LED Lighting for a brighter future!

Sunny Boy:  She's already up, and he's about to get there himself, thanks to the sun-like lamp above the bed, programmed alarm-like to 'rise' and slowly brighten. Binoculars cost extra. Lux reports: Move over wonder drugs. Make way for wonder lights. That could be the tag line for start-up lighting company Sunn, which is launching an app that commands its and others' LED smart lamps to mimic the 24-hour light cycle from the sun and moon – an act that delivers invaluable holistic health benefits judging by the fresh-faced users in a video on  the Sunn website . 'Imagine if your lights told time through subtle changes in color and brightness,' note the subtitles in the video from the Los Angeles-based company. 'Imagine if your lights put you in touch with the rhythm of the sun to help ease your transition into the day to promote alertness while you work and help you shine through the winter blues. Imagine if your lights brought the sunset int

As the government updates the regulations on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), Lux hears from key players in the lighting business on what this means for how we make, use and recycle lights. Lux's roundtable forum on the WEEE Directive was held in association with Recolight. Featured in this video: Robert Bain, Lux Magazine Russell Hirst, Wiser Recycling Nigel Harvey, Recolight Fiona Elliott, Osram UK Phil Morton, Repic John Bullock, Lighting designer

Afterglow:  This tone from a halogen lamp could soon fade into history if the EC sticks with its 2016 ban on one of the last vestiges of the incandescent business - halogens. LUX Reports: Neonlite director Fred Bass argues against the industry's case to keep energy guzzling halogens alive, calling such a move 'nonsensical.' -- Sometime in the next few weeks, the European Commission is expected to vote on whether to delay a ban on halogen lamps. Halogens are the last real bastion of incandescent technology. They are a thriving holdover of conventional filament burning bulbs – superior in many ways to standard filament lamps because they are treated with a halogen gas, improving their colour temperature and their efficiency. Although the industry has long promoted them for their so-called 'eco' benefits, they are only slightly more efficient than the conventional filament bulbs that the EC has already widely banished. They are terribly inefficient compar

When H&M arrived on Australia’s shores last year, it did so in style with a vast, mostly LED-lit flagship store in the former General Post Office building in Melbourne. The building’s long history, and its 18 meter high ceiling, presented the facility team with a challenge of respecting its heritage while ensuring that the fixtures were as easy to maintain as possible. This has been achieved mainly with linear LED luminaires, recessed from existing ceiling pockets, which focus the light down the central spine of the building’s three-storey glazed atrium. Lighting designers kept in close contact with Heritage Victoria throughout the project and ensured that the lighting installation was fully reversible and didn’t do any damage to the building surface. As well as recessed ceiling fixtures, linear LED luminaires have been placed high up to uplight the ceiling and emphasise the columns and the geometric shape of the atrium. Lower down, mannequins sitting on swi

See the stunning, circular lighting concept in the Waldorf Astoria in Berlin, and find out why LED products take a central place in Trilux's approach to lighting. Lux reports from the Trilux stand at LuxLive 2014, to see the company's latest lighting innovations and hear about what they're seeing in the market.

What if every single hotel in the UK went LED? Lux Imagines: What would happen if all the fittings in Britain's hotel bedrooms were replaced with LEDs? And what if we add all the corridors and toilets to the equation?  Lux 's lighting economist, Dave Tilley, has done just that in this thought-provoking calculation based on hotel industry information and 2015 projections. First, Tilley considered changing eight incandescent and halogen lamps to LED in every one of the UK’s 615,000 hotel bedrooms – and then a complete changeover including common areas in 31,000 hotels. Let's see what happens: Conclusion The results are staggering: £131 million ($199 million) and 677,000 tonnes of CO 2  could be saved if Britain’s hotels changed their bedroom, corridor and toilet lights to LED. But for many businesses, the capital investment needed to do this is still considered a barrier, even when it might pay for itself in a year or less. The scale of the potenti

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Alan Tulla, Technical Editor at LUX Magazine shows how to get the first impression right Design Clinic Building façades Floodlighting a building façade is a classic case of ‘it’s not about the numbers’. Of course, you can always calculate the vertical illuminance, luminance and uniformity values for a building but that’s not the primary goal.  There are many non-engineering decisions to be made. Do you want the building to stand out or blend in? Do you want a subtle or ‘in your face’ effect? Which parts of the building are worth highlighting? Do you want colour? (My default answer to this question is no – IMHO, colour on buildings is more often blight than benefit.) Making a building look good is an aesthetic judgement. If you are unsure, ask a lighting designer, architect, planner, or local conservation groups about the effect they would like.  Remember, you can save a great deal of energy by highlighting certain parts of a building rather than flooding the whole façade

The beginning of a beautiful friendship?  Google and Philips have teamed up to control Philips Hue lights with Google's Nest intelligent home automation system. Could this be the start of a bigger relationship between the lighting stalwart and the digital era kingpin? Above, old new pals Rick and Louie from the film Casablanca. Lux reports: It was only a matter of time until the icon of lighting's analogue past, Philips, teamed with the beckoning symbol of its digital future, Google. That moment should arrive today, as Google plans to exhibit it Nest intelligent home control system working along with Philips' Hue smart bulbs when the glitzy Consumer Electronics Show opens its doors in Las Vegas. Nest is a thermostat and home automation device that wirelessly connects to boilers, furnaces, doors, lights, washing machines and phones, to name a few items. It's potentially a staple of the fledgling 'Internet of Things' in which physical objects communicate

Give me streetlighting, or give me death:  The AA says UK politicians should expect a voters' revolt over streetlighting. Above, the Virginian Patrick Henry, whose fiery 1775 'Give me liberty or give me death' speech led to American overthrow of British rule. Lux reports: Common wisdom says that in politics, it's jobs and taxes that really matter to people. But as Britain's electorate heads to the polls in 2015, another issue will whip them into a frenzy: Streetlighting. That's according to the Automobile Association (AA), which predicts repercussions for authorities that have turned off streetlights to save money and energy. 'Discontent with street-light blackouts threatens a backlash in next year’s elections,' the motoring group says on its website. Many counties, towns and municipalities have switched off lights from around midnight to 5 or 6 a.m., a move that the AA says has increased accidents, especially in 40 miles per hour zones

H&M kicked in the door to the Autralian market last year with an LED-lit store in Melbourne. Until we find a way to prove it, we won't know exactly how much the lighting scheme will contribute to the store's sales Lux reports: Retail lighting is different from lighting for other applications. It has to support sales, it has to be economical for short-lease buildings and it has to be ‘on brand’. That means retail lighters face their very own challenges. Here are the top six items that every retail lighting professional should have on their list this year. 1. Navigating a non-standardised market The LED market is still a bit of a colourful bazaar; until proper standards have been set, even seasoned end users will be wondering if they’re getting the best deal and the most appropriate specs. In the UK, the Lighting Industry Association has launched an independent verification programme for LED products, but there is also a need for a large-scale approach. ‘At the mo

Highlights from some of the greatest lighting projects and achievements of 2014, including the new LED lighting at the Sistine Chapel, a huge LED rollout at Sainsbury's in the UK, and Nobel physics prize winner Shuji Nakamura Visit us for more details at www.novelenergylighting.com