Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

The DOE has released new efficiency standards for LED lamps, set to take effect in 2028. The target efficacy will be 120 lm/W, up from the current 45 lm/W. Manufacturers are already halfway there and will likely use new technologies to meet the higher standards.

Keeping hospital balance sheets profitable is a challenging proposition for healthcare organizations. That’s certainly one reason why so many have undertaken lighting upgrades over the last decade to move to more efficient LED lamps and fixtures.

As I pondered this topic, I was relaxing in our side yard, gazing at the garden in the dark. Well, not totally in the dark. The garden was delightfully illuminated by flickering tiki torch lamps … lit by LEDs, charged by the sun. Spotlights shone on my miniature windmill as it lazily spun in the evening breeze.

Maintaining proper lighting levels, color temperature, and Color Rendering Index (CRI) is crucial for various applications. Color temperature affects the ambiance, while CRI determines color accuracy. LEDs offer flexibility in color temperature, have a high CRI, produce less heat, and are energy-efficient compared to incandescent lamps.

As someone who’s tracked LED lighting since its early days as a commercially available technology, my own experience with the products has evolved. I live in an older house with overhead lighting only in the kitchen and bathrooms, so this has mostly meant experimenting with LED bulbs (or “lamps,” in lighting designer lingo) in the 14 or 15 table fixtures scattered around my home.

Earlier this year at the Light + Building 2018 trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, Philips Lighting announced a string of new initiatives aimed at the transition to more LED lamps as well as the inclusion of LEDs into the “Internet of Things” (IoT) in homes and buildings worldwide.

First the company announced IoT platform called Interact, designed to handle data collected from connected light points, sensors, devices and systems.