LED Lighting for a brighter future!

This question was answered by Jonathan Bell, commercial director of Liteplan Limited. Finding energy savings on a scheme that utilises GU10 or T8 fluorescent fixtures tends to be considered as the low hanging fruit of lighting upgrades. Emergency lighting requirements however, are often left to the last minute leading to a panic purchase whilst installation takes place. Occasionally there are compatibility issues too. A conventional emergency conversion relies on a connection to the low voltage cables found between the driver and the LED load. In the case of  GU10 and T8 LED tubes access to these cables is not possible. To solve this problem an emergency pack is needed to power the primary side of the driver. In some cases a cost effective emergency control gear will be capable of carrying out the task, however at the other end of the spectrum, the driver can only be powered by pure sine wave AC. Not only is this option incred...

Sainsbury's is one of a number of companies to bid for an Electricity Demand Reduction grant, as Whitehall eyes ways to keep the lights on in winter. The Government is investing nearly £5 million to encourage leading UK firms such as Sainsbury’s, to install energy efficient lighting. The money is part of an attempt by Whitehall to reduce peak time energy levels as fears rise that the National Grid will not be able to cope with electricity demands this winter, leading to nationwide blackouts. A string of leading companies, including British Gas, Sainsbury’s, Sony and BAE Systems, have bid for funding in the second auction of the  Electricity Demand Reduction  (EDR) pilot. Plumbing firm Wolseley UK received an EDR grant of £100k and is using the money to kit out its distribution centre with upgraded LED lighting. The company claims that the new fixtures will reduce its electricity demand by 236,000 kWh, which is enough energy to power more than 300 ho...

France based company Oledcomm to commence installation of Li-Fi on the Paris Metro. PLUS: Does LED lighting make your milk taste like cardboard? AND London to transform the Thames into spectacular river of light. Lux Today June 21 2016.

Continued testing on LiFi capabilities are in train prior to a long-anticipated roll-out of the system in Paris Metro stations. A French firm has won the contract to supply internet-over-lighting technology on the Paris Metro. The ambitious project – which will allow over two million daily commuters to use lights as a form of Wi-fi, dubbed ‘Li-fi’ – now looks firmly on track. Already La Defense station has been successfully equipped with the tech. Paris-based Oledcomm, a spin-off of the University of Versailles, won the contract from RAPT to initially supply Li-fi installations in 66 stations across Paris, involving over 250,000 LED luminaires. The award of the contract by RATP follows an extensive series of test phases before the roll-out goes ahead. The first phase of the work involved a series of evaluations to prove the concept. This work was done in a so-called Fab Lab environment, community-based workshops where entrepreneurs, students, small businesses come together ...

The project will be funded by private sponsors with the Mayor’s office and lighting enthusiast Lord Rothschild already donating £1 million to the contest. Lighting designers are being asked to submit ideas for an ambitious £20 million plan to turn the Thames into a river of light. Unveiled by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and dubbed the ‘Illuminated River’, the project will see every major bridge between the Albert bridge and Tower bridge lit up in spectacular nightly display.  City Hall is inviting lighting designers, engineers and architects to submit ‘environmentally friendly and visually stimulating’ ideas for the scheme by 7 July. The project will be funded by private sponsors with the Mayor’s office and lighting enthusiast Lord Rothschild already donating £1 million to the contest. This project is unprecedented in its boldness and imagination’  Hannah Rothschild of the Illuminated River Foundation Hannah Rothschild of the Illuminated River Foundati...

The Chichester branch of the restaurant has been successfully prosecuted for breaching safety legislation after Fire Safety Officers found a number of infringements during an inspection. As well as faulty emergency lighting, Officers also discovered blocked fire exits, dangerous electrics and the absence of a working fire alarm. The Wildwood was fined £13,452 and ordered to pay £1,962 costs at Worthing Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to four charges under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Visit  http://www.novelenergylighting.com/catalogsearch/result/…  to explore our range of emegency led lighting products

Unsightly and amateurish' lighting project angers church officials. PLUS: Discover how smart sensors from OSRAM are revolutionising office spaces. AND The UAE joins pledge to instal 6 billion LED lighting products in the wake of last year's Paris climate summit. Lux Today June 14 2016.

Lighting at the Kongsgardmoen School in Kongberg, Norway, uses tunable-white lighting throughout the school day image: The Midnight Sun, Anda Berczky, 2005 Here’s a quick check list for your tunable-white specifications. * First, do you actually need a tunable white system? What colour temperature range do you need for your project? Does your preferred product maintain a consistently high level of colour rendition throughout its range? Do you have a control strategy for the changes in colour temperature  and output? Does the product interface with the control strategy for what you want to achieve? Tunable-white lighting is one of the biggest trends in commercial lighting. LED developers have taken a serious grip on the photo-biological research being produced by university departments and other groups. We know more about the way that humans function than ever before and you might say that it’s fortunate for the LED c...

Philips recalls thousands of metal halide lamps over 'burn and laceration' dangers. PLUS: The latest business news including acquisitions. Lux Today webcast for 31 May 2016 is presented by Courtney Ferguson.

With so many trade shows taking place in such a short space of time, the lighting industry has been emptying the lab and getting the latest kit and concepts on display. Lux reports: A tech revolution is happening in lighting – and the speed of development is blistering. Here we identify the biggest trends you need to know about. And a few are rather surprising…. 1 Indoor location tracking The latest tech uses lights in conjunction with smart phones to accurately locate people with 10cm accuracy within an indoor space. Once the building owner knows where you are, they can interact with you to deliver real time marketing messages or offer better services, or perhaps they’ll just track what you do and figure out how to use the data. Who to watch:   Acuity Brands, Philips    2 Camera-based lighting control Lighting controls today typically use infrared, ultrasonic or microwave sensors to detect movement, which means they are liable to false t...

The Time Square office building in Bracknell is home to Bracknell Forest Council. The building is typical of many UK office blocks and required a complete refurbishment, including a lighting upgrade.  The old lighting comprised 1x58W switchstart luminaires with cat 2 louvres arranged in rows within a metal plank ceiling across the office space. The luminaire design combined with old technology meant the ceiling and walls appeared very dark, creating a gloomy effect below the optimum lighting specification for offices. Two schemes were put forward for consideration: 1x55W TC-L with high frequency dimmable control gear and 1x42W LED with dimmable gear. The latter scheme was chosen with the contemporary recessed Quattro LED luminaire because it offered maximum energy savings. In comparison to the existing 1x58W switchstart luminaire, Quattro LED offered a 37% energy saving on connected load. Significantly, over a 12-year period, Quattro LED also offered an energy and maint...

By tuning the spectral output of the light specifically at the yellow fever mosquito, special traps can be made to attract and kill the insect, and prevent the spread of the Zika virus in the Americas The lighting industry is gearing up to launch a key weapon in the war on the deadly Zika virus - special LED lights.  Fred Maxik, the chief technology officer of Lighting Science, is exploring the possibility of constructing a special trap for the mosquito which carries the life-threatening infection.  Fred Maxik, the chief technology officer of Lighting Science, says the key is to  create specific light that’s useful for our own purposes. Transmitted via a bite from the yellow fever mosquito, Zika is extremely serious for pregnant women, as there's evidence it causes birth defects such as abnormally small heads. Experts now warn that they expect the Zika virus to spread to all countries in the Americas, including the Caribbean, except Chile and Canada. ...