Strategies in Light – Summary Day 2
The second day of Strategies in Light Europe started with a presentation by Jan Denneman, chairman of the recently founded Global Lighting Association (GLA). This association, representing more than 5,000 manufacturers, is combining the efforts of regional and national lighting associations worldwide in shaping how the world around us is lighted. In particular, the GLA functions as a forum for exchange and formulation of technical and policy information to ensure the proper support of governments and other legal bodies regarding legislation & standardization for the transition of the lighting industry to LED’s and OLED’s.
Jaap Schlejen, EVP Samsung LED Lighting shared the view of Samsung on the LED Lighting market. Samsung is focusing its activities on growing their lighting business through the replacement of CFL and linear fluorescent lamps by LED retrofit products based on mid-power LED’s. Samsung is reducing their efforts in LED luminaires as they do not see this as the main opportunity for them in the near future.
As an example of a lighting designers view on LED lighting, Bernhard Dessecker from Ingo Mauer Studio, showed a number of exiting lighting projects and products based on LED’s. One of the products shown was wallpaper with integrated LED’s to create a colorful and dynamic wall covering and atmosphere.
European Union Initiatives
An interesting overview was presented regarding a number of initiatives taken by the European Union to stimulate the use of energy efficient lighting – especially LED”s. The target of the EU is to reduce the use of electricity for lighting by 20% in 2020.
In July 2011 the EU published an SSL Green Paper which was then opened up for public consultation. The results of these public consultations were published in July 2012. In this report, important issues regarding the growth and acceptance of LED lighting were identified. Actions were presented focusing on the city and building lighting segments. Additional funds have been made available for R&D in SSL.
One of the afternoon sessions was dedicated to connectivity and wire(less) networks to control LED) lighting systems. The technology is available now to connect (LED) lamps and luminaires and control them via IP/internet networks. Installation of these wireless networks becomes easier through simple commissioning approaches and intuitive user interfaces for control.
Another session illustrated the relationship between lighting and peoples’ well being. Research has showed that blue light – especially at 460 nm wavelength – has a strong impact on alertness and the sleep/wake rhythm. LED lighting can easily allow for the control of the spectral distribution of a space in support of the ‘normal’ sleep/wake rhythm.
Yesterday, we heard about the projected size of the market and what new, fledgling companies are doing to woo investors. Today, the second day showed that the world of LED lighting is in full swing with a lot of exciting new opportunities and new approaches to enhance peoples’ lives with LED lighting!
Written by Julie Allen