Top 5 lighting trends for 2014-15

enLighten Australia CEO Steve Cahill recently attended the 4th International LED professional Symposium held in Bregenz, Austria. Cahill provides highlights from the conference in the article below.

Lighting controls

• Radiofrequency (RF) technology is currently the most-preferred lighting control technology.
• Standardisation of control systems is progressing - Connected Lighting Alliance’s selection of Zigbee RF controls for residential properties is an example of this.
• Outdoor and industrial lighting represent key areas for growth, particularly when interfaced with RF controls.
• LED driver manufacturers are starting to incorporate RF controls and software as integral parts of the driver.

Intelligent lighting

• Lighting is expected to become the centre of a new communications protocol to transfer information to other building services.
• A multitude of low-cost sensors will be incorporated within luminaires.

Components

• Future design of LED luminaires will incorporate a broader range of materials such as thermoplastics and ceramics to replace both aluminium for heat sinking and glass and silicon for optics.

Performance

• The ability of LED lighting to simulate natural daylight and align with the body’s circadian rhythms continues to grow in importance. Research is ongoing in lighting technology and health and productivity improvements in the workplace, education and health sectors.
• As customers become more knowledgeable about lighting and its impacts, there will be a move to more qualitative metrics such as colour rendering index (CRI), colour changing and control.
• Many of the existing metrics surrounding lighting are inadequate and are currently being reviewed and updated. (TC-1-91)
• LED luminaire performance measurements are currently centred on lumens/watt and $/lumen. Energy efficiency of LED lighting is now taken as a given.

Costs

• Future cost reduction in luminaires will be from better design and changes in heat sinks and optics, not LED chip costs.

2015 - The International Year of Light

One of the focuses during the UN International Year of Light in 2015 will be educating the market on the benefits of quality light and the opportunities for lighting to support humans through providing comfort, care and convenience.

In summary, the lighting industry is undergoing a significant restructure. In addition to technology evolution, the business models of major lighting companies are being reworked to meet these new opportunities.