LED Craze Continues: Thoughts from Lightfair 2016

We are only scratching the surface as far as the capabilities of LED lighting are concerned. Manufacturers and education sessions delivered that message to thousands of attendees at Lightfair 2016 in San Diego in April.

We visited with about a dozen manufacturers and sat in on sessions during the three-day lighting conference. A few prevailing themes emerged during discussions in the expo hall.

• No longer are LEDs perceived merely as energy savers. More manufacturers than ever before touted the maintenance benefits of LEDs. Some representatives mentioned that some facilities place more emphasis on the maintenance savings that LEDs generate — the longer life of LEDs reduces the amount of time spent replacing fixtures — as equally important to facilities than the energy savings they produce.

• Circadian rhythms, a term often used to describe sleep disorders, has reached the lighting industry. Product managers use the term when discussing the technology advances in lighting fixtures. An example of this is the human-centric LED troffer retrofit kit offered by ABBLighting that is designed to create comfortable lighting conditions in healthcare facilities.

“Our goal was to design an indoor light fixture that is healthy for seniors and hospital patients,” says ABBLighting President Greg Murphy. “What we quickly realized is that what is healthy for seniors and patients is healthy for everyone.”

• Cree’s Rowan Larson, the company’s Vice President of Marketing, described the evolution of LEDs from “not just light” to “light that works for you.” Instead of just seeking better light, specifiers are focusing more on aspects of lighting such as color and temperature changes when making their lighting choices.

• The Internet of Things (IoT) is impacting the lighting industry as well. Several education sessions and tracks focused on IoT and wireless controls. One session I attended emphasized that LED lighting ranks among the key enablers for IoT in commercial office spaces.

This quick read was submitted by Dave Lubach, associate editor for Facility Maintenance Decisions. Reach him at dave.lubach@tradepress.com. For more lighting stories click here.

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