Month: March 2019
Recent developments in LED lighting
Today more and more businesses are switching to LEDs as they recognise the benefits this kind of lighting offers such as cost efficiency, energy saving, lower maintenance and better-quality lighting.
With LED technology constantly evolving, here are just some of the latest developments in LED lights that are revolutionising commercial lighting.
Smart lighting
The rise in IoT (Internet of Things) technology means controlling the lighting in your offices or commercial premises via smartphone, tablet, mobile switches or even with your voice is no longer the stuff of the future. And outdoor wireless control systems now offer remote operation and monitoring of all smart bulbs through a web-enabled central management system that collects data from sensors and cameras.
A colour spectrum
LEDs can be used to produce the entire RGB colour spectrum, a far cry from the very cool bluish white colour of early LEDs. Today’s LEDs can provide pleasing cool to warm tones, along with enhanced red and white, with the ability to change colours proving particularly popular within the retail and leisure sectors.
Flexibility
LEDs are constantly evolving to provide ever more flexibility in lighting options. Choose from basic bulbs through to tubes and panels (popular in offices), or candles, globes and dimmed (popular in retail and hospitality spaces).
Human-centric lighting
LED technology is increasingly being merged with scientifically based human-centric approaches to provide a more natural light that supports our bodies’ circadian requirements. What this means is that the lighting in our workplaces can now help us to feel better and work better, and the digital aspect of LEDs allows us to alter the light according to our circadian needs. There are even LEDs that can mimic natural light, including sunsets and even the night sky.
New power technology
Self-contained drivers regulate the supply of power to an LED to ensure it functions correctly. But these could become a thing of the past as new technologies mean LEDs get their power from different sources, such as the Ethernet.
Retrofitting
New build offices and commercial spaces are now fitted with LED lighting as a matter of course, but in older buildings LEDs are an easy retrofit option as updates and innovations in the technology advance.
New materials
New materials are starting to emerge in the lighting industry such as graphene and gallium nitrade, helping to make LEDs not only more durable and efficient but also enabling them to produce higher quality colour.
One for the future
Could Li-Fi (light fidelity) replace Wi-Fi at some point in the future? Using light waves to transmit information instead of Wi-Fi radio waves, Li-Fi technology uses LED bulbs as something like a router.