LED (light emitting diode) also known as SSL (solid state lighting) technology has advanced substantially in performance and reliability in recent years. Though there are many good types of lighting products on the market for outdoor lighting, LED flood lights have emerged as the solution offering a compelling list of benefits and advantages over the other types of lighting sources.

• LED flood lights are far more energy efficient than other methods of generating light and that includes fluorescent lighting too. In comparison to an equivalent halogen lamp, the reduction in energy consumption is staggering. Whether you need to light up an outdoor area for commercial or business purposes, sports, recreation, public amenity, private garden or home living space – a substantial reduction in your electricity bill is obtainable through selecting suitable LED flood lights.
• LED flood lights are environmentally friendly in a number of ways. As already pointed out,  they consume much less energy, therefore the amount of fossil fuels burned up are reduced – leading to lower carbon footprint. LED flood lights do not get hot and generate heat as in the case of other light sources. In addition, LEDs do not produce UV (ultra violet) or IR (infra red) radiation. Mercury, a dangerous neuro-toxin is present in fluorescent and CFL lighting systems but is completely abscent in LED lights.
• LED flood lights are generally designed to have a specified beam angle to direct the light to where it is needed, eliminating or minimising light pollution, an important environmental and ecological concern being brought to attention by organisations such as the International Dark Sky Association.
• LED flood lights are highly robust and durable in design requiring almost no maintenance. The can arguably be regarded as a “Fit & Forget” lighting solution with life spans of up to 50,000 hours if designed well throughout. A LED light source is fundamentally different to traditional filament lamps in that they are solid state semiconductor devices and do not require bulb replacement.
• The light generated by state-of-the-art LED flood lights is of a crisp and pleasing quality and there is a choice of colour temperatures available to best suit the application or personal taste. Cool White LED floodlights are typically selected for illuminating areas for work and sporting activities, whereas the Warm White version is preferred in areas requiring a softer ambiance such as recreation or relaxation facilities.

When choosing a LED flood light it is important to ensure that the product has a technology leading (current generation) LED chip module inside from a leading semiconductor manufacturer such as Bridgelux. It is essential too to consider the quality of the other materials and design of the LED flood light such as the lumen performance, electronic driver/power supply, cable, lens design, heat sink design and quality of  materials used. Keep in mind that any product is only as reliable as the weakest component and it is best to avoid products where there is any doubt about them being designed and manufactured to world class standards.

Peter English, LEDVISTA

LED lighting presents a massive opportunity for forward thinking local government and public bodies.  Public projects, large scale community and commercial buildings and street lighting are ideally placed to save money and reduce emissions through the use of LED technology based sustainable lighting.  Across the globe, cities and municipalities are embracing LED lighting, saving money, reducing carbon footprints and harnessing the benefits aswell as receiving positive press.

According to Lux Research, lighting accounts for over 20% of the energy used by buildings. This value represents, 7.2% of the primary energy use within the developed world, and causes 360 million metric tons of carbon emissions (5% of global emissions).  That’s before we consider the $174 billion in electricity costs. 

Given the stakes, both financially and environmentally, one would think LED adoption would be a no brainer but there are perceived barriers.  The most obvious is the up-front cost of LED lighting.

“…by 2020, LEDs will provide 60 percent of low bay lighting for commercial, industrial, government and public buildings, while advanced lighting controls will be put to work in an impressive 90 percent of government and public spaces. Advanced lighting tech will be less dominant in homes, according to Lux, with LEDs providing 42 percent of the lighting in the residential market”  GIGAOM

Commercial and public projects are perfect for this stage in the development of LED lighting.  They tend to take a much longer view of costs and are ideally placed to see the savings from LEDs.  Usage is typically high, giving cost savings on energy bills.  Additionally, maintenance and bulb replacement come with real costs (labour as well as materials).

LED Lighting Case Study

Convention Center – Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

While building a new convention centre, the City of Raleigh considered and eventually chose LED lighting for the 3 level underground parking deck.  It represented a perfect test bed for LED lighting with the lights on 24 – 7.  You can read the full details of the project here but let’s look at the costs.  The LED systems were compared with the initial specification: 544 fixtures using 175 Watt metal halide lamps. Costs were assessed over a 15 year life cycle:

The LED lights had a higher up-front cost but presented considerable energy savings over the lifetime of the assessment.  The metal halide lamps would require replacement every 15 months and are typically replaced upon failure.  This created a considerable cost when labour was taken into account as well as materials.  The LED alternative had a lifespan of 5.7 years and so replacement costs were accounted for in years 6 and 12.  Importantly, the lifespan of LEDs is not measured to failure like traditional bulbs.  At end of life, light output has reduced to 70% rather than 0.  That means no outages.

Interestingly, payback comes in just over 3 years which is pretty good and gives quite a margin for error on the assumptions of lamp life etc.

New technology will always come with concerns. 

Can low watt LED lights really match the performance of the systems they are replacing?

In fact, the Raleigh case study shows better lighting performance than the traditional alternative with better minimum light levels and a more even spread of lighting (eliminating “hot spots” directly under the fixtures). 

Here’s some street lighting examples from Toronto in Canada:

As you can see from the pictures, this pilot scheme from Toronto shows not only savings but also increased lighting quality.

LEDs offer an ideal opportunity for public and commercial projects to save on long-term costs and reduce emissions while maintaining or improving lighting effects.  LEDs are ideal for applications where lights are on for a significant portion of the time and usage is high.  These could include public areas, outdoor lighting, offices, street lights, hotels, hospitals, car parks and many others.  Electricity costs and maintenance will soon mount up.  This shortens the payback time and makes the already strong economic case for LED lights even stronger.  Additionally, public and commercial bodies are increasingly conscious of the environment and the positive PR they can gain from adopting sustainable lighting tehnology and minimising the environmental impact of providing the essential energy consuming resource of lighting.

A new project named ”ENLIGHT” was recently initiated by a consortium of leading European companies and research institutes and backed by the European Commission with the primary objective to exploit the full potential of LED-based lighting through breakthrough innovations in intelligent lighting systems as well as integrated lighting solutions beyond retrofit applications.

The newly formed group of 30 will also collaborate to develop more efficient and compact drivers, electronics and controls, which will in turn lead to more-optimized LED modules overall. One of the aims is to further reduce energy consumption of present LED lighting technology by an additional 40%.

 “Given the impressive profile of partners (listed below) including world class organisations and the broad scope of representation of the lighting industry value chain, the creation of the ENLIGHT Consortium reflects the compelling recognition of the importance of LED lighting technology towards developing future generations of energy efficient intelligent lighting systems”, Peter English, Managing Director, LEDVISTA

ENLIGHT Consortium:   Advanced Research Technology Group srl, Italy; Applied Micro Electronics “AME” BV, Netherlands; Besi Semiconductor Industries N.V., Netherlands; BJB GmbH & Co. KG, Germany; Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique – Leti, France; Eagle Vision Systems bv, Netherlands; Enel Distribuzione S.p.A., Italy; Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Germany; Helvar, Finland; Infineon Technologies AG, Germany; I-NRG B.V., Netherlands; Insta Elektro GmbH, Germany; Legrand, France; NXP Semiconductors GA GmbH, Germany; NXP Semiconductors France; Osram GmbH, Germany; Philips Electronics Nederland B.V.; Philips Lighting B.V., Netherlands; PKC Electronics Oy, Finland; Plugwise B.V., Netherlands; Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule, Germany; Rockwool France SAS – Rockfon; ThereCorporation, Finland; TNO Science and Industry, Netherlands; University of Perugia, Italy; University of Technology Delft, Netherlands; University of Technology Eindhoven, Netherlands; Uppsala University, Sweden; Valopaa Ltd., Finland; VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

LED (light emitting diode) lighting also known as SSL (solid state lighting) continues to evolve and Philips second generation of Ledino luminaires brings the latest high-power LED technology and elegant design to accent your style at home while at the same time reducing energy cost and supporting the environment. Clear, warm white light can be dimmed at the touch of a button to change the mood of your space. A selection of the range even has the ability to be tuned from clear light to warm, when installed, allowing customers to adapt their lighting solution to their own needs. “People at home have their own style, reflected in their interior. With the beautiful, stylish Ledino range we are helping customers create a beautiful light effect matching their style and home environment.”, said Allard Bijlsma, CEO Philips Consumer Luminaires.

Thanks to advanced LED technology the Ledino range uses up to 80% less energy than traditional lighting with an operational lifespan of up to 20 years. That makes Ledino good for the environment as well as your wallet. Another benefit of LED technology is instant start-up with full light output. Given that LED lamps contain no hazardous materials such as mercury, and do not generate UV or IR rays, this make them the ideal sustainable lighting solution too.

 “The new Ledino range builds further on its innovation legacy through combining elegant minimalist design with a state-of-the-art LEDs by Lumileds that can reach a colour temperature of 2700 Kelvin. This major enhancement in Ledino LED lamps provide a warmer light with light yellow tint effect to create a more homely cosy atmosphere” asserts Peter English, Managing Director, LEDVISTA.

The new industrial revolution, the ‘green economy’, is gaining momentum and is presenting substantial new business opportunities for those economies and enterprises willing to embrace the rapidly expanding global market for green goods and services. This market is already valued at €3.6 trillion and is estimated to grow to €4.5 trillion by 2015.

Both government and the private business sector will need to be partners in creating opportunities and in developing the low carbon green economy. SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) are an essential element of future economic prosperity and should be at the forefront of this new economy. Back in June 2008, in recognition of the crucial role of SMEs for Europe’s competitiveness, the European Commission unveiled the “Small Business Act” driven by the “Think Small First” principle with the objectives to: place SMEs at the forefront of society; facilitate easier access to international markets, finance, skills and innovation; among other objectives to support and foster the development of the SME sector.  

There is no escaping from the critical importance of government’s role in facilitating and instigating recovery from the banking crisis to create realistic conditions to free up capital for those SMEs with potential to succeed in developing and marketing low carbon goods and services to this new global market that is set to become massive over the coming years.

No business can afford any longer not to be competitive on cost regardless of it’s market positioning or product/service offering. Energy consumption and reduction of energy cost such as cutting the electricity bill can make a real difference to the bottom line and bolster competitive advantage, or perhaps even more compelling – to prevent or minimise competitive disadvantage.

Lighting is estimated to be accountable for over 20% of worldwide electricity consumption. The lighting sector is therefore an obvious strategic target in pursuit of energy conservation and efficiency. Lighting is attributable to a staggering 50% of the total energy consumed by many commercial facilities, making lighting a significant part of the operating cost of a business. 

It is predicted by experts that the widespread deployment of LED (light-emitting diode) lighting technology, also known as SSL (solid state lighting), could reduce energy consumption for lighting purposes by 50% by the year 2025. A cost saving of this magnitude would have a profoundly positive effect on world economies in addition to environmental benefit of the enormous proportional reduction in CO2 emmissions.

Although LED lighting is a relatively new technology, it is proving to be a cost effective green technology and is steadily gaining support from governments around the world and acceptance by society as a sustainable eco-lighting solution. LED technology with respect to performance and manufacturing cost, coupled with related developments in nanoscience, continues to advance and is gaining traction on the assimilation of LED lighting solutions into the general lighting market. The key benefits of LED lighting include: energy efficiency; long life-span; low maintenance; compact & robust design; no mercury content; no UV (ultra-violet) or IR (infra-red) emissions; and among other advantages, the ability to be creative in controlling light in new ways such as tunable colour temperature, directing light in a particular way and digital compatibility to future smart ‘e-lighting’ systems.

“It is inevitable that the lighting technology of the future will be different to what it was in the past. Perhaps, what is somewhat susprising, is the long time it has taken for an urgently needed disruptive green lighting technology to reach the level of required stability and commercialisation to enter the mass market  in the critical energy sector of the economy. The abundant evidence on LED/SSL being a primary if not the primary mainstream lighting source of the future is compelling” - Peter English, LEDVISTA