This period coincides with the coming of age of a lighting technology which will prove to light the 21st Century. By 2020, over 70% of lighting is anticipated by LED lighting, a technology which is anticipated to reduce UK electrical consumption by 7%.
Minimal energy: This technology takes us to a new plane of lighting. The energy employed to light with LED is 1/5th of that of incandescent light sources and ½ of that employed in “low energy” CFL technology. The light source is a semi-conductor chip set on a printed circuit board (PCB). Each PCB can respond to sensors for light and movement transmit and can transmit this to a central system. Thus a combination of much greater efficiency in generating light and the ability to control when you need light takes the electricity employed in lighting a house down from around 40% of total current electrical consumption to around 10% (of a much smaller pie).
Longevity and stability: Historically each of the primary lighting sources have generated terrific heat as a by- product from using so much energy to light. Indeed in many contexts much of the job of air conditioning is to pull away the heat generated by the lights. As well as being an evident fire hazard the consequence of this excessive heat has been that the lights decline relatively quickly leading to a change in colour temperature, a reduction in light output and of course the need to change light bulbs regularly. In view of this, lighting in the past has been a throw away consumable approach which not only goes to landfill but in the case of “Low energy” lighting actually pollutes. Research at Berkeley University in California found that the mercury content of one CFL lamp would render 30,000 litres of water undrinkable.
Because such little energy is used to power LED light, the light source is cool. This enables considerable longevity and light stability. For a domestic project such as Hameau D’Orge it is unlikely that any light will need changing for fifteen-twenty years. The right LED solutions are designed to retain their light levels for well over 50,000 hours and are guaranteed to do so for 5 years. Cool light technology has other benefits – no IR and no UV allows you to put light directly onto watercolours and sensitive materials without any damage.
Materials: In order to sustain this longevity the LED light unit is a considerable piece of engineering. Manufactured largely from recycled aluminium , 85% of the entire unit is made from recycled materials and 100% of the light can itself be recycled. When the time does come to address the light decline, it is merely necessary to “refresh” the light by replacing the PCB and checking the electronics. The only element disposed in twenty years will be the LED transformer and a PCB the size of a 50p coin.
Sympathetic colour: It is a legitimate criticism of much LED lighting that the colour of the light is unsympathetic and often a very cold blue tone. The lights which we are proposing for Hameau D’Orge are from PhotonstarLED Ltd, a spin off from Southampton University’s photometry department. Amongst their other exceptional contributions is their research and delivery of a controllable, sympathetic colour spectrum. In fact their “Smart white” intelligent light source can be tuned to emulate natural daylight cycles with a large tuneable colour gamut. In short, the best LEDs can not only give you the colour temperature you want for a particular task, but they can be tuned to respond to your needs and even moods !
The cost: 2010 is the year in which this technology has advanced to genuinely delivering an effective new light which surpasses any existing lighting technology. But these performances can be reliably delivered by only a small number of specialised manufacturers and because they are impressive luminaries built for the long term, they do cost more than traditional “dirty” lighting. However they do not cost that much more. The savings in electricity consumption alone allow a payback comparable to old lighting within 3 years – at current electricity costs.
Across the world Government is trying to encourage the introduction of low energy technologies. In the UK this is being managed by a “stick”- in the shape of the new Part L2 Building Regulations and a “carrot” in the form of ECA relief for approved technologies. Very few LED solutions currently satisfy the exacting demands of both of these. PhotonstarLED, with whom we propose to work for much of this project, exceed by some degree the criteria required for both.
In conclusion:
This technology is relatively new but the best practice has moved on from the early adaptor experimental period to a position of proven understanding. In a house being built in 2011, employing the best LED technology will allow a highly flexible, minimal energy and durable lighting future for a warm, comfortable and contemporary home.
Ian Peter MacDonald
Director – MacDonald Tait Light
8th October 2010
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