. And to minimise any disruption the store, they wanted it to be quick and simple to install; and durable, to minimise ongoing maintenance. Dexretail proposed several ideas before settling on a lighting scheme using its Arcus LED luminaire, and a number of bespoke freezer display lights. Samples were approved in November 2014, and the scheme was installed in February this year.
‘‘
The new lighting scheme has resulted in a 52 per cent energy reduction compared to a T8 fluorescent installation” www.luxreview.com
Quick payback The Arcus LED has lumen output of 8,800lm, with superior quality of light to the old fluorescent fittings. Various dimming and emergency versions are available. Dexretail also came up with the bespoke freezer display lights for the store, using a series of lowoutput LED units to illuminate the freezer signage. Overall, the new lighting scheme has resulted in a 52 per cent energy reduction compared to a T8 fluorescent installation, and the additional capital investment in the LED products should pay for itself in less than two years.
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52 PROJECTS POLICE STATION, JUMET, BELGIUM
Motion sensors in the corridors help the building achieve its high energy-efficiency rating
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PROJECT 53
Contactless in
THE CLINK It’s not the light sources that are unusual in this Belgian police station, it’s the way they’re connected. Lux takes a look
T
he police force in Jumet, in the Charleroi region of Belgium, recently moved to a building that had been refurbished to its specifications – including the lighting. The T5 and LED fittings are connected by an innovative power system supplied by HavellsSylvania’s Lumiance division, which uses contactless coupling to link up luminaires. This takes drivers out of the picture, entirely reducing maintenance and making the system easier to install and rearrange.
Drivers have had their day Lights turn on in the toilets when someone enters
The system, called Isotera, replaces conventional LED drivers – often the weakest link in any system – and modular wiring. Mains power is processed by a single hub and distributed over a double insulated cable, to fittings connected with contactless inductive couplers. These takespower from the bus without piercing the cable and convert it to a DC current suitable for LEDs. The system is quick to install, needs no mains wiring, and works with any constant-current LED luminaire. The police station installation includes a central power pack controlled remotely through a single high-frequency line. This makes it easy to plan, install and control the system. To achieve the police force’s ambition to cut energy consumption in the building, the LED fittings are linked to motion detectors in high-traffic areas. The fittings turn on when someone enters a corridor or a toilet, and the sensors adapt light levels according to the amount of daylight available.
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Co-located with:
17 –19 November 2015 | ExCeL | London | U.K.
THE FUTURE
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PROJECT YUSEN LOGISTICS, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 55
The light distribution of linear luminaires was considered the best for illuminating the shelves
Shelf
LIFE L
ighting a cavernous warehouse spac takes a lot of watts. When Sydney-ba Yusen Logistics decided the lighting Wetherill Park depot was no longer fi for purpose, slashing energy bills and operatin costs was top of the list of priorities. The prim task of the new lighting was to make the most efficient use of energy, including exploiting daylight to its fullest extent. Use of automated sensors boosted the energy savings to more th 74 per cent.
Standard issue
decided a retrofit using energy-efficient LED aires was the way to go. he task was entrusted to Aglo Systems of elbourne, a specialist in the design and upply of LED high bay fittings, downlights and floodlights for commercial applications. An analysis of Yusen’s requirements suggested that the most efficient replacement configuration would be a combination of ircular LED high bay fittings with linear LED minaires for the storage aisles. Calculations wed that longer LED fittings with an elongated spread would significantly reduce the number inaires needed to light the storage areas compared with the previous installation, and they would improve vertical light levels. The 400-plus metal halide fittings were replaced with 191 Aglo Galaxy 150W LED high bay pendant
V
The warehouse space was lit using 405 400W metal halide high bay fittings. These were costly to run, had lost luminance over time, and were no longer compliant with minimum Australian AS 1680 standards. Like many other warehouse operators,
Making the most of daylight was the key to minimising energy use in a Sydney warehouse depot. Nicky Trevett reports
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56 PROJECT YUSEN LOGISTICS, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Luminaire output is altered in response to the amount of daylight entering the warehouse
Significant savings have been made on lighting maintenance costs
fittings and 125 Aglo Europa 150W linear LED flat bay luminaires. The Galaxy emits 16,200 lm and the Europa delivers 16,000 lm, both with 1-10V smooth, continuous dimming. The new luminaires, spaced between nine and 12m apart, were carefully placed to ensure improved brightness and more even light distribution. In some areas lux levels increased up to eight times.
Dropping demand With 89 fewer fittings rated at less than half the wattage, the retrofit has succeeded in cutting the warehouse’s energy consumption from 531kWh a year to 172kWh – a saving of 358kWh a year, with peak demand falling to just under 115kW. To further increase energy efficiency, Aglo installed sensors on the luminaires to detect motion and the amount of daylight coming in through the
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PROJECT 57
CLEVER LIGHT SOLUTIONS
CUSTOM LED OPTICS skylights. The luminaires automatically shut off or dim in response to signals from the sensors, adjusting light levels as needed. By attaching a sensor to each fitting, Aglo ensures that every light can be individually controlled to suit the conditions in the immediate area. The sensors were connected to the fittings before they arrived on site, reducing installation time and cost. The client was particularly pleased with the quality of the dimmed lighting. ‘Performance of the lights greatly outshone every expectation that I had, even at a 20 per cent dimmed level activated by the sensors that we requested,’ says Thomas Finnigan, Yusen Logistics’ procurement and facilities officer. Use of the sensor controllers is expected to reduce energy use by more than 74 per cent. (As a result of the ever-changing lighting conditions inside the warehouse, the extra savings achieved by using sensors to adjust luminaire output is calculated from a post-installation lighting circuit load test held at a specific time on a specific day in April.) The financial benefits have been all the client could have wished. There is a annual saving of more than AUS$70,000 (£56,000) on energy bills, with further savings of about AUS$12,000 from reduced maintenance. The installation also qualified for a NSW government rebate of AUS$32,786. The total savings in the first year were almost AUS$117,000, and Yusen expects to recoup the capital cost in about a year and a half.
STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD ENHANCE YOUR LED LIGHTING PRODUCT WITH A CUSTOM LED OPTIC FROM FORGE EUROPA
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58 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
A lighting scheme with excellent colour rendering is a key part of the refurbishment of the Heal’s building in London
The new lighting design defines circulation areas more clearly
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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE 59
The Heal’s
BUILDING F
The downlights from DAL use Xicato LED modules with good colour rendering
urniture store Heal’s has been a feature of London’s Tottenham Court Road since 1818, making its name in the early twentieth century under the stewardship of Ambrose Heal, a leading figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. Heal’s first purpose-built building was completed in 1854 and rebuilt in 1916, while the newer part of the building, on the north side, was constructed between 1916 and 1962. As well as the famous department store, the building houses five floors of office space, accommodating high-profile companies including Netflix, Liverpool FC and ad agency McGarryBowen. Last year the Heal’s Building was refurbished, with a remodelled reception, an internal atrium and a courtyard. Building services and structural engineering design were carried out for the client, Threadneedle Pensions, by Cundall, alongside architects John McAslan + Partners. The connecting spaces, which had no defined circulation strategy before, are now clearly defined. The new reception space (in what 100 years ago was the carriageway – where horses were fed and housed), has been enlarged and now includes a series of informal meeting spaces and a museum area. The previous ad hoc approach to the provision of toilets in the building has been rationalised, with dedicated toilet and shower core areas accessed from common areas. Cundall’s principal engineer Richard Gillett
developed the lighting design in partnership with GIA Equation. For the common areas, Gillett specified the Ambiance X100 LED downlight from Designed Architectural Lighting (DAL). DAL supplied all 226 luminaires, which came with the latest control gear to ensure high energy efficiency.
True colours For the light source in the fittings, Gillett chose Xicato LED modules for their accurate colour rendering and colour consistency (between individual products and over time), and because they are backed by a fiveyear warranty. Good colour rendering is especially important in the reception area and the toilets, and colour consistency is important for the scallops around the lift lobbies. Gillett says: ‘The use of Xicato LED products at the iconic Heal’s Building was an obvious choice, complementing the building’s historic connection to innovative design.’ The building is Grade II listed, so the design had to be approved by English Heritage. This meant retaining and clearly expressing elements of the historic fabric – for example, the washing of the original brickwork in the reception area. The refurbishment was designed to achieve Breeam ‘very good’ and EPC grade C sustainability ratings, and surpassed the energy requirements in Part L of the current Building Regulations by 20 per cent. Big energy savings were made by replacing CFL and halogen downlights with LED ones, and by introducing PIR (passive infrared) sensors to turn lights off when no-one is around. Tony Simpson, regional facilities manager for the client, says: ‘The feel of our building now bears no comparison with what it was like previously. The atmosphere is livelier, the colours deeper and the overall look of the lighting design more professional.’ The project has been shortlisted for the British Council for Offices Refurbished/Recycled Workplace Award, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Commercial Award.
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PROJECT MONTFORTHAUS, FELDKIRCH, AUSTRIA 61
does it
The lighting installation is intended to blur the boundaries between interior and exterior
A
An Austrian cultural centre is the first to use architectural lighting customised for HDTV broadcasting. Nicola Trevett reports lighting capable of dimming down to zero, seamlessly and without flicker, in cool colour temperatures between 2700 and 5000K. Montforthaus, in the Austrian town of Feldkirch near the Liechtenstein border, is a new culture and congress centre that has replaced an older building. Officially opened in January 2015 after five years of planning and construction, it now hosts a diverse range of events including concerts, fairs, conferences and symposiums. An LED lighting solution was sought for the usual reasons: energy efficiency, cost savings, reduced maintenance burden, and environmental friendliness. The luminaires chosen had to complement the architecture and provide the necessary light
V
n Austrian multifunctional arts venue says it has achieved a breakthrough in lighting technology. Architectural luminaires designed to complement the flow of natural light and accentuate the building’s shapely forms have been customised to serve an extra purpose – to provide ideal lighting conditions for high-definition TV broadcasts. Dimming LEDs has always been a tricky business. Users want the smooth, seamless effect we are conditioned to expect from incandescent sources. LED drivers have not always been up to the job, producing incremental changes in light output or intensity that are interpreted by the human eye as flicker – particularly at low levels. High-definition television cameras are even more sensitive to flicker. Of course, there are plenty of LED drivers capable of providing smooth dimming to very low levels, but development has focused on specialist lighting in environments such as television studios or conference rooms for audiovisual presentations. What has been achieved at Montforthaus is architectural
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62 PROJECT MONTFORTHAUS, FELDKIRCH, AUSTRIA
The customised Zumtobel luminaires used throughout the building dim smoothly, even from 10 to 0%, for the benefit of TV cameras
levels and ambience. But because many events were expected to be televised, the lighting in certain key spaces had to meet the needs of HDTV broadcasting. The building, designed by the Berlin office of Hascher Jehle Architektur, stands in the shadow of the historic Schattenburg castle. Its organic shape and flowing lines, combined with transparent façades and the glass dome of the foyer, are designed to minimise the barrier between exterior and interior, allowing daylight to flow through the building.
Flexible for functions The lighting concept had to support and complement this principle of permeability, accentuating the contoured lines of the architecture while ensuring a uniform natural lighting effect. Crucially, the system had to be flexible enough to adapt to different functions, creating the right mood for stylish receptions, grandiose concerts and academic symposiums. Diverging ceiling heights of between 2.4 and 10m also had to be taken into account. The installation was devised by architectural and stage lighting design consultancy Belzner Holmes/ Light Design Engineering (LDE) in conjunction with Zumtobel. LDE was chosen for its technological
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expertise and proven ability to work with Zumtobel to solve technical issues – in this case how to achieve the necessary dimming performance. After extensive testing and investigation, the decision was made to customise an existing luminaire. The starting point was Zumtobel’s Panos Infinity family of modular LED downlights. Panos Infinity combines a sophisticated design by Sottsass Associati with advanced functionality. Most importantly, the luminaires’ colour temperature can be tuned from warm white to neutral to cool according to need. The selected colour temperature range of 2700-5000K is best suited to broadcasting because it comes closest to matching daylight. The customised MFH-Panos luminaire uses specially developed Zumtobel technology to achieve a smooth, flicker-free transition through DMX control in the all-important 10 to 0 per cent range, where flicker is most likely to be picked up by cameras. A series of experimental HD recordings made in the studios of Austrian television broadcaster ORF using the lights confirmed the absence of flickering or visual disturbance. Use of DMX and Dali controls ensures the ratio of warm and cold white light throughout the building
PROJECT 63
‘‘
With the special solution for Montforthaus, we have developed a luminaire that is truly unique” Philippe Rettenbacher, Zumtobel
can be controlled individually. Depending on the necessary response rate, the integrated 28, 30 or 40W downlights are equipped with intelligent Dali or DMX technology that enables separate control of each luminaire. Individual control of the lighting scenarios in areas such as the Great Hall helps create the right mood for every event, from cool white to neutral and warm. A combination of MFH-Panos and Zumtobel’s Ondaria circular luminaires with concave opal diffusers sets the scene in the Montforthaus café. Eighteen Zumtobel products are used in Montforthaus, including Lightfields Evolution in the
stairwell and Craft for general lighting for the stage area. Altogether more than 2,500 luminaires were installed, including about 750 of the different MFHPanos variants. The customised downlights were created specifically for Montforthaus, but given the growing appetite for high-definition televised events, it is a timely innovation. ‘With the special solution for Montforthaus, we have developed a luminaire that is truly unique,’ says Philippe Rettenbacher, Zumtobel project manager. ‘The MFH-Panos has been designed specifically to meet the needs of our customer, but the potential for global success is already clear.’
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64 PROJECTS ROUNDUP
LIGHTING PROJECTS
How it’s done
CAR SHOWROOM
CANTEEN
BMW, MALAYSIA BMW launched its first authorised dealership in the state of Sabah, Malaysia with a new showroom equipped with an energy-saving all-LED scheme by Megaman. The 5,000m2 building, designed by Daniel Koh, principal at Arkitek Daniel Koh, has been fitted with a range of Megaman LED lamps intended to create drama in the showroom while reducing energy costs and CO2 emissions. The Megaman AR111 and PAR38 LED lamps replaced the 150W metal halide lamps that were initially proposed.
SHOPPING MALL
BORY MALL, BRATISLAVA Visitors to Bratislava’s recently opened Bory Mall will experience a ‘ceiling of stars’ overhead thanks to a series of point light sources that mimic a starry sky. The scheme, created by Massimiliano Fuksas, uses 2,500 Erco Skim recessed luminaires to light an area of about 20,000m2. A third of these downlights were fitted with oval flood lenses, and the remainder have a wide flood characteristic to eliminate distracting overlaps with shop lighting. A control system activates luminaires automatically throughout the day to supplement daylight.
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CAMBRIDGE CONSULTANTS, CAMBRIDGE Even boffins have to eat, and this canteen at the new offices of Cambridge Consultants has light fittings from Dextra. The challenge was to match the style of the canteen and cut energy costs and carbon emissions. The MODLED UNIVERSITY Curve, supported by adjustable Hi-Track LED display lights, provided SPORTS CENTRE flexible illumination equally suited to dining, meetings and product demonstrations. Digital Dimming Switch Dim (ECO) lighting controls, make it possible to adjust the lighting for different activities. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS The university has revamped its recreation and activities centre in a bid to cut its energy cost by $70,000 a year. Power management company Eaton replaced 400 lighting fittings in three gyms with Metalux HBLED luminaires, which are ‘equal to or better than fluorescent systems’, says Mark Eubanks, president of Eaton’s Cooper Lighting division. The 100W LED fittings reduce maintenance and power costs, while meeting the Illuminating Engineering Society’s recommended light levels.
CAR SHOWROOM
PORSCHE BRAEVERN, WASHINGTON, US James Sultan and Studio Lux in Seattle designed the lighting for this newest Porsche dealership. He wanted an integrated, powerful LED gimbal to illuminate the cars and ensure a suitable amount of sparkle, and found it in the form of ACDC’s 360+. It is a trimless double gimbal LED fitting with field-changeable optics and two-step McAdam ellipse binning. During installation, changes could be made quickly to accommodate the irregular joist placement in the curving soffit construction of the showroom.
PROJECTS ROUNDUP 65
From shopping centres to TV studios by way of a few car showrooms, LED lighting continues its inexorable march into all aspects of our lives
HEADQUARTERS BUILDING
WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION, GENEVA Zumtobel worked with architects to design the lighting for the 900-seat conference hall of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The spherical luminaires create a diffuse light and hide loudspeakers and cameras. The supporting aluminium structure resembles an oversized pollen grain with funnel-shaped hexagonal honeycombs. At the intersections between the honeycombs are 540 custom-made, dimmable LED lighting points.
Will Scott Photography
PUBLIC SQUARE
KING’S CROSS SQUARE, LONDON Passengers departing or arriving at King’s Cross station in London used to arrive at a drab 1970s extension that hid the Victorian façade. The extension was knocked down in 2012, freeing space for a new public square that is lit by a scheme designed by StudioFractal. The designers specified in-ground luminaires from architectural LED manufacturer ACDC to light the ground floor of the façade and the station façade. Highpower Integrex linear luminaires were surface-mounted to wash light further up the façade.
HOTEL RESTAURANT
YUAN, DUBAI Dubai’s Atlantis Palm hotel is reinventing mood lighting by installing a scheme in one of its restaurants that changes along with the seasons. Its in-house Chinese restaurant, Yuan, has a lighting system that discreetly adapts with the time of day in an CAR effort to balance light levels in conference with the sun and the SHOWROOM seasons. The scheme, created by design consultancy DPA, makes it possible to program each luminaire group in the system to change the ambience, accent and functional lighting as required. MAZDA, CROYDON Havells Sylvania lighting equipment has refreshed the Mazda Croydon car dealership. Architect Bisset Adams and Havells Sylvania designed the scheme, which embraces Mazda’s corporate philosophy and includes products from Concord, Lumiance and Sylvania. The main lighting feature is a suspended Concord Mini Continuum LED on a track that delivers uniform lines of light across the cars. At each end of the track, a Concord Beacon Muse LED spotlight highlights details. Matrix LED pendant are fitted in the customer waiting area.
TV STUDIO
AL JAZEERA STUDIO, LONDON A special version of Robe’s Robin LEDWash 800 PureWhite SW fitting was specified for this studio on the 16th floor of The Shard in London. Eighty of the luminaires are fitted on the low ceiling and are visible on screen. Light is uniform, with a good colour spectrum and shadowing on faces has been eliminated. Lighting states can be changed and tweaked quickly. Light sources are Robe’s tunable SmartWhite LEDs. The bespoke version of the fitting had a rotating beam shaper in addition to a zoom, eliminating the need for barn doors.
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66 LIGHTING FOR ART
LIGHTING PROJECTS
Art attack
THE MONA LISA In 2013 the Louvre Museum in Paris unveiled the newly relit Mona Lisa, now using specially designed LED lights from Toshiba. A new fitting was developed specifically to light the 500-year-old Leonardo da Vinci painting, using 34 LEDs which can be tuned to achieve optimal colour rendering and compensate for any colour shift over time. The product includes optical systems to frame the painting and maintain high uniformity across its surface. The new fixtures have improved colour rendering, got rid of ultraviolet and infrared radiation and reduced electricity consumption for the lighting. Toshiba has been working with the Louvre since 2010, relighting outdoor areas including the famous pyramid, and helping achieve a 73 per cent reduction in the energy used for exterior lighting at the museum. The Mona Lisa and the Red Room, a gallery of 19th century French paintings, are the first indoor areas to go LED. THE LAST SUPPER The new LED lighting scheme for Da Vinci’s famous mural of Jesus and his disciples was unveiled in March. Designed and donated to the Last Supper Museum by iGuzzini, the lights have made the painting’s colours and contrasts more vivid. At the same time, they slash energy use and excess heat in the building. Previously, fluorescent tubes lit the painting while energy-guzzling halogen AR111 fittings provided general lighting. Not only did those fittings consume 3.5kW, they also brought huge amounts of heat into the room (the last thing delicate paintings need) and about a third of the light was spilled on to the adjacent walls and ceiling. Milan’s Architectural and Landscapes Heritage Office felt The Last Supper deserved better. The old fittings have been replaced by custom versions of iGuzzini’s Palco LED spotlight to light the painting, and Cestello fittings for general lighting. Getting the lighting right is vital for any artwork, but particularly so for The Last Supper, because Da Vinci’s mastery of light is one of the things that makes the painting so special. The nine-metre-wide painting fills a whole wall, giving the illusion that the room continues into the picture, and just as the only daylight in the room comes from high windows to the left of the painting that cast light on to the opposite wall, so the right wall in the painting is shown brightly lit, while the left wall is in shadow. Most of those windows are now shaded to protect artworks from sunlight. But the lighting design team preserved the effect by reducing light levels on the left side. The precise colour composition of the new scheme has been tuned to bring out the particular shades used in the painting, thanks to a custom-made chip-on-board LED light source. Ceregioli told Lux: ‘We have a colour temperature of 3800K, but it looks close to 3200K because you can see the warm colours are so deep, so powerful.’ From a conservation point of view, LED lights like these are perfect for delicate artworks because they’re pretty much UV-free. The new lights reduce energy consumption by an enormous 83 per cent, and generate much less heat, opening up the possibility that the museum may be able to relax the restrictions on visiting – currently only 25 people at a time are allowed into the room, so visitors have to book a 15-minute slot weeks in advance.
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LIGHTING FOR ART 67
The latest in LED lighting technology is being applied to the world’s most famous artworks for more vivid colours and better conservation
Governatorato dello Stato della Città del Vaticano - Direzione del Musei
THE SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING If you’ve been to the Sistine Chapel, you probably recall the crick in your neck and the strain on your eyes as you gazed upwards to spot Michelangelo’s ceiling. Strain no more. Last year the Vatican installed 50 new luminaires containing 7,000 LEDs that illuminate masterpieces such as The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgement in a way that brings the paintings and frescoes into full, clear and colourful view. ‘We want to honour the 450th anniversary of Michelangelo’s death by providing new lighting for his work,’ said Professor Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums. The great artist would probably be proud of the project, led by Germany’s Osram, which said the new LEDs provide ten times the brightness of previous lighting, while slashing energy consumption by 90 per cent. The most difficult aspect of the two-year job was to prove that the light was not harmful for the art,’ said Martin Reuter, Osram’s senior technical project manager. Osram sent original pigments for the ceiling, which Michelangelo completed in 1512, to Hungary’s Pannonian Univeristy, to test that it was safe to light them with the new LEDs. In order to be kinder and gentler to the paintings, the company used a mix of red, green and blue LEDs, rather than the usual blue LED coated in phosphor, to create white light.
THE NIGHT WATCH In 2013 Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum reopened after an epic 10-year refurbishment. It now features an all-LED lighting scheme from Philips throughout the museum, including its most famous artwork: Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. The 1642 painting, depicting a company of civic militia guards, is famous for its use of light and shadow. The new lighting is based on Philips StyliD luminaires, containing the Fortimo tight-beam spotlight module. The colour rendering index of 93 brings out reds and blues in the paintings particularly well. The same light sources were used throughout, because the Rijksmuseum wanted visitors to be able to compare the artworks under the same light. The museum’s head of exhibitions Tim Zeedijk told Lux: ‘I really like the way the Night Watch is lit now – the depth and the beauty and the colour rendering.’ And the minimal UV emission from LEDs means the painting is well protected.
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68 LUX PROMOTION
An exclusive look at the new
PHILIPS TECHNOLOGY spring range
Lux caught up with Michael Messenger and Jon Potter of Philips Technology to take a look at their newest technology innovations
MICHAEL MESSENGER PHILIPS TECHNOLOGY DESIGN-IN ENGINEER
JON POTTER LED BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
SimpleSet Simple, fast and wireless configuration The new SimpleSet wireless programming technology is designed to let manufacturers wirelessly program Philips Xitanium LED drivers. It means you can now configure your drivers without any cabled connections (mains power or configuration tools) to the driver, at any time during the manufacturing process. Lux’s Alan Tulla said: ‘What I like about SimpleSet is that OEMs can alter the configuration of the Xitanium ballast at any time during manufacture. It’s not a problem if the customer changes their mind once assembly has started.’ As demand for LED products increases, so does the diversity of customers’ expectations and requirements. Michael Messenger of Philips Technology says: ‘SimpleSet helps luminaire manufacturers overcome these challenges by meeting orders faster, while reducing costs and inventory, making the whole manufacturing process more efficient.’
‘‘
What I like about SimpleSet is that OEMs can alter the configuration at any time during manufacture”
Alan Tulla
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LUX PROMOTION 69
CertaFlux LED Strip Sometimes good can be great
‘‘
These dedicated drivers should bring much needed reliability to high volume LED luminaires” Alan Tulla
CertaFlux LLS EaseSelect
Philips Technology has recently launched its ‘Certa’ value product range, including CertaFlux modules and CertaDrive drivers, offering basic lighting requirements as a cost-effective alternative to its well-known Fortimo and Xitanium families. ‘The CertaFlux 2ft 2200lm LED strip, compatible with their CertaDrive linear LED driver portfolio, is one of the latest additions to our cost-effective Certa portfolio – offering systems which are specially designed for volume applications,’ Jon Potter explains. Lux’s Alan Tulla said: ‘With so many products of uncertain quality in the market, it’s good to see a company with the pedigree of Philips supplying a basic, value-engineered range of LED strip that you can rely on. The high volume market certainly deserves it. The introduction of a nominal one-foot strip means that OEMs can now supply 3ft and 5ft luminaires. These are still quite common in older installations.’ On the new CertaDrive products, Tulla said: ‘The simplicity of these dedicated drivers should bring some much needed reliability to high volume, commodity type LED luminaires.’
MY TECHNOLOGY PORTAL
Easy design-in and exchange Today’s LED systems consist of either a driver and a light module, or a driver and module integrated together. Now, a new breed of product is entering the lighting market: driver-on-board. Philips Technology plans for the next addition to its Certa family to be the CertaFlux LLS EaseSelect – a driver-on-board linear light module. The PCB includes a driver: mains power goes in, and light comes out. No need to worry about selecting the right driver anymore, because the light engine and driver have been matched and are packaged up all in one. CertaFlux LLS EaseSelect is designed for easy design-in and exchange, simple, fast and low-cost assembly, and low integral cost. Michael Messenger explains: ‘By moving the driver to the bottom of the board, we’ve managed to place LEDs all the way to the sides, allowing uniform lines of light and minimising any shadow effect.’ Jon Potter added: ‘Planned for launch this summer, the linear EaseSelect introduction is the first of a planned driver-on-board product family, coming soon.’ Lux’s Alan Tulla said: ‘In effect, this is an LED strip to replace high volume four, five and six-foot T5 and T8 luminaires, where you don’t want the added complexity of a driver.’
Philips Technology knows its customers need to plan and stay ahead. Marketing manager Tara Chahal says: ‘Customers can now find out more about upcoming product launches and concepts, obtain personalised phase-out information, order samples and hear the most recent and exciting OEM news on our online informationsharing platform: My Technology Portal.’ As well as being accessible on the web, My Technology Portal can now be downloaded in iTunes and will be available for Android and Windows by the end of May. Visit www.philips.com/technology to find out more
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72 HISTORY OF LIGHTING
A brief history of
EVOLUTION BY SUNLIGHT Our story begins three million years ago when humans came down from the trees. Since then we’ve evolved almost completely by the light of the sun – because until very recently in human history, the sun (and fire) were the only light sources available. Our bodies are designed for daylight – especially our body clocks.
GAS LIGHT
THE BIRTH OF ELECTRIC LIGHT
INCANDESCENT APPEARS
Fast-forward to the 19th century and artificial light has well and truly arrived. People have been burning gas for light for centuries, but in this period it takes a leap forward..
But just as gas lighting was taking off, Humphry Davy was perfecting his arc lamp, the first practical electric light. A new age had dawned.
Then came the incandescent lamp, which in most people’s minds is synonymous with Thomas Edison. He didn’t actually invent it – but he did invent the first one that anyone actually wanted to buy.
THE RISE OF INCANDESCENT
THE BIRTH OF FLUORESCENT
THE RISE OF FLUORESCENT
Incandescent brought cheap, safe, compact light for all. Its rise was helped along by the simultaneous development of electricity networks.
Building on earlier successes with mercury lamps, George Inman and his team at GE produced a breakthrough fluorescent lamp in 1934.
Fluorescent took off quickly and by 1939, 1.6 million lamps had been sold. The technology’s performance has gradually improved over the years and is still pretty ubiquitous today.
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HISTORY OF LIGHTING 73
GAS DISCHARGE TAKES OFF
THE INVENTION OF THE WHITE LED
THE RISE OF LED
The first low-pressure sodium lamp came in 1920, and was refined by Osram and Philips in the 1930s. It was joined by high-pressure sodium in 1955.
LEDs have been around since the 1960s, but it wasn’t until Shuji Nakamura invented a blue one in 1993 that white LED light was possible. He later got a Nobel Prize.
Over the past two decades, LEDs have conquered the world, thanks to their high efficiency, long life and controllability – and prices have plummeted.
SAVING ENERGY
BETTER LIGHT
THE WILD WEST
The rise of LEDs coincided with an increasing focus on cutting energy consumption all around the world. The 1997 Kyoto Procol saw companies commit to cutting greenhouse emissions, and businesses are under growing pressure to behave more sustainably.
In the early days of LED, quality issues gave the new technology a bad name for being glary, blueish and dim. But it doesn’t have to be that way – good LEDs can be tuned with great precision to produce better, healthier light than ever before.
Unfortunately LEDs have been poorly understood and missold, often failing to live up to grand claims about their performance. And established manufacturers have had their work cut out adjusting their businesses to the new technology. Not all have succeeded.
LIGHTING GETS CONNECTED
THE FUTURE
The next revolution is the rise of connected lighting. LEDs are digital components that can send and receive data – so they can be connected to the ‘internet of things’, and even controlled from a smartphone.
Rapid advancements in LEDs and control technology are continuing to transform the world of lighting. In the future, lights may not just be lights anymore – they have the potential to become communication devices that support all kinds of services we haven’t yet dreamed up. One thing’s for sure – things will keep changing. So do try and keep up... www.luxreview.com
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Illustration by Razvan Anghelache / www.razvananghelache.com
LIGHTING
74 TECHNOLOGY
Can lighting technology save us from Humanity is doomed, or so you would think, what with our general disregard for the environment. But with lighting technology getting so smart and efficient, Lux started wondering: is there hope for humanity after all? NIELS CARSTEN BLUHME DIRECTOR OF CITY, ENVIRONMENT AND EMPLOYMENT, ALBERTSLUND MUNICIPALITY, DENMARK
YES
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When the US set off to be the first coun to put a man on the moon, that desire became a catalyst for an almost unimaginable speed of development of new technology, materials and products. In a similar way, Europe has set a list of ambitious targets to reduce its CO2 emissions. We’re facing a big climate problem and must accelerate t green conversion, and that is causing us to push for big technology developments that will have wide implications for the way society is run. The idea of the internet of things is tightly connected to lighting. The latest example is smart houses, in which we connect luminaires in the ceiling with data cables instead of power cables. We’ll fill our ceilings with sensors that will register the chips in our mobile phones as we approach the building. And just like we’re creating smart cities, we’re creating smart houses where the dynamic of the buildings are controlled from a cloud. That means we’ll have a lot of information that we can use to optimise our productivity, effectiveness and communication to produce more, which means it will end up saving resources. A range of new industries will emerge around smart technology, so there will be a direct correlation between green conversion and economic growth. I think there’s a good possibility that we can boost growth, employment and welfare at the same time as having a cleaner environment.
e main problem on a global level is hether we will have the ability to create public-private collaborations based on demand. The reason the Scandinavian countries are so prosperous is that the public sector can take the initiative o work with the private sector on novation. That will be important to the ng industry as it continues to innovate and convert to green technology. Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki are interesting innovation hubs to watch. We’re aiming to make Greater Copenhagen an innovation hub where all municipalities act as test beds for new solutions. We’re seeing a large influx of large, global companies that are establishing themselves in Denmark, and we’re just as interesting as East London Tech City. These companies are starting to think in partnerships with demand-driven innovation and collaborations with cities. If lighting columns become the iPhones of the street, creating data on movements and maintenance, that will optimise society. The cities that make use of that technology will become more efficient. Lighting accounts for 20 per cent of our electricity use, but by making lighting technology more efficient, we have also created a starting point for a number of other smart things, including finding a better way to make use of power generated by wind turbines. Through micro networks we can redirect wind power to the central heating system or to charging electric cars. There are huge possibilities for optimisation, and with that comes huge potential for economic growth, which means we can create both a green and a black bottom line. In short, there is no doubt that the photonics industry can accelerate a green conversion to a CO2-neutral society by using the digital and smart technologies facilitated by lighting.
TECHNOLOGY 75
OURSELVES? JOHN BULLOCK LIGHTING DESIGNER
NO
Can lighting save us from ourselves? Before I begin, let’s deconstruct that question. ‘Lighting technology’ – with the entire lighting business falling into the maw of the electronics industry, I suspect that this is all about having chips with everything. ‘Save us’ – why we going somewhere? Oh yes, we’re r headlong towards the cliff-edge of environmental disaster. ‘Ourselves’ – and who might wee be? How far do we spread our pernicious bonds; beyond our front door? Our national boundary? Our hegemonic boundaries? Far enough to embrace humanity in general? We need to decide on answers to these questions before the original poser makes any sense. One of the stumbling blocks of working out our ‘sustainable future’ comes from the limitations we place on what ‘sustainability’ means. Because, generally, ‘a sustainable future’ means ‘a sustainable future for us’. We choose not to see the whole picture and prefer to concentrate on the minutiae of our society. Naomi Klein’s book, This Changes Everything calls it ‘looking away’. Someone points out the global effects of our daily behaviour and rather than looking at it and facing the problem, we prefer to busy ourselves with the latest generation of stuff that might reduce our energy consumption at home. But, and be sure about this, we won’t look for anything that might restrict our behaviour in any way, or anything that is to our detriment. ‘Smart products’ are making me increasingly grumpy. Whether they be light fittings or a park bench that speaks your weight, they are fine examples of ‘looking away’. ‘Smart’ devices seem such small incursions into our societal fabric. We know the impact that they’ve had on the way that we live, but we never question what’s going on behind the scenes. We choose not to see what lies behind the attractive, visual and tactile, design and – let’s face it – the fun that we have with these tiny critters. We might discuss the relative merits of visible light communication in pimping our retail experience, but we choose to ignore the real cost of wireless communication and cloud computing – because we don’t see it.
The Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications estimates that the carbon footprint of wireless access technologies will have increased from six megatonnes of CO2 in 2012 to up to 0 megatonnes in 2015, the equivalent of ing 4.9 million cars to the roads. f we look at the continued exploitation of metals and minerals, we might wonder why a company such as Umicore expects to thrive in the field of recycling of specialist metals – to the extent that it actually offers a management programme on metals that includes a leasing arrangement. So you buy the metal for your product – then it goes back to Umicore’s metal bank once the product has done its work. And this matters because of the speed with which we’re taking material from the ground and not paying attention to what happens when the product is finished. Of course, the percentage of specialist metals taking this route-to-re-use is miniscule. Perhaps the final nail in our collective coffin will be the continued demand for economic growth. Even here, we’ve attempted a sleight of hand by introducing concepts such as ‘eco-efficiency’. But that can never become a negative, we only slow the growth down. The Jevons paradox, or Rebound Effect, is alive and well. A hundred and fifty years ago, Williams Jevons showed how increased machine efficiency simply led to more goods being made. There was no incentive to reduce energy consumption or material exploitation. And that very thing is going on today in the world of electronics. No-one is looking. I’ll come back to the original question: Can lighting technology save us from ourselves? There is one way that lighting technology can save us. It requires a leap of faith – but it’s just the kind of blind leap of ignorance that we unfailingly fall for. We carry on as we’re doing, allowing all of the technology to connect itself together, and then send out the instruction to ‘save us from ourselves’. At which point, everything will shut down and we’ll have no access to anything technical, because the machinemind will know better than we do. So that’ll be OK then.
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76 RECYCLING
Gold – just one of the valuable materials found in LED products
for independence An EU-backed organisation wants to reduce Europe’s dependence on the Far East by recycling more rare minerals from LED products in Europe. Kathrine Anker reports
L
ED chips contain rare, valuable minerals such as gallium and gold, which are difficult to recover at the end of a product’s life. Some of those rare earths are mined in the Far East and could become difficult for Europe to obtain in times of shortage. An EU-backed organisation now wants to help Europe overcome a potential shortage of rare minerals in the future, by improving the way LEDs are made and recycled. CycLED, a group made up of 13 industry and academic partners, including Philips and Nottingham Trent University, aims to ‘play a vital role in reusing rare materials while creating valuable jobs in Europe, thus paving the way towards European leadership in LED technology.’ Having already researched how current LED products are designed and assembled, CycLED wants to find better ways to create products that can be taken apart and have their minerals recovered during recycling. The organisation also wants to find more effective ways to manage heat in LED lights; so they
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last longer before needing to be recycled. ‘First of all we look at the design of products so that we can make full use of the up to 50,000 hours of lifetime of such LEDs. Then we have a look at the construction of the products to enable the disassembly when it has reached its end of life,’ says Dr Otmar Deubzer, CycLED’s project coordinator. ‘Then we look at recycling technologies, because for some of the scarce metals, we still don’t have any.’ To demonstrate what’s possible, the organisation has now specified four lighting products – a streetlight, a commercial light, an industrial light and a decorative light, which are currently being built with the help of Braun Lighting Solutions, Etap, Ona and Riva Lighting. The project is meant to benefit the whole lighting sector in Europe, with research findings and technical design guidelines being made available for other manufacturers. CycLED’s website states that in order to recover as much of the scarce minerals as possible during recycling, LED lamps and luminaires need to be separated from other electrical waste before being treated at the recycling plant. UK recycler Recolight welcomes this proposal. ‘To ensure that rare earths can be recovered from waste LEDs, collecting LEDs separate from other waste is essential,’ says Nigel Harvey, Recolight’s chief executive. ‘Without a distinct LED waste stream, it will be much harder to recover the rare earths. The
RECYCLING 77
concentration would be diluted by scrap metal or general electrical waste.’ Most LED lamps are currently recycled in the same waste category as fluorescents. This is fine for now, Harvey says, as it ensures the recycling of LEDs can be funded by recycling fees currently paid for older light sources. He adds: ‘When LED recycling becomes economically and technically feasible, we may need to separate LED and non-LED lamp waste. The best way may be to co-collect and separate at the recycler. Or a second collection container may become viable.’ He adds: ‘In the same way, LED luminaires and conventional luminaires should be co-collected, to ensure that the LED light sources are identifiable as a separate waste stream. Unfortunately, 2014 data shows that less than one per cent of waste luminaires were separately collected. Most luminaires were probably recycled along with the millions of tonnes of scrap metal collected in the UK each year. That means the dilution effect may make the rare earths irrecoverable.’
All talk, no action? Independent lighting consultant and sustainability enthusiast John Bullock says: ‘The current “make it, sell it, forget it” model has no future, yet we see very little in the way of the industry changings its ways. Plenty of lip service – bugger all action. Manufacturers lose control of their product and it’s hard to see how that cycle can be closed sufficiently to ensure the kind of re-use percentage that makes this initiative possible. It will always ‘leak’ material as stuff goes to landfill. This is the problem that has to be addressed though I assume that CycLED has a strategy for doing so.’ Bullock adds: ‘The fact that Philips is another member of the consortium and they have been promoting the pay-per-lux programme suggests one way that the manufacturer doesn’t lose control of product, of course. ‘At the end of the day, we have to find a way of making this work. The alternative is very dark indeed.’ Harvey stresses that the success of Europe’s recycling ambitions depends on manufacturers adhering to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment recycling directive. ‘Producers of LED luminaires should join a WEEE scheme that separately collects waste luminaires. And, end users must return waste luminaires through the WEEE system, and not as scrap metal. Until these changes take place, the opportunity to recover rare earths from LED luminaires will be limited.’
Let’s talk There’s nothing like getting people around a table and talking. Lux works with companies in the lighting business to develop conferences and forums that connect you with your audience.
Find out how an event can put you in front of the right people. O Forums O Conferences O Sponsorship opportunities
TO DISCUSS OPPORTUNITIES CONTACT PETER ROWLEDGE ON +44 (0) 203 283 4387 PETER.ROWLEDGE@LUXREVIEW.COM Each LED contains tiny amounts of rare materials
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78 SMART CITIES
MANCHESTER
Bright lights,
SMART CITIES As more and more cities declare themselves ‘smart’, Mark Faithfull considers what that really means
LONDON
W
hat makes a city smart? How you define a ‘smart city’ is somewhat subjective, but any definition is likely to include connected information technology that keeps a city operating safely, efficiently and at reduced costs. Equally, modern, digital lighting is sure to play a key role. In fact a growing number of people in the lighting industry believe that lighting networks will form the backbone of these emerging smart cities, partly because the infrastructure is already in place, partly because of the convergence of electrical and information technologies. UK market research firm Juniper identified Barcelona, New York, London, Nice and Singapore as the five leading cities in this field, following an analysis of each city’s ‘smart’ capabilities, although Eindhoven, Manchester and Stavanger, plus several other cities, would have good cause to believe they should be on that shortlist.
Smart grids The Juniper rankings emphasised the role of smart electricity grids, which the company believes will save cities $10.7 billion annually by 2019, although it also warned against cyber-attacks on smart grids and the same concerns could apply to smart lighting systems, which could open network security threats to users. EU money has helped finance a number of European pilots, with perhaps the best known in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, which just over a year ago
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became the latest to introduce a city lighting system that is both more sustainable and provides new services. ‘We want to make Eindhoven as comfortable as possible for every resident,’ says the city’s lighting project manager Rik van Stiphout. ‘We’re still investing in regular lighting as well, but our new LED lighting system can be controlled by computers, which means that each streetlight can be controlled individually.’ Although initially tasked with the development of a city light policy, van Stiphout was eager to replace it with a lighting vision, which would go beyond the technical aspects of what kind of light is to be used where and instead focus on the effects that light should have on the city environment. The role of people and businesses was particularly important in this vision. Creating a strong identity, presenting the city as a place residents can be proud of, that is future-oriented and creative, was also key. Practical examples include more intelligent applications of lighting. European and American cities are often quite empty after 10pm, yet providing light to those on them remains essential for security. Both in Eindhoven’s initiative and in a number of the cities
STAVANGER EINDHOVEN
COPENHAGEN
BARCELONA
PRAGUE piloting schemes, the streetlights provide a small glow to empty streets, giving residents the feeling that the street is fully illuminated, while in reality the lights only turn on fully as a person approaches.
Remote control masterplanning should recognise the opportunities that technology can provide. ‘I don’t think that the value of technology asset management is being fully realised,’ says Herzberg. ‘With huge increases in the numbers of mobile devices, there is a tremendous chance to bring new services to the built environment, to save money through green buildings and also to commercialise services. The potential runs into trillions of dollars.’ Herzberg says that innovation is being pioneered geographically rather than by particular sectors. He cites the Chicago Lakeside development, Saudi Arabia’s Economic Cities and developments in Dubai and Qatar among those which best highlight the opportunities and the advantages of planning. ‘We have worked with the Dutch city of Eindhoven and it is heartening to see investment in
Are these Europe’s smartest cities?
V
Eindhoven’s first batch of computer-controlled, coloured LED lights also mean that the street lanterns can be adapted to fit the weather, even flashing red to warn residents of approaching storms or floods. But they can also be remotely adjusted wirelessly, down to areas as small as a street or a corner of a city square in order to provide a particular ambience to that area. Eindhoven has even installed illuminated pedestrian crossings, where sensor-equipped white stripes illuminate to tell pedestrians it’s safe to cross. To make the projects worthwhile, cities should consider technology implementation at the beginning of projects and think about technology from both a qualitative and commercial point of view, according to Cisco, which has been working on many of the projects. Global managing director Caspar Herzberg says that the mantra of ‘smart and connected’ has moved to ‘internet of everything’ and that
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80 SMART CITIES
CHICAGO
NEW YORK LOS ANGELES
technology infrastructure coming back into Europe,’ he says. ‘Technology can be used to master the challenge of global urbanisation, from traffic management to water management, plus all the services that can be offered to people, and if it is included at the outset it can be optimised.’
two businesses with smart gateways and automatic power meters will be included in the project. This creates a unique demonstration area where people live, move and work, says Dagfinn Wåge, head of innovation and R&D in Lyse. The project partners in Stavanger will cooperate with similar groups in Eindhoven and Manchester. In addition to the three designated beacon cities, Leipzig, Prague and Sabadell will be follower cities, where various solutions will be transferred and tested. From there, the hope is that models will begin to be created that enable other cities to learn from the pilots and fast-track their own enabling platforms, shining a fresh light on the modern urban world.
Lighting lab Beyond Eindhoven, in Albertslund, a suburb of Copenhagen, 25 companies are participating in the Danish Outdoor Lighting Lab, a demonstration project to test and show about 50 different networked street lighting systems. The project, organised by the notfor-profit Gate 21 in collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark and the city of Albertslund, has installed arrays of lights along the streets and bike paths that technicians can control and monitor. ‘We are moving from a stand-alone, very simple technology to a network where you have all the different things talking to each other,’ says Kim Brostrom, the chief technology officer of the project. ‘In the city centre, traffic officials are testing a number of approaches, including one aimed at keeping lorries from making stops as they travel the major roads, which would save on fuel.’ Meanwhile, in Norway, Stavanger City Council, Rogaland County Council, the University of Stavanger and energy supplier Lyse are bidding for EU innovation funding. One hundred homes and
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‘‘
There is a tremendous chance to bring new services to the built environment, to save money through green buildings and also to commercialise services. The potential runs into trillions of dollars” Caspar Herzberg, global managing director, Cisco
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ERN
83
INTELLIGENCE Power over Ethernet puts control and power for LED lighting on the same cables, making it much easier to create smart, efficient buildings. Robert Bain investigates
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V
ED lighting is helping buildings around the world slash their electricity bills because the amount of energy needed to run LEDs is so much lower than that consumed by traditional forms of lighting. But lower energy consumption isn’t just about saving money and being kind to the environment. It’s starting to demonstrate other benefits too. The electrical load of LED sources is now so low that you don’t even need mains cables to power them – you can use standard network cables, so it’s easier and cheaper to connect and control your lights. This technology is called ‘power over Ethernet’ (PoE) and, as the name suggests, it’s a way of providing power for electrical equipment through Ethernet cables – the same ones that already form the backbone of the IT network in your office. Ethernet uses ‘cat 5’ (or more recently cat 5e or cat 6) cables – the kind you plug into your router, with the plastic clip on the end that clicks into place. Cat 5 cables are really designed to carry data, not power. But as long as the load is below a certain wattage (up to about 60W at the moment) they can power and communicate with devices at the same time. Which turns out to be really useful.
So what are the advantages for lighting? Well, everyone knows that wiring up a new lighting system can be an expensive headache, and to install a control system, you’ll need yet another network of wires up in the ceiling, along with the power cables. If you want control but can’t face all that wiring, you’ve got three options: send the data wirelessly (using specially equipped drivers), send the data over your power cables (using power-line communication, offered by the likes of Lumenpulse and Echelon), or send the power over your data cables – in other words, PoE. The great thing about using cat 5 cables for this kind of thing is that they’re cheap to buy and even cheaper to install – no need for an electrician, just click the cables into place and you’re away. Philips, one of the suppliers of power over Ethernet systems for lighting, reckons installation is up to 25 per cent cheaper than conventional wiring.
POE AT DELOITTE Philips has a PoE lighting system up and running at The Edge, an Amsterdam office building occupied by accountancy firm Deloitte. Jeff Cassis of Philips says: ‘The lighting system acts as an information pathway, enabling workers to control and access other building services using their smartphones.’ Sensors attached to fittings capture data on occupancy, temperature and humidity. They connect to the IT network and interface with other building systems such as heating, ventilation and IT, so the facilities manager has a single system showing how the building is being used.
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84 POWER OVER ETHERNET
Cat 5 cables can handle a load of up to 60W
But that’s just the beginning – the real savings are in the longer term. The next big advantage is the level of intelligence that an Ethernet-based control system can bring. Every light becomes a point on a network, with its own IP address. That makes it easy to control and monitor them (including remotely over the web), and if your light fittings incorporate presence sensors, temperature sensors, light sensors and so on, you can track that data too. PoE brings lighting into the ‘internet of things’, allowing you to connect your lighting to other devices and systems in the building, such as heating, ventilation, IT services and security. The facilities manager has a single system that shows exactly how the building is being used.
Up and running Philips already has a PoE lighting control system up and running at a new Amsterdam office building occupied by accountancy firm Deloitte (see box on previous page). UK-company Prolojik also has a power over Ethernet system, Light Matrix, that it sells with luminaire makers Future Designs and Phi Lighting. The system is installed in a meeting room at the offices of a big accountancy firm in central London, to power and control 20 direct/indirect luminaires. Other companies working on PoE for lighting include Iowa-based Innovative Lighting and California’s Nuleds. To use Prolojik’s power over Ethernet system, you need a black box called an Ethernet switch, which converts AC mains power to the DC that goes through the cat 5 cables (achieving 10 per cent efficiency savings over a standard setup where mains power goes all the way to the driver, Prolojik says). Once the switch is installed, the electrician’s work is
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EXPERIMENTING WITH PoE An industry-backed lighting test lab in Denmark will be experimenting with power over Ethernet as part of its research on smart lighting. Niels Carsten Bluhme, director of city, environment and employment at the municipality of Albertslund (the home of the lighting lab and one of its key public sector partners) says: ‘The lab will have an intelligent ceiling with power over Ethernet, where you replace the traditional light installations based on electricity with a data cable. Then you add sensors to the luminaires so you can register mobile phones and control not only installations in the building but also functions – meetings, bookings, movements, and so on. That will be really useful in exhibition halls.’ The technology will also be used to power biodynamic lighting, which changes throughout the day to simulate daylight, he says.
done. It can power up to 3kW of lighting: it has ports for 48 cables, each of which can be used to power and control 60W of lighting – enough for maybe one or two luminaires each. Any luminaires rated up to 60W can be used with the system, although it does require ProLogik’s Dali drivers. Mark Vincent, commercial director of ProLojik, says the ease of installation is a big draw for clients. ‘When we’ve been presenting this, I’ve been apologising to electricians and contractors, because we’re taking their business away,’ he says. But the real benefits are in fully addressable control of lights, and the longterm energy-efficiency benefits. As with ProLojik’s system, the Philips system works with third-party luminaires, and talks to any existing control systems that may already be installed in a building. Philips’ PoE system is based on a network of small Ethernet switches, so it can be scaled from powering a handful of luminaires to 1,000 of them. Jeff Cassis, senior VP of global lighting solutions at Philips Lighting, says: ‘You can extract whatever data you want, whenever you want. Not only can you monitor energy consumption per light source, you have this really granular ability to look at what’s happening on my floor or building, aggregate that and understand how people are using the spaces. If you have multiple sites or buildings, you can look at how different buildings are managed. You could see how to use certain areas better, cool areas down that aren’t being used and make extra savings due to occupancy.’
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OPEN INNOVATION 87
I
n 1987 the world of telephony saw something akin to a miracle. All over Europe, as well as in the US and Japan, companies, universities and research institutions were rushing to develop their own technical standards for the emerging mobile phone market. A self-defeating competitive mess loomed, just as earlier the videotape format war between Sony and JVC had hampered growth in that market for a decade. Then Europe came up with the first agreed GSM technical specification. All the leading players in Europe lined up behind it, and five years later Nokia launched the first commercial GSM digital mobile phone. The mobile revolution was born.
Tipping point?
TO SHARE Can open innovation galvanise the LED lighting market and harness it to the common good? Or will commercial self-interest kill it off? We talk to Nils Erkamp, a leading proponent of collaborative development
a’s 1011 e result borative n in the ndustry
acceptance of the technology, helping the market to grow, create jobs and improve health and wellbeing. As part of the project, a web-based platform has been established called Lighting for People (lightingforpeople.eu) to share information and facilitate collaboration on human-centric lighting applications. So far, so idealistic. But if open innovatoin is to have any real effect in the lighting world, hard-nosed commercial companies must be persuaded to subordinate their own narrow interests to the wider good. Competition is in the very genes of our capitalist system – so can it really happen? ‘It’s
V
This is the kind of thing the proponents of open innovation would like to see happen in LED lighting. Nils Erkamp of TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, believes the industry is at a tipping point. Two key developments – controls and human-centric lighting – could the industry into a fruitful era of mass sales a profits, with widespread economic and socia Or plunge it into a morass of incompatible st competing claims and customer disillusion. Open innovation in LED lighting is the brainchild of an EU-commissioned project, SSL-erate (SSL is short for solid-state lightin which is techspeak for LED lighting). The initiative was set up to encourage coordination within the European SSL industry. The aim is to promote mass
It’s good
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88 OPEN INNOVATION
a difficult thing,’ acknowledges Erkamp. ‘It means they have to realise the value in it, because at the end of the day a company invests its own money and resources and wants a return on that investment.’ The fear of losing hard-won knowledge to potential competitors is particularly acute for big, established companies. ‘They perceive a new and open standard as a risk to their market position. They tend to defend their existing market share, whereas small start-up companies try to get a position in a new market.’ Which is one reason why Erkamp thinks ‘open innovation’ is a misconceived term. ‘What we are talking about is collaborative innovation,’ he says. ‘Bringing different kinds of company together to solve problems that cannot be solved within one company or domain. Open innovation suggests results are accessible to everyone, which is not necessarily the case.’ He prefers the term ‘shared innovation’. ‘It’s about sharing information with trusted partners. That’s an important limitation of risk.’
‘‘
When lighting companies claim without hard evidence that their method is better than their competitors, customers think this is just marketing crap”
Open up Fine, but at the end of the day, what’s in it for them? The answer, says Erkamp, is the very thing that might initially hold them back – self-interest. ‘Smart streetlighting has existed for 20 years, but market penetration only ever reached one or two per cent. There were no savings for customers and companies did not get the turnover they were looking for. Why? Because the companies involved did not collaborate to ensure a solution that would be useful in the field, where most customers use products from different vendors. This led to a very low market acceptance, despite an important energy-saving potential for customers.’ Open innovation works best for emerging markets with potential, he says. Companies fixated on their own proprietary systems risk strangling a new market at birth because customers will not risk tying themselves to such products. But it’s not just a question of establishing open standards, modularity and interoperability. It’s also about concepts. ‘For example, what is healthy lighting?’ Erkamp says. ‘It’s about the influence of light beyond its visual performance. Research has demonstrated that blue lighting can “activate” people – but when
‘‘
Companies fixated on their own proprietary systems risk strangling a new market at birth” www.luxreview.com
Nils Erkamp is helping lighting companies embrace collaborative innovation
companies claim without hard evidence that their method is better than what competitors are offering, the end result can be that customers think this is just marketing crap.’ He adds: ‘No single company can claim “we have human-centric lighting but no one else does”. It’s a new concept that requires further research. It’s about developing a common concept of how the benefits of healthy lighting can be realised in the market. No company or research institute can do it on their own, so open or shared innovation is important.’ In an encouraging indication of a new cooperative culture, ‘clusters’ have emerged in Europe (although not yet in the UK) bringing together key stakeholders such as electronics, communications and product design companies, hospitals and local government clients. They operate much like social networks, says Erkamp, with mutual trust as the glue holding everything together. Cluster members are working with Lighting for People on ‘business development experiments’ that it is hoped will lead to the joint creation of beneficial real-world applications. Nothing solid has yet emerged from all this activity, but developments are ‘in the pipeline’, according to Erkamp. His own focus is on lighting as an ingredient in creating smart cities and buildings. ‘For example, a light point could act as a sensing platform for a smart city,’ he explains. ‘You could combine the lighting domain with another domain to run the city better. You could put sensors on streetlights to automatically sense noise in the city; the same measurement could also identify someone crying out for help when attacked. ‘This is ongoing and under development. But it’s only possible if lighting companies collaborate with companies looking at the sensors and the cloud platform, and all the competencies needed for that.’ LEDs have opened up a new world of possibilities, but will the old system of secrecy and in-house development predominate, or can the industry find the will – and the courage – to work together? Companies need to fight for their own profit, Erkamp says, but that doesn’t have to mean fighting against everyone else. ‘To develop a new market, sometimes collaboration with a competitor is needed – and then it’s a win-win.’
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90 DESIGN CLINIC
1
TRIED AND TESTED
ALAN TULLA TECHNICAL EDITOR
DESIGN
CLINIC Laboratories
Working in the lab late tonight? Then you’d best listen to Alan Tulla’s lighting advice
L
aboratories aren’t just in schools. You might also think of high-tech drug companies, but there are many more in all sorts of places. Government research and trading standards bodies have them, as do supermarket chains and food producers. Of course, the chemical and plastics industries are full of them. And we shouldn’t forget our own lighting industry. As a consequence, not all laboratories are lit in the same way. As always with lighting design, you first need to ask what people do in the location. What are their specific requirements? In a laboratory, you might want to ask how important colour rendering is and whether the lighting should reveal imperfections on surfaces or degrees of cloudiness in liquids. Do staff need to see fine divisions on a thermometer or pipette? Should the luminaires be totally sealed and easy to clean? Are there any corrosive fumes? I went to a laboratory where the staff wore full personal protective equipment but the plastic diffusers on the luminaires had crazed and degraded. Obviously, you should also consider the more general aspects of lighting such as glare, horizontal and semi-cylindrical illuminance. Quite often, the staff will do office-type tasks in the same space. There’s hardly a lab in the land that doesn’t have computer screens. For general guidance, you should consult EN 12464 and the Code for Lighting. g It is almost certain that your client will have their own particular requirements. Our laboratory is about 6 x 12m with a ceiling height of 3.5m. The eagle-eyed will notice that the luminaire in the fume cupboard is the same in all three options. O Head to www.luxreview.com for more of Alan’s Design Clinics
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This is a fairly conventional scheme with a surface-mounted linear luminaire. This particular one is a high-end LED, but T5 would be almost as efficient and maybe quite a bit cheaper. The ‘diffuser’ is one of the new generation microprismatics. In fact, they have been around for a while, and are lot more efficient, in terms of light output ratio, than a conventional diffuser. You should look out for them. The alignment of the luminaires is parallel to the line of sight, so the scheme is less glaring than a transverse layout where you see them sideways on. We have chosen a luminaire that has smooth outer surfaces and can easily be wiped clean. However, it is not highly IP rated.
TECH SPEC Luminaires Surface-mounted linear LED Optical control Opal and microprismatic Arrangement Three rows of four Average horizontal illuminance on lab worktop 460 lx Electrical load 7W/m2 Pros Economical and efficient Cons Not so good with a high ceiling
DESIGN CLINIC 91
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SEMI-RECESSED
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LOCAL LIGHT
The luminaire here is semi-recessed and replaces a 600 x 600mm ceiling tile. There is a drop-down section that houses the 24W T5 lamps. These direct the light directly downwards through louvres and a perforated screen and also indirectly from the curved upper face. The configuration of direct/indirect lighting and various internal reflecting surfaces cuts the overall efficiency of the scheme compared with the other options. However, the effect is of a very low-glare luminaire that gives good illumination on horizontal and vertical surfaces. It may be harder to clean, but there is little accumulation of dust in a laboratory so it may not be a significant issue.
This layout and variations of it are quite common. In essence, the luminaires are built in to the structure of the laboratory shelving. They usually use direct/indirect luminaires to minimise the depth. These schemes need extra care because you must consider the height of the luminaire and the viewing lines in relation to the personnel, who may be standing for a large proportion of the time. The big advantage is that the whole scheme could almost be considered local lighting. There is plenty of light just where you need it. If you can avoid any chance of glare, this can be a really good solution.
TECH SPEC
TECH SPEC
Luminaires Semi-recessed with T5 Optical control Indirect reflector and louvres Arrangement Three rows of five Average horizontal illuminance on lab worktop 358 lx Electrical load 11W/m2 Pros Low glare Cons Least efficient
Luminaires Shelf mounted Optical control Internal reflector and diffuser Arrangement On the edge of each shelf, as shown Average horizontal illuminance on lab worktop 442 lx. Electrical load 7W/m2 Pros Unobtrusive and neat Cons Take care to avoid glare
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92 DESIGN CLINIC
1
BREAK FROM THE ROUTINE
ALAN TULLA TECHNICAL EDITOR
DESIGN
CLINIC Breakout areas Alan Tulla takes a break from it all
T
he point about a breakout area is that you get away from your desk. This may be simply for a break or it could be for an informal meeting. As such, it needs to look different from the other spaces. This also applies to the lighting; a regimented array of luminaires giving uniform illumination just won’t cut it. If you are interested, there is a huge amount of research about breakout areas on the internet. When researching these areas, I found most had a similar level of illumination to the surrounding spaces. One would assume that this is because you don’t want a relaxing area to be brighter than its surroundings. However, there is a lot of evidence showing that breakout areas should have windows or a faraway point of interest. The purpose is to exercise your eyes away from the near-field vision in offices where you mostly look at a screen or desktop. The visual contrast is achieved by using a different style of furniture and lighting. It’s as much an architectural and interior design challenge as a lighting one. Although this is a ‘workplace’, there aren’t any particular tasks and, hence, there isn’t much guidance in EN 12464. As mentioned, the breakout areas I have seen and researched tend to have a similar illumination level to their surroundings. Glare shouldn’t be a problem but remember that the seating in these areas tends to be quite low. This can give you a more direct view into the luminaire and hence more chance of seeing a bare lamp. The actual break-out area is about 6m x 6m. The overall height of the ceiling is 4m, but our luminaires have been dropped down to about 2m – 2.5m to make the space more human in scale.
O Check out luxreview.com for most Design Clinics
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Using a free-standing domestic type of luminaire is a good way to set the area apart. Quite a few manufacturers make this style of fitting, so there’s a fair choice. I chose this one because it renders well in the calculation software. Of course, you do need wall or floor socket power outlets. Some of the lamp bases weigh over 50kg, so they can’t easily be moved. Since they provide pools of light, you need to think about how many are required in relation to the furniture. It may be easier to move the tables than the luminaires. The big advantage of these luminaires is that they clearly define the area from the corridors and offices.
TECH SPEC
Luminaires Free-standing Optical control Simple ‘lampshade’ Arrangement Can be moved Average horizontal illuminance on desk 150lx – 250lx Electrical load ~6W/m2 Pros Clearly different from an office Cons Can be more expensive than the other options
93
2
WON’T BREAK THE BANK
Rafts of wooden slats are a good way of reducing the apparent height of the ceiling. They also give you a good opportunity to hide the luminaires and the building services. Some people prefer to completely recess the downlights whilst others prefer to make them protrude slightly. The latter is an advantage if you have adjustable or aimable spotlights because the slats won’t obstruct the beam. We have used a square, flush mounted unit, medium beam spotlight. It is fitted with a ‘dark light’ reflector so the result is very low glare. If you use narrow beam spotlights, you can make the area look quite contrasty and dramatic. The corollary of this is that the space may not be so visually relaxing. Slim, cylindrical pendants work well where there is only a small space between the slats.
3
BREAK LIGHT
Again, a more homely feel but this time using pendants. These use LED PAR lamps so you get a choice of beam widths, albeit they are normally fairly narrow. Well-designed luminaires of this type have a central cylinder of frosted glass which glows. The overall appearance of this scheme depends hugely on the style of lampshade. There is a huge range of commercial pendants in every style imaginable. The light source can be high tech but the shade could be anything from recycled plastic to vintage silk with tassles. If you are unsure about the appearance, consult the architect or interior designer.
TECH SPEC Luminaires Recessed with square frame Optical control Darklight with satin reflector Arrangement 3 x 4 Average horizontal illuminance on desk 200lx – 300lx Electrical load ~5W/m2 Pros Unobtrusive Cons Fixed positions
Luminaires Pendant with LED PAR lamp Optical control The lamp itself Arrangement 3 x 3 Average horizontal illuminance on desk 100lx – 300lx Electrical load ~5W/m2 Pros Huge choice of styles Cons Some of these luminaires aren’t particularly efficient
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96 DIMMING
Dos and don’ts for dimming Just because the word ‘dimmable’ is on the box, doesn’t mean it will be a doddle to dim your LED retrofit lamps, says Anthony Doyle
T
he adoption of dimmable LED lighting for new installations is rising fast, but with a vast retrofit market to address, there is an opportunity for further growth if the user experience can be optimised. LED lighting has already captured the imagination of consumers in a way that CFLs never did with LED lamps offering many of the energy-saving benefits of compact fluorescents but in a much more familiar package. Consumers are able to buy lamps that look like the incandescent lamps they are replacing, which makes for a more comfortable switch. However, they are also expecting the dimming performance to be replicated and this is where a lack of information can lead to disappointing results. Here are our top tips for getting the best out of retrofit dimmable LED lighting. O Dr Anthony Doyle is the chairman of Doyle & Tratt, manufacturer of Varilight dimmer switches
DO CHOOSE DIMMABLE LEDS The number one rule for successfully dimming LED lighting might sound obvious but it is a common misconception that any LED lights can be dimmed with an LED dimmer. In reality, the driver circuitry must be designed with dimming in mind. Therefore, it is essential to choose lamps that the manufacturer describes as ‘dimmable’. The lack of an industry standard for dimmable LED drivers has, though, led to a myriad of different approaches by lamp manufacturers, some more successful than others.
P
TIP
TO
Choose ‘dimmable’ lamps but be aware that this in itself is not a guarantee of a good dimming performance. It is, however, a good starting point.
www.luxreview.com
DO STICK TO RECOGNISED BRANDS There is a lot of variation in the dimming performance, under test, of LED lamps described as dimmable. In particular, the achievable brightness range and stability of output are the features most likely to disappoint with unbranded lamps. Some manufacturers are happy to label their lamps as dimmable even if they can deliver only the smallest change in brightness. Choose lamps from established lighting manufacturers. Aside from dimming considerations, established brands are also more likely to offer better product warranties, longer lamp life and more customer support.
P TO
TIP
Stick to brand names that you can have confidence in and don’t be tempted to make false economies.
DO READ THE LABEL To deliver a true retrofit comparison with incandescent lighting, it is important to consider the brightness range. Significant advances in LED lighting technology have been made in recent years, achieving far higher lumens per watt, even for the halogen-mimicking warm white lamps, where lamp output is often compromised for the more familiar incandescent hue. There is little point in connecting a dimmer to an LED light if it is dim enough already, so the escalating brightness of retrofit LED lamps has made dimming much more relevant. Brighter lamps can give customers a greater dimming range.
P TO
TIP
Read the label and select the dimmable lamps with the highest maximum lumen output.
DIMMING 97
RETROFIT LEDS DO ASK MANUFACTURERS ABOUT COMPATIBILITY Most established lighting brands publish compatibility data on their websites. Dimmer switches are tested with various loads and the lamp performance graded. These grades are a useful reference point and can help when choosing a dimmer. It can be confusing though, when navigating the websites of international brands, to find dimmers listed that are not available in the UK. If in doubt contact the company to ask about their recommendations.
P
TIP
TO
Manufacturers want customers to experience the full potential of their lamps and will often be happy to recommend the best dimmer switch to use.
DON’T USE A STANDARD DIMMER Some lamps manufacturers may boast that their dimmable LED lighting can be controlled using a standard dimmer, but where this claim is borne out, it is likely to be true only when some very narrow criteria are met. Standard dimmers will be underloaded in most LED applications, exacerbating flickering and strobing effects, which, in turn, can drastically shorten lamp life. Standard dimmers are also not equipped to exploit the full brightness range, resulting in a disappointing user experience.
P TO
TIP
Take claims of compatibility with standard dimmers with a pinch of salt.
DO CHOOSE A DIMMER DESIGNED FOR LED LIGHTING Sophisticated dimmers are available to deliver the best possible performance from dimmable LED lighting. Some have several dimming modes to enable smooth dimming across the diverse driver technologies in the market. The brightness output a lamp produces from the same power input varies markedly between brands. For this reason, some manufacturers now include an adjustable minimum
brightness setting so the user can access the full brightness range of a given lamp. An adjustable minimum brightness also ensures that any instability a lamp might exhibit at its lowest level of illumination can be avoided.
P TO
TIP
Dedicated LED dimmers are equipped to exploit an LED lamp’s full dimming potential, better replicating the dimming behaviour of an incandescent lamp.
DON’T BUY YOUR LUMINAIRES WITHOUT FIRST SELECTING A DIMMER Like all dimmer switches, those designed for LED lighting have minimum and maximum load recommendations. Design your lighting installation to ensure you don’t exceed the maximum load of the dimmers available. Splitting the load across more than one dimmer could provide a solution and give greater control by allowing light levels to be zoned in a multi-functional space. Until recently it was difficult to find a dimmer capable of controlling more than 100W of LED lighting, but some recent products open up the possibility of dimming much larger LED loads, up to 600W.
P TO
TIP
It’s important to select a dimmer that can control the total wattage and quantity of lamps you want to dim.
DO READ THE INSTRUCTION LEAFLET LED dimmers often come with features designed to enhance their performance, but you may have to program the dimmer to access them. Don’t be tempted just to ‘plug and play’ because you may be missing out on features that will give greater expression to your lighting. For example, with some remote-controlled dimmers, enhanced scene-setting features may be unlocked using the dedicated handset. Some manufacturers have released how-to videos on their websites.
P TO
TIP
Read the instruction leaflet or you may miss out on features and benefits.
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GRAPHS 99
everything you need to know about
LIGHTING Sometimes a picture (or a wiggly line) tells a thousand words. Robert Bain picks out the best examples 200
EFFICACY (lm/W)
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LOW-PRESSURE SODIUM
HIGH-PRESSURE SODIUM MERCURY
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OLED
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HOW LED OVERTOOK ALL THE OTHER TECHNOLOGIES IN EFFICACY The light source efficacy race begins with incandescent, which is pretty much the only contender until lowpressure sodium shows up – more efficient, but orange. Then mercury and fluorescent arrive on the scene with better colour quality, followed by high-pressure sodium. Halogen appears some time around 1990, matching incandescent’s colour quality, with greater efficiency and longer life. But they were all outpaced in the space of a few decades by the light source of today: LED. O Thanks to Mike Simpson at Philips for the graph
1990
2
2010
HOW HEAT SLOWLY KILLS LEDS
An 11°C difference in junction temperature makes a 35,000 hour difference in life (measured to L50 – in other words, when the light output has declined to 50 per cent of what it was at the beginning). O Thanks to Brian Charman at Philips for the graph
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100 GRAPHS
3
HOW DIFFERENT LIGHT SOURCES CREATE WHITE LIGHT
4
To the human eye, one white light looks very much like another. But different light source can be composed of very different combinations of colours, which has a big impact on how they render colours, and how the light affects our bodies.
Energy consumption 100% 80% 60% 40%
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6.00
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WHY CONTROLS ARE LIKE SPACE INVADERS Remember in Space Invaders how you used to hide behind the little shields, and the invaders would gradually shoot through them? Well these graphs of how controls can hack away at your energy use in an office are kind of the same. Only with electricity bills instead of shields and err… aliens instead of dimming?
GRAPHS 101
T5 fluorescent LED Difference
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THE LONG-TERM COST OF T5 AND LED LED might have a bigger upfront cost than traditional solutions such as T5 fluorescent, but think about the cost over time. Simon Waldron of Sainsbury’s came up with this graph of the cumulative cost of T5 vs LED. O Thanks to Simon Waldron at Sainsbury’s for the graph
6
7
19
trillion kWh
3. 3.6
trillio lion ion kWh
could be
SAVED HOW MUCH ENERGY THE WORLD COULD SAVE ON LIGHTING
GOOGLE SEARCHES FOR FLUORESCENT AND LEDS If you want to know what the people of the world are interested in about right now, Google’s Trends feature is very useful. This graph shows the number of Google searches for ‘fluorescent’ and the number for ‘led lights’, over the last decade. Any questions?
According to the International Energy Agency, the world consumed 19 trillion kWh of electricity in 2014. Lighting represents about 19 per cent of that, or 3.6 trillion kWh. With low-energy lighting and controls, we reckon you could easily cut that in half, saving 1.8 trillion kWh a year. That’s 18 times the amount of electricity produced by the world’s largest power plant, China’s Three Gorges Dam.
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103
14 things that should be on every product
DATASHEET Here’s what specifiers expect to find on a lamp or luminaire datasheet IMAGE DIMENSIONS
This is about aesthetics. A picture will give you a real feel for what the fitting’s really like and – importantly – how nice looking it is
The dimensions of a product are very mportant for helping to co-ordinate the lighting with other parts of an installation
CUTOUT The ceiling contractor needs to know what size cutout is needed. If this info is on the datasheet, you can just hand it straight to them
DRIVER REQUIREMENTS If you want to use a different driver from the one suggested, this will allow you to do a bit of independent contrasting and comparing
COLOUR OPTIONS As part of the design process, it’s useful to know the standard range of colours – black, white, silver... or any custom options
LUMEN PACKAGES Once upon a time it would have been 10W, 25W or 35W; now it’s about specifying lumens. For retail, that typically means 1,500lm, 2,000lm or 3,000lm V
104
ORDER CODE If you want to hit the ground running on a project, the order code needs to be clearly presented and easy to understand
BEAM ANGLES imple, but crucial. Can you get it in narrow, medium and wide beam angles?
CHIP MANUFACTURER It’s nice to know the LED chip’s edigree. If it’s come from Philips or Cree or someone similarly respectable, that’s a big comfort
COLOUR TEMPERATURE For an office application, you’re probably looking for 4000K. At John Lewis and in retail generally, 3000K is good. In catering they often like something a bit warmer – 2700K, say
DIMMING s the product dimmable? me are, some aren’t. What the datasheet can’t tell you is whether a luminaire will actually work with your driver setup – only testing will confirm that
DATA FILE This one could be a tick box too. If there’s a BIM Revit file to hand, that will really speed up the design process
POWER FACTOR Wattage is one thing, but watch out for power factor too. This is the key figure for anyone thinking about sustainability and energy efficiency. Anything below 0.95 and you’re probably not looking at something that’s best in class
AND FINALLY... A PHOTO OF THE FITTING IN A TARGET APPLICATION Just because it’s nice to see what the manufacturer was aiming for when they built the product
Thanks to Barry Ayling of John Lewis for input and inspiration on this article
106 LIGHTING ECONOMIST
WHAT IF How much could be saved if all the UK’s car parks adopted low-energy lighting? Lux’s lighting economist Dave Tilley does the maths, so you don’t have to
W
hat if the UK’s 17,000 car parks installed LEDs and lighting controls? With an estimated 10 million parking spaces the average number of spaces per car park can be estimated at approximately 600. Car park structure is a major factor when considering the number of luminaires, but for the purpose of these estimates I have used 300 58W T8 switch-start luminaires. The first stage in developing an energy-efficient
lighting solution is the conversion to LED. T5 is a possible lighting solution, however relatively low operating temperatures and higher wattages makes LED a better option in efficiency terms. There are a number of LED options including LED tubes, integrated LED luminaire or a custom solution. However I have simply assumed that a 24W 2,000lm LED unit will deliver the require lux level, uniformity and efficiency. I have assumed that the car park lighting currently operates 24/7.
THREE-HUNDRED 58W T8 FITTINGS
183,000kWh a year REPLACED BY… THREE-HUNDRED 24W LED FITTINGS
63,100kWha year ENERGY SAVING
119,900kWh a year
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LIGHTING ECONOMIST 107
the UK’s 17,000 car parks installed LEDs and lighting controls? Not a bad initial saving. If lighting controls were introduced together with a small level of car park management the savings are even more impressive. I have assumed individual occupancy sensors for the luminaires. While daylight sensors have advantages, in car parks with high levels of natural light, a system for turning the luminaires off when it is dark and the car park is closed needs to be installed or a significant proportion of the savings are lost. There is a case for leaving a proportion of the luminaires on as during the winter and at night a low level of illumination can be provided for safety and security. Car park management can assist in delivering efficiency, for example when car park occupancy is low restrict the number of floors or areas for car parking. If we assume that occupancy sensors will reduce the operating hours by six hours a day (25 per cent) and the management of the car park an additional 10 per cent, then the annual saving increases from 119,900kWh (and 66.5 tonnes of CO2) to 142,000kWh (and 78.7 tonnes of CO2).
ENERGY SAVING WITH CONTROLS
142,000kWh a year These savings are just for one car park. So what if all 17,000 car parks introduced efficiency? Then 2.4 billion kWh can be saved, with the associated 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 can be saved. Simple steps with the combination of efficient lighting technology and good management, result in spectacular energy savings.
NATIONWIDE ENERGY SAVING
2.4 billion kWh a year www.luxreview.com
108 EVENT LIGHTING LARGE ESTATES CONFERENCE
FREE! to end users
Lighting Large Estates
CONFERENCE 2015
TOO MANY
light fittings, too little time? LEARN HOW TO… GET THE LIGHTS YOU WANT WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK Cuts to your capital budget can stop your lighting project before you’ve even started – but it doesn’t have to be that way. David Maxwell, senior investment analyst at SDCL, explains financing models FIND THE RIGHT SUPPLIER Choosing the right supplier and getting effective agreements in place to buy lighting products on a large scale is not always simple. Our expert speaker will talk you through the things to remember to make sure procurement goes smoothly UPGRADE YOUR LIGHTS WITHOUT DISRUPTION Martin Kilburn of Bupa Property discusses how he selected and rolled out quality LED lighting product across the Bupa estate, creating create well-lit environments with significant energy savings, while minimising disruption APPLY GOOD LIGHTING DESIGN PRINCIPLES Applying the principles of best practice in lighting design to an existing estate can improve the lit environment and save energy. Drawing on real-world examples in universities, railway stations and hospitals, Adam Glatherine of G3 Lighting Design shows you how GET LIGHTING CONTROLS TO WORK Our speakers will be looking at how to integrate lighting with a building management system (BMS), the latest technologies for retrofitting controls into an existing installation, and how controls can be made easier to use TAKE THE PAIN OUT OF MAINTENANCE In large estates, just keeping track of all your lights can be challenge enough, let alone anything more complicated. Find out how the latest technology can help you take the pain out of lighting maintenance and keep the costs right down
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Are you responsible for large numbers of light fittings across different buildings? If it’s proving a maintenance and energy headache, we can help
M
anaging lighting on a big estate isn’t easy. Maybe you have a variety of buildings of different ages and types. Maybe your estate is changing around you as buildings are refurbished and repurposed. You’ll certainly be dealing with a large number of suppliers and partners, with so many light to look after that even just keeping track of them all can be a headache. Lux x can help. In the first conference looking specifically at lighting for large estates, we’ll give you the answers to the key challenges facing managers of complex lighting estates: How do you manage your assets to best advantage? How can you cut the cost of maintenance? What’s the best way to monitor and control your installation?
EVENT 109
How can you reduce energy while enhancing the lit environment for people? The conference will look at big lighting estates across a range of sectors, including universities, hospitals, care homes, retail business and industrial sites. And attendance is completely free for end users of lighting. Our speakers will explain the key techniques and the technologies you need to know about, and talk you through a selection of best practice projects, including major industrial sites and public buildings. The exclusive presentations will outline the unique challenges of maintaining and upgrading lighting when you look after a big estate with multiple buildings of different ages and types. Learn how the latest technology can help you, how to manage rollouts successfully, how to keep track of all those thousands of light fittings, and how to make your lights work smarter. We’ll also be hosting panel discussions on topics including lighting controls, addressing why they’re so often so tricky to use, and how they can be made easier. Organised by Lux in association with the Lighting Industry Association, this one-day event is suitable for estates managers, facilities managers, property managers, energy managers, consulting engineers, designers and manufacturers. The conference will take place on Thursday 21 May at the Cavendish Conference Centre in central London, just near Oxford Circus. End users of lighting can register for a FREE place by contacting Fergus Lynch on 020 3283 4387 or fergus.lynch@luxreview.com THURSDAY 21 MAY 2015 CAVENDISH CONFERENCE CENTRE, LONDON, UK O www.lightingforlargeestates.com
TOP SPEAKERS MARTIN KILBURN Martin Kilburn of Bupa Property will talk us through the rollout of LED lighting across the Bupa estate
ADAM GLATHERINE Adam Glatherine of G3 will explain how to apply good lighting design principles to unwieldy estates
SIMON ALLARD Simon Allard of Dextra Lighting will explain how to select quality products and make sure your lighting project goes smoothly
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110 NAMED & SHAMED
Grass them up at shamed@luxmagazine.co.uk or tweet @Lux_magazine
Emergency, emergency When there’s some kind of panic in your place of work – burnt toast, burst pipe, Godzilla attack – it’s important to know that you’re going to be able to get out safely without being smoked, soaked or eaten. So emergency lighting is pretty important. And yet it still sometimes goes wrong
SPOT THE EXIT SIGN This popular fast-food restaurant beginning with M also has an exit sign obscured by a ceiling – can you spot it? In this case a false ceiling is suspended slightly lower than the sign. The balloons don’t help either.
MORE STRANGE EMERGENCY LIGHTING
GO LEFT! GO RIGHT! PANIC! These signs are supposed to point you to the nearest safe exit. We’re not sure why these three have clustered together, pointing in three completely different directions. Where are we supposed to go? Maybe just run around in circles until help comes.
Thanks to reader Neil Foster for the photos
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HALF AN EXIT SIGN Which came first, sign or ceiling? Either way, looks like someone got their measurements a wee bit wrong when installing this emergency exit sign. We’re pretty sure this doesn’t comply with the regulations.
112 REVIEWED 2D BULKHEADS
REVIEWED LED REPLACEMENTS FOR 2D BULKHEADS Chucking out your venerable 2D fittings? Alan Tulla casts a critical eye over the potential LED successors
Designplan’s products light this Manchester tower block
I
t is over 25 years since the launch of the 2D compact fluorescent lamp. One of its biggest markets was large housing and industrial estates. A square bulkhead with an opal polycarbonate diffuser was the default luminaire for external corridors, walkways and stairwells. However, time has moved on. The 2D lamp was a real innovation when it was launched but the higher efficacy and controllability of LEDs means the time has come to replace the old compact fluorescent lamp and its ageing luminaire. It is possible to buy a simple LED gear tray to fit inside an old luminaire. Some manufacturers make specially designed trays to fit their own luminaires. Or you can get a whole new fitting. Apart from their lower cost, the big advantage of a retrofit gear tray
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Presence detectors will save energy in corridors
REVIEWED 113
over the original unit is that many of them have built-in movement sensors. This is especially useful for infrequently used corridors and stairwells. However, you should consider whether the particular area requires constant light for reasons of security and safety. Step into the light A useful feature to look for is ‘corridor function’. This dims to a low level, say 10 per cent, and then increases to 100 per cent whenever movement is detected. It can save a lot of energy in infrequently used passageways and means people won’t feel insecure about entering a completely dark space. Most users will want to replace the complete luminaire. There are obvious advantages to buying a new luminaire with a guarantee. Seals, gaskets and glands all degrade over time and it is likely that an older luminaire will suffer from the ingress of dirt and damp. Polycarbonate lenses tend to yellow over the years and other plastics can craze or become cloudy. Either way, you get less light out than when the luminaire was new. A new luminaire resolves all these issues and, in principle, all you have to do is remove the existing unit, swap over the mains supply and fix the new unit in place. If you want to maximise the energy saving, it’s worth checking that the new luminaire has a similar output to the one it is replacing. Typically, a 16W 2D luminaire emits 1,100 lm and a 28W, about 2,000 lm. Be aware that some suppliers quote the light output of the LEDs rather than the luminaire. The rough and the smooth Build quality varied enormously. Some luminaires comprised a couple of plastic mouldings with an ill-fitting gear tray. Others had robust die-cast aluminium bodies, a gear tray (with quality driver) designed to match the diffuser, and a properly vandal-resistant design. If you want a long-life installation, the more expensive luminaires could well be the best value. The data given here is based on manufacturers’ literature. The price bands are based on an end user price for 50 or more fittings. The ranges are: £ = <£50, ££ = £50 - £80, £££ = £80 - £120, ££££ = >£120.
IK RATINGS The resistance of electrical equipment to external impact is detailed in EN 62262. This ranges from IK01, which is an impact energy of 0.14 joules, up to IK 10, which is an impact energy of 20 joules. Some manufacturers use EN 60068-2-75 to extrapolate the data to higher impact values and IK values greater than 10. Later this year, we will be testing luminaires specifically designed for high impact resistance and extreme environments.
WHITECROFT KOLO This is a luminaire of two halves. The injection-moulded plastic body houses the terminal block, branded driver and optional sensors or emergency batteries. Attached to this is the ‘optical chamber’. It consists of a 40mm cast aluminium ring in which the LED circuit board (on aluminium heatsink) and opal polycarbonate diffuser are fixed. In effect, the ring is a single piece that attaches to the body beneath. The lit appearance of the diffuser is about the most uniform we have seen. The latest Kolo has the highest delivered luminaire lumens per circuit watt of the bulkheads reviewed here.
BODY White plastic DIFFUSER Opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 300mm diameter (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 12W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 1,100 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE £££
****
Uniform light and super efficient
DESIGNPLAN QUADEVO The family of tough bulkheads from Designplan, with a die-cast aluminium body, powder coat finish and a polycarbonate lens. It’s got no edges or ledges where a vandal could insert a screwdriver or lever. It is IP65 and rated at IK15 impact resistance, a whopping 140 joules. The LEDs are set well back from the lens so the sides and front are lit. A central pin in the fixing screws prevents the insertion of Allen keys or screwdrivers. The fixing holes are the same as the older Designplan luminaire so you can swap them over. The new one is slightly bigger to cover any old paint lines. Designplan sells
a retrofit LED gear tray for its 2D Quadrant range. BODY Aluminium DIFFUSER Opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 310mm square NOMINAL WATTAGE 11.5W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 1,400 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE £££
*****
The toughest of the lot
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114 REVIEWED 2D BULKHEADS
Reviewed: 2D bulkheads DEXTRA
FERN HOWARD EDGELED P5
This is a nice-looking, good quality luminaire. It is clearly aimed at the specification market and would be ideal for regeneration schemes and new build. The body is finely textured die-cast aluminium with a power coat finish. The slightly domed polycarbonate diffuser fits snugly under the rim. There’s a decent quality gasket between the body and diffuser and the joint is inaccessible from the outside. Removing the hex-head screws reveals a gear tray with a branded driver. It’s also good to see that the LEDs are mounted in concentric circles so the diffuser is almost totally uniformly lit across its surface.
The P5 is one of a range of luminaires that use Rambus optical technology. The LEDs are arranged around the perimeter of a slim luminaire. The P5 is only 65 mm deep, much less than the others. The polycarbonate cover lens is crystal clear and when switched off, the luminaire appears to have a plain white sheet behind it. When switched on, the sheet emits a uniform intense glow. There is a solid die-cast aluminium body and the whole unit feels robust. For retrofitting, you can purchase a combined light guide and gear tray that is designed to fit existing 2D Fern Howard luminaires.
BODY Die-cast aluminium DIFFUSER Opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 360mm diameter NOMINAL WATTAGE 11W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 950 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE ££
****
A well-manufactured unit for a good price
JCC RADIALED
KINGFISHER ALFRESCO
The RadiaLED has the LEDs arranged around the perimeter shining inwards. As a result, you cannot see images of the LEDs through the opal cover. Inside, the LED strip is bonded to a finned aluminium heatsink. The effect is to give a uniform appearance to the opal polycarbonate diffuser. This applies both to the front face and also the deep (35mm) sides. A thoughtful touch is that the cover screws are captive. This is pretty much an essential feature for any vandal-resistant ceiling-mounted luminaire, but you would be amazed at how many don’t. The screws are also deeply recessed.
The Alfresco is a hooded unit and Kingfisher has cleverly positioned the radially mounted LED gear tray below dead centre so as much light as possible is emitted through the diffuser. The hooded unit ensures that no light is emitted upward. A non-hooded fitting is available for the CFL versions. The polycarbonate diffuser is semi-opalised. When switched off, the diffuser looks like any other, however, when switched on, the LED chips can be seen as a decorative pattern of glowing dots. The body and hood are made of die-cast aluminium and the whole unit feels wellmade and solid.
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BODY White polycarbonate DIFFUSER Opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 280mm diameter (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 25W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 915 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE £
***
This luminaire distributes the light cleverly
BODY Die-cast aluminium DIFFUSER Clear polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 250mm (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 20W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 1,600 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE ££££
****
Tough, compact and with a unique appearance
BODY Die-cast aluminium DIFFUSER Opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 360mm diameter (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 16W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 710 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE £££
***
Good where you don’t want any upward light
REVIEWED 115
KOSNIC
This is one of a huge range of LED gear trays fitted inside a simple polycarbonate body and diffuser. Inside, everything is well labelled and the wiring is neat and tidy. It’s double insulated so only two wires are required. The gear tray has a central module fitted with Dip switches. This enables you to set various functions such as microwave detection range, corridor function, time on etc. Although the module is easily accessible, being so close to the diffuser means that it produces a small shadow in the centre. One small niggle is that the diffuser screws aren’t captive. It would hardly add to the cost even on a budget range unit such as this.
NVC DAYTONA
BODY White polycarbonate DIFFUSER Opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 280mm diameter (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 12W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 890 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE ££
***
Budget range
This can be used indoors or out and is a simple, budget range unit. The cross head, captive fixing screws are deeply recessed in the polycarbonate diffuser. This fits quite snugly to the body so there isn’t much space in which a vandal could insert a screwdriver or lever. Inside, it’s good to see that the LEDs are arranged in concentric rings so you get an even spread of light across the diffuser – some suppliers put square trays in round bodies.
THORN LEOPARD
BRI-TEK TECHNOLOGIES
An optically efficient LED bulkhead that matches its 2D equivalent in the same range. The lumen output of the LED version is the same as that of the original 2D lamp – you can achieve the same 1,200 lm output but with 12W instead of the original 18W. There is also a 1,950 lm 21W version to replace the 28W 2D CFL unit. Inside, there is a driverless gear tray with the LEDs arranged radially. Unfortunately, these are only half the diameter of the diffuser so the light is concentrated in the middle. Although it is said to be IP65, you have to fit the 470mm long silicon gasket yourself.
Unlike most of the fittings we looked at, this is described as an indoor unit, although it is rated at IP54 (there is also an IP65 version, which is somewhat more expensive). The body and diffuser are both made of polycarbonate and are smooth so they are unlikely to collect grime. That said, the paper label is on the outside and doesn’t look particularly durable. The diffuser is held in place by a ‘twist on’ motion. There are no vandalresistant fixing screws. Inside, there’s an aluminium gear tray with a driver on the back. A large, square array of 6000K LEDs which ensure a uniform appearance.
BODY White polycarbonate DIFFUSER Opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 300mm diameter (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 12W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 1,200 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE ££
***
LED version from the people who gave you the original
BODY Polycarbonate DIFFUSER Internally prismed polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 400mm diameter (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 18W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 1,310 lm NW IP RATING 65 PRICE ££
***
A simple mid-range product
BODY White polycarbonate DIFFUSER Smooth opal polycarbonate MAIN DIMENSION 320mm diameter (approx) NOMINAL WATTAGE 12.5W LUMINAIRE LUMENS 650 lm/W IP RATING 54 PRICE £
***
Best suited for indoor use
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116 REVIEWS LIGHT CORPORATION SPOTLIGHT
REVIEWED: Light Corporation’s adjustable 26-degree spotlight Dr Gareth John looks at a spotlight that comes from an unusual angle LIGHT CORPORATION ADJUSTABLE 26-DEGREE SPOTLIGHT
I
n my job as the technical director of a photometric test lab, it’s not very often that I come face to face with lighting designers in the course of a working day. Generally, these guys are a couple of steps removed from me, as the reports and data our lab creates get passed from my customers on to the designers and they do their thing with the software. Simulations and reality At this point I’d like to get a couple of minor niggles about lighting software off my chest. Firstly, very occasionally lighting software plots differ from what I’ve actually measured in my lab. In this case, it’s unlikely to be us that’s got it wrong. A software simulation is just that, a simulation. It’s not a precise rendering of reality. If I’ve measured 500 lux at five metres and your software reports that you should be getting 510 lux, blame the software. This may sound arrogant but all
of our equipment is regularly calibrated and we have UKAS traceable procedures for what we do. In other words, trust us, we know what we’re doing! Second niggle- can people please try and upgrade to the latest versions of the software? I occasionally get customer complaints because when they upload the files we’ve sent them, they get odd error messages coming up.
The colour temperature is 2700K, pretty warm for an LED light
Like most LED products the spectral power peaks in blue and yellow, due to the colour of the LED and phosphor used in the light source
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REVIEWS 117
The spotlight has a high-grade aluminium housing
VITAL STATISTICS Total luminous flux
654.8lm
Input power
11.6W
Power factor
0.976
Efficacy
57lm/W
Beam angle
25.8°
Correlated colour temperature(CCT)
2658K
Colour tolerance
2-step MacAdam ellipse
CRI(%)
80.5
R10 (strongly saturated yellow)
72.0
R11 (strongly saturated green)
76.6
R12 (strongly saturated blue)
66.4
R13 (Caucasian skin tone)
79.5
The beam angle is a tight 26 degrees
This is generally because they’re using obsolete versions of Relux and Dialux so they can’t handle the newer versions of IES and LDT files. (This is a subject I may return to in more depth at another time, as it’s worth looking at in detail.) So, if you’re using these programs and you haven’t updated them since before 2010, please do so. It’ll make your job (and mine) a lot easier. Having said that, I do run into lighting designers from time to time and we get on very well. We might not fully understand what each other does, (because they’re basically architects and I’m an optical physicist) but we both understand the job each other has to do. So I was intrigued when the Light Corporation contacted me about doing some photometric tests for them. For those of you not familiar with them, they are a lighting design firm that has crossed over into luminaire design, which in my experience is quite a leap. A bit like a road planner actually learning how to design a car. A downlight, done well This month I’ll be looking at their adjustable 26-degree LED downlight. In itself this is not an especially innovative product (we’ve all seen downlights before!) but it’s rare to see it done so well. They’ve made a good start by incorporating a Cree LED chip, one to the most reliable on the market and combining it with an excellent optic. An example: they specified this as a downlight with a beam angle of 26 degrees. Our lab measured a beam angle of 25.8 degrees, as close to a bull’s-eye as makes no odds. It’s good to see such close agreement between the specification and reality. The housing is made from the highest grade of aluminium, which ensures good heat sinking performance and an attractive anodised finish. This gives us an excellent efficacy of 57lm/W. Not the highest I’ve seen, but
excellent for a downlight of its size and the associated difficulties with heatsinking. Let’s have a look at the numbers altogether: As we can see, all the numbers we usually look for stack pretty well. In addition to what I’ve mentioned above, the colour tolerance is within spec and the power factor is excellent, a fine example of good electrical engineering. I’ve also introduced the R10-R13 values for this product, because they are something this product does very well. Basically, while CRI (otherwise known as Ra) describes the general colour rendering index of the product, R10-R13 describes the rendering of colours not covered by this metric. Historically, CRI was created to describe the colour rendering of shades best illuminated by fluorescent light sources. These shades are known as R1 through to R8. R9 and above describe the colour rendering of strongly saturated colours and skin tones. This is something that fluorescent sources don’t do especially well but that LEDs excel in, particularly in the case of this luminaire.
***** This product is an excellent example of a company taking a brave leap into a whole new area – and succeeding admirably
O Dr Gareth John is technical director of Photometric Testing, an independent lighting test laboratory that specialises in the photometric assessment of LEDs, luminaires, lamps and displays www.photometrictesting.co.uk
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118 INVENTIONS
5 INVENTIONS set to shake up the lighting world Crackpot or genius? Robert Bain takes a look at the latest lighting inventions
NO-ENERGY LIGHTING Never mind low-energy lighting – here comes no-energy lighting. British inventor Malcolm Wright has come up with a way to run an LED light for no power at all. He’s not a wizard – he’s just found a way for LEDs to piggyback on he power used by other devices, so they can be run ‘for free’. It works by inserting an LED circuit in series with a motor or other electrical load – ideally in an appliance with a constant power requirement such as an extractor fan, vacuum cleaner or pump. Although this results in a slight loss of power to the motor, the LED circuit improves the power factor, freeing up enough power to light up the LEDs. It’s not that the light doesn’t use any power, it’s more that it takes advantage of the imperfections of another circuit to do a bit of extra work. As long as your electricity bill is calculated using a watt meter (which for most users it is), then this doesn’t cost you a thing. Wright is already using his invention to provide free light in his living room when the TV is on, and free lighting in his garage from his pond pump. And he’s on the hunt for the ‘killer app’ where it can offer really compelling advantages. It could provide free light under cooker hoods, on the front of vacuum cleaners (to see into those awkward corners), or in factories that use ventilation fans.
THE GRAPHENE LIGHT BULB Graphene is the wonder material of the future. It’s a form of carbon with atoms arranged in a way that gives it super strength and conductivity, as well as lots of other weird properties. If you believe the hype it’s set to be at the heart of all kinds of innovations o the future, revolutionising everything from buildings to sports equipment to water filtration. The University of Manchester reckons a new kind of light bulb could be added to that list as one of the first commercial applications of graphene. In a graphene LED lamp, the graphene doesn’t actually give off any light, it just improves conductivity and heat dissipation to make a standard LED bulb brighter, more efficient and longer-lasting. O Read more about the graphene bulb on page 20
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INVENTIONS 119
THE ‘ECO’ LIGHT Even ‘environmentally friendly’ lighting products such as LEDs, which consume very little energy, still have an environmental footprint associated with how they’re manufactured, distributed and disposed of. A team at Nottingham Trent University in England, working with Spanish manufacturer ONA and backing from the European Commission, has developed what they’re calling an ‘eco-light’, with a much lower environmental footprint throughout all stages of its life cycle. The researchers say the eco-light’s environmental footprint is 75 per cent smaller than for LED bulbs currently available. It’s got a recycled aluminium heatsink, wires cased in silicone instead of PVC and recycled PET casing. The university’s Professor Daizhong Su says: ‘This design should serve as a blueprint for manufacturers to develop lighting products with a low impact on the environment.’
THE FAKE SKYLIGHT THAT LOOKS REAL CoeLux was the standout innovation at last year’s LuxLive show. It’s an artificial skylight, using an LED light source and a layer of nanomaterial that creates ‘Rayleigh scattering’ – the same phenomenon that makes the sky look blue. Along with some clever use of mirrors to give an illusion of distance, the result is a ceiling panel that looks just like a sunlit sky. It has to be seen to be believed. The downside is, if you want one, you need a one-metre ceiling void and £50,000. O See CoeLux in action in our video at youtube.com/luxmagazineuk
THE LIGHT THAT STAYS ON IN A POWER CUT The idea behind Iviti’s On lamp is simple: it’s got a back-up battery so it stays on in a power cut. It can last for several hours on battery power, and you can even use it with another Iviti device that senses when demand is high on the electricity grid, so you can switch to battery power, and earn money back from your electricity company for helping them to reduce the load at peak times.
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PRODUCTS 121
PRODUCTS
Lux looks at some of the best new lighting products for a variety of applications
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CHANNEL SAFETY SYSTEMS’ EMERGENCY EXIT SIGN RANGE Camber is a comprehensive range of compact and contemporary LED emergency exit signs; the range comprises a hanging, surface and wall-mounted fitting and has the added benefit of being available with self-test options. Camber fittings come as a complete package with a set of fully compliant pictograms (arrows left/right and up and down) and the modular design of the fittings allow for a quick and easy installation. Units benefit further from low running costs, with bright SMD 3528 LED lamps typically a 50 per cent energy saving over conventional fluorescent counterparts is achieved. Manufactured from robust polycarbonate housing and IP20 rated, all Camber fittings meet with BS EN 60598-2-22 and all relevant standards.
PRECISE LIGHT CONTROL WITH FERN-HOWARD’S EDGELED A1 Fern-Howard’s has introduced the A1 to its EdgeLED range, featuring ray angle control. This means light leaves the luminaire so precisely that only a tightly defined area is lit, minimising light spillage, avoiding light pollution and reducing energy consumption. Designed for external walkways, landing areas and corridors – anywhere that lighting must create a pleasant and safe environment but where light pollution can be an issue, this elegant and slim luminaire creates a long, slim light pattern. This ensures only the walkway is lit, that no light spills onto opposite buildings, and that none is lost into the sky.
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NEW
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SORAA’S LIGHT ENGINE Soraa has launched a series of light engines featuring its GaN-on-GaN LED technology – a new kind of LED that provides excellent colour rendering across the spectrum . From narrow spot to flood, Soraa’s optical light engines provide flawless beam definition, smooth beam edges and is customizable with the company’s Snap System. The light engines are compatible with a wide variety of drivers and ideal for use in enclosed, non-ventilated indoor and outdoor fixtures.
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MEGAMAN UK’S SIENA RANGE Siena is the latest range of high performance integrated LED downlighters from Megaman UK. Compact and with no external driver, the downlighters are easy to install and maintain, and deliver high efficiency output. The Siena range comprises dimming and non-dimming versions, with dimmable downlights available in adjustable 8W circular and 8.5W square variants to provide multi-directional tilting for precision light control.
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SLP (UK)’S OPAL FROST ACRYLIC (PMMA) SLP (UK)’s Opal Frost Acrylic lens is part of the smooth sheet LED diffuser range. Designed specifically for LED fittings, the Opal Frost provides good LED ‘spot’ diffusion, reduced glare and an excellent light transmission of over 70 per cent. Opal Frost Acrylic is manufactured from an opalised acrylic resin compound which is then run through an extrusion process. Opal Frost is available in 2mm and 3mm thickness and can be cut to tailored sizes. SLP also house a CNC router for any precise tolerance cutting requirements.
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PRODUCTS 123
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HIGH BAY AND LOW BAY FROM KOSNIC Kosnic’s high bay and low bay LED luminaires offer energy saving and high performance, replacing conventional lighting in general industrial areas, manufacturing, warehousing, leisure facilities and retail environments. The luminaires are fitted with pre-anodized aluminium reflectors to provide control of 100W output with low glare. The fittings emit 9,100lm, with efficiency of up to 91lm/W, using premium Samsung LED chips, and have an operating life of 40,000.
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NEW RIBBON LIGHTS FROM ACOLYTE Acolyte Industries has introduced two additions to its RibbonLyte line: the RGBW 4-IN-1 and the Super Populated. The RGBW 4-IN-1 RibbonLyte generates great colour with tightly spaced LEDs that has low wattage and a high lumen output. It has superior colour mixing that allows for a multitude of colours. This Ribbonlyte provides greater depth and allows for outstanding control over the colours. The advancement of four diodes in one means that there are less breaks in the colour, and that pastel colours are possible.
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DYNALUXX LAUNCHES HIGH LUMEN OUTPUT LUMINAIRES May sees the launch of a range of high quality tri-proof luminaires with polycarbonate body and stainless steel clips from Dynaluxx. Available in standard and emergency versions, with or without Hytronik motion sensors, offering a range of control from on/off sensors through tri-level (corridor function) dimming to daylight harvesting. The starting range consists of a 1200mm 20W (1670lm), 40W (3,200lm), 1500mm 28W (2,340lm) and 50W (4,100lm). All units come with a five-year guarantee.
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IR-TEC’S IP66 OCCUPANCY SENSOR IR-Tec’s Trans-PIR introduces it’s LOD500SW series, an IP66 waterproof occupancy sensor for fixture integration with screw nut assembly through a 51mm diameter hole. This sensor will provide full power output for dimmable ballast/driver when it detects the presence of occupant, and switch back to the low dim level after the area is vacated for a period of time. 8 different modes can be set for the required application. The sensors comes with interchangeable mounting options and lens options.
TOUGH LED LUMINAIRE FROM THORN Thorn’s ForceLED is a tough, waterproof and compact LED luminaire with the option to integrate controls. IP66-rated, ForceLED is dust and moisture proof, making it ideal for tougher applications, including indoor car parks, warehouses, dry and cold storage, production areas and workshops. The product is equipped with a unique prismatic diffuser which optimizes the light distribution from the LED light source. ForceLED comes with the option of integrating a presence detector with wireless master and slave function.
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TRIDONIC’S FLAGSHIP LED DRIVER The Premium TalexxDriver series from Tridonic has been designed to keep pace with rapid developments in LED technology and offers an extremely high degree of flexibility. It features the new digital ‘Ready2mains’ interface which uses the existing mains cable for data transfer. Different casing versions and output classes with application-optimised operating ranges make the LED drivers ideal for a wide range of professional LED solutions. Luminaire manufacturers, electrical contractors and potential users all benefit from the features of this new LED driver series.
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124 JARGONBUSTER
LIGHTING
JARGON
People who work in lighting don’t half talk some gobbledygook. Here’s what they mean...
EXPLAINED
The internet of things The internet of things (IoT) is what happens when it’s no longer just computers and phones that are connected to the internet, but all kinds of objects and devices – including lights. It is estimated that there are already 12.6 billion IoT devices out there, and by 2020 there could be 50-100 billion.
Black body locus The black body locus, or black body curve, is a line on a colour chart that tracks the different colours at which a ‘black body’ (a theoretical object that absorbs all energy) glows when heated. This is the range of colours you get from an incandescent source – from orangey white at lower temperatures to blueish white at higher temperatures. This is where the concept of ‘colour temperature’ comes from.
Integrated circuit
CFL
An integrated circuit (IC) is a tiny microchip containing a bunch of electronic circuits and components – transistors, resistors and the like – on a layer of silicon. An IC customised for a particular purpose (like power, sensing or communication) is called an application-specific IC (ASIC). You can even build them into LED light modules.
Popularly referred to as energysaving lamps, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have a poor image because of perceived deficiencies in colour, power and the time it takes them to reach full output. Oh, and they contain mercury. Big improvements have been made over the years, but now CFLs are being rivalled by LED lamps.
CRI
PIR an electronic sensor that measure infrared light radiating from objects in their field of view. It can detect heat from objects that is undetectable by humans. PIR is one of the main technologies used for presence and absence detection, to turn lights on and off when people are or aren’t there.
Short for colour-rendering index, CRI is the ability of a light source to show the colours of objects properly. Lamps with poor colour rendering will distort some colours, which may mean you end up with brown socks when you wanted green ones. The higher the CRI, on a 0-100 scale, the more accurately the lamp will show colours.
the internet of lights
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JARGONBUSTER 125
API
Wireless mesh networking
Connected lighting
In a mesh network, each node can relay data and messages, and all the nodes work together to distribute data across the whole network. Some of the benefits of mesh networking in a wireless setting are adaptability, scalability and the ability to cover large areas.
Lighting that’s connected. Everyone’s got a different idea of what that really means – everything from basic dimming, to connected LED light engines with built-in two-way communication, so they can receive commands, and report data back to the network.
An application programming interface (API) is how software programmes and services talk to each other. APIs let thirdparty developers make apps that can control smart lamps made by other companies, or that can post updates to social media sites. APIs can also help connected light fittings talk to other kinds of devices and systems.
Machine learning
Big data
The internet of lights
A type of artificial intelligence that involves studying patterns in data, without explicit programming instructions. As the system analyses data and recognises patterns, it can use the outcomes of the analysis to improve and adjust. In lighting, machine learning could be used to analyse the use of lighting in an environment, and offer suggestions on ways to reduce energy use through automation.
‘Big data’ refers to the massive volume of structured, unstructured and complex data that we generate all day, every day in the modern world. Due to the growth in the internet of things and connected devices – including smart lighting products – the data generated from these devices is growing exponentially. Ninety per cent of the world’s data has been generated in the last two years.
The internet of lights is Gooee’s vision of connected luminaires and lamps across the internet, creating a network of lighting. Not only will this allow us to do cleverer things with lights, it also means we can use the lighting infrastructure, which incorporates sensors for temperature, occupancy and so on, as a smart network to support all sorts of other services.
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126 LUX VIDEOS
The latest
LUX VIDEOS
Lux’s YouTube channel has racked up more than a million views. Here are our latest videos
HOW WILL LIGHTING FIT INTO THE INTERNET OF THINGS? It’s no longer just computers and phones that are connected to the web - it’s all kinds of devices, including lights. An expert panel at Lux’s Smart Lighting Controls Europe conference considers what this means.
bit.ly/1I2XYqM
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WHAT SMART LIGHTING CAN DO FOR YOU The internet of things is no longer just a buzzword - users of lighting are waking up to its potential to cut costs, create value and open up new opportunities. bit.ly/1DPbE20
THE LIGHT THAT EARNS YOU MONEY FROM YOUR ELECTRICITY SUPPLIER This new lamp has a backup battery so it can stay on in a power cut. Not only that, it can also sense demand on the grid, and switch to battery at peak times, earning money back from your electricity supplier. bit.ly/1GNeTxg
10 LIGHTING INNOVATIONS YOU’LL BE SEEING MORE OF IN THE FUTURE See the highlights from last year’s LuxLive, including the light that rolls up like a newspaper, the the fake skylight that looks totally real, and the dimmer that knows what lamp it’s connected to. bit.ly/1ApFd8V
WHY THE WAY WE DISPOSE OF LIGHTS IS CHANGING Luxx reports from our roundtable forum on recycling, held in association with Recolight, to find out how the way we recycle lighting products is changing. bit.ly/1Q7iuaZ
THE FAKE SKYLIGHT THAT LOOKS REAL The CoeLux skylight was the standout innovation of LuxLive 2014 – and you have to see it to believe it. Check out Lux’s exclusive video. bit.ly/1EAxGbq
LUXLIVE 2015: WHAT VISITORS SAY Hundreds of lighting users come to LuxLive every year to see the latest lighting innovations. Hear from big spenders at McDonalds, Rolls-Royce, Sainsbury’s and more on why it’s a key date in the diary. bit.ly/1GCkYan
AN END TO CONFUSION IN THE LED LIGHTING INDUSTRY? Can the LIA’s new ‘Verified’ scheme improve the standard of the UK’s lighting products? bit.ly/lia0814
DENMARK’S ‘LIVING LAB’ FOR SMART STREETLIGHTINg The Danish Outdoor Lighting Lab is a lifesize testing ground for new streetlighting technologies – Luxx takes a look. bit.ly/1bluZ32
128 EVENTS
UPCOMING
EVENTS 21 May 2015 Lighting for Large Estates Conference
DON’T
MISS
MEET US HERE
Are you responsible for a large number of fittings across different buildings? If it’s proving a maintenance and energy headache, this special conference will give Lighting Large you the answers to key challenges, such Estates as how to manage the assets to your best CONFERENCE 2015 advantage, and cutting energy costs. Cavendish Conference Centre, London www.lightingforlargeestates.com
MEET 27-29 MAY 2015 US The Sparc International HERE Lighting Event 2015 The Sparc International Lighting Event 2015 offers world class speakers on topic lighting subjects and the latest in lighting technology. Taking place at the Sydney Exhibition Centre on the harbour foreshore, and featuring exhibitors from both Australia and overseas, Sparc 2015 is Australia’s premier lighting event. Sydney, Australia www.sparcevent.org
9-12 JUNE 2015 Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition will celebrate its 20th anniversary with cuttingedge lighting technologies emphasising quality, sustainability, human-centric lighting, wireless connectivity and much more. Guangzhou, China http://www.light.messefrankfurt.com.cn/ MEET 24 JUNE 2015 US HERE Lighting for Rail Lighting for Rail Conference CONFERENCE 2015 The current wave of investment in the UK’s rail network represents a once-in-a-
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generation opportunity to upgrade to world-class lighting. In this one-day conference, we’ll help you do just that. London, UK www.raillightingconference.com MEET
US 17-19 NOVEMBER 2015 HERE Strategies in Light Europe 2015 For the first time this year, Strategies in Light Europe is taking in place in London alongside LuxLive, the UK’s biggest lighting show. Strategies in Light Europe brings together the top companies from all levels of the global lighting and LED supply chain, from components to luminaires. And the Strategies in Light Europe conference will address the hot topics in the LED industry right now, with market knowledge and analysis from Strategies Unlimited, the world leader in LED and lighting market research, renowned for its coverage of the business for more than 20 years. The conference covers two tracks, focusing on markets and technology. There will also be an investor forum and workshops. From components to systems, from engineering to lighting design; no other European LED lighting conference offers such a wide range of activities. ExCeL London, UK www.sileurope.com
UK’S BIGGEST LIGHTING SHOW MEET 18-19 NOVEMBER 2015 US HERE LuxLive 2015 The UK’s biggest and best lighting show is back again. Come and see the latest in low-energy hospitality lighting solutions from hundreds of exhibitors, and hear from experts about how to upgrade your lights while keeping that crucial look and feel. ExCeL London, UK www.luxlive.co.uk
Serious about MPCBs MPCB Production • UK Based experts in thermal PCB manufacturing • Technical advise regarding material selection • Short lead-times • Exclusive Chinese MPCB partner for high volumes Phone: +44 (0) 2392 243000 Email: info@spiritcircuits.com Web: spiritcircuits.com
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Contact Batwing at thebelfry@luxmagazine.co.uk
SHOES WITH LIGHTS ON? ‘Light Up Shoes For Adults Are Here And They’re Amazing’ screams the incredibly annoying but strangely compelling viral nonsense phenomenon BuzzFeed. Even superstar Julianne Moore has a pair, it seems (heels, indeed).
Cave needs better lighting Rock star Nick Cave appears to be in need of better oom lighting. In his latest creative venture, e Sick Bag Song, he writes about dying his air in a hotel bedroom: ‘I carefully concoct he paste in a bowl and paint my hair black, / So that it sits like a sleek, inky raven’s wing / On top of my multi-story forehead, / The athroom light is brutal./ I reposition my face I stop looking / like Kim Jong-un and start ng more like Johnny Cash / Or someone.’ od, white LED lighting should sort you out, Nick. Not sure it’ll fix your multi-story forehead though.
LEDS CAN MAKE YOU BEAUTIFUL
HOW NOT TO USE LED TAPE Light On Line tells us they supplied some Osram LED tape to a project, but soon the contractor called back and announced: ‘We’ve spent a day installing the full runs and we’ve powered it up and the LED tape you supplied isn’t working’. Turns out that, for reasons best known to himself, he’d been sticking the tape back-to-back. Errr that’s not how you do it.
Poor CRI can really ruin your look, but apparently using LED lighting will bring you back from the dead. That’s according to a YouTube ad by US Environmental Protection Agency voluntary program Energy Star, in which we see definite proof that you’ll resemble a zombie if you apply your make-up in a poorly lit room – nothing at all to do with running late and doing your makeup in the car then. http://bit.ly/1GVR1HU
THESE LIGHTING CONTROLS ARE A BIT NAUGHTY This hotel has a lighting control setting for everything – reading, showering, sleepi- wait a minute, what’s option 2? Ballroom dancing? Invading personal space? Trust exercises in the context of a work bonding trip? Batwing can only imagine what the lights do when you press that button…
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ERCO has reconsidered office lighting. The Skim downlight oval flood with LED replaces two conventional luminaires. With its elongated light distribution, the oval flood lens system enables energyefficient and better lighting of circulation zones and workplaces in the office. Perfect light efficiently calculated. www.erco.com/skim
E
SORAA OPTICAL LIGHT ENGINES
‘LIGHT SOURCE OF THE YEAR’ — Lighting Design Awards 2015
A PASSION FOR PERFECTION SORAA was founded by passionate people. This team of experts in the world of engineering and semiconductors defied conventional wisdom to create GaN on GaN™ LEDs with PERFECT crystalline structures. And because it’s perfect, the LED they created attains a quality of light unmatched by any other: fullvisible-spectrum light with unprecedented
rendering of colours and whites. With these exceptional LEDs, SORAA makes products with perfect colour and perfect beams. And it seems that we’re not the only ones who think so. At the Lighting Design Awards 2015, SORAA’s new Optical Light Engines were awarded ‘Light Source of the Year’, with judges describing them as a STEP CHANGE IN LIGHT QUALITY.
www.soraa.com