Astronauts use Lighting Technology to grow potatoes in space!

Well martian was not a myth after all,  as NASA have announced their latest technology which uses LED Lighting to enable the growth of vegtables in space.  Martian for those who don't know is a film stared by actor matt damon which describes a mans struggle for survival in space.

Matt demon's quest for survival in martian 

Under those harsh natural circumstances an astronaut named Mark Watney (matt damon's character)  created a way in which he can reproduce potatoes. He achieved this by cutting them down to smaller sizes and then increasing the temperature in his survival pod to ensure the right environment is available for growth. The release of the film was prior to the unveiling of water being found in mars,  so he also had to create water to ensure the irrigation of the potatoes.  

survival of the fittest. Matt demon working on his crop in new film Martian

Planet earth is blessed with large amount of water for irrigating the plants and a huge supply of sunlight for keeping the plant healthy. In contrast space doesn't posses great amount of this, meaning most plants will need to be grown indoors. Step up the latest LED grow light system technology from NASA called the veggie developed by orbital technologies. It assist scientist to grow plantation in zero gravity conditions.
This lighting system emits a purple and almost magenta coloured beam that is necessary in stimulating the growth of the plant.  Although the only colours required to grow plants are Red and Blue, green was thrown into the mix in order to neutralise the purple light and make the plant look more edible.

DR Rey Wheeler, leader of advanced life support activities from the Exploration Research and Technology program in Kennedy said " they are probably the most efficient in terms of electrical power conversion. The green LEDs help to enhance the human visual perception of the plants, but they don't put out as much light as the red and blues" 

    

would you like some lettuce from space?- researchers investigating the growth of plantation in space  

 However if humans were to live in space growing food is not the only problem. Mars averages -80C° and that is well below freezing point making mars very difficult to live in, but even to say the necessary insulation is equipped on the planet, people will still need to eat and growing some vegetables won't be enough to create a inhabitable environment for humans. Oxygen and water are also necessities which need to be used resourcefully in space. the lack of water means irrigation of plants has to preciece and calculated. NASA funded research for bioserve space technologies, a non profit research centre situated at the university of colorado in order to look at the the connection between the amount of water and leaf rigidity. They found on earth were water is in high supply traditional irrigation gives leaves more water then they actually need . This hypothesis then was further developed by AgriHouse brands as they created sensors to be installed on leaves that determine the amount of water that particular leaf requires.  

The wonders of intelligence and handwork is highlighted beutifully on martian as matt demon has to be both resourcefull and patient in order to survive. Thats enough of me giving the plot away but it goes to show what the human is capable off if his back is against the wall and with further developments technology space does not seem to far away.  

This blog post was adapted from LEDinside "How Astronauts Might be Able to Grow Martian Potatoes with NASA Lighting Technology" 08/06/2015

Philips Light Up The Festival of Lights

Philips Colour Kinetics LED connected lighting transforms the banks of the River Rhone.

Philips Lighting collaborated with French artist Severine Fontaine, to create the centre piece for the 2014, Lyon Festival of Light. The world famous Festival of Lights in Lyon, France is the world's principal creative lighting display event. This year the show ran from the 5th-8th December.  

The six minute, centrepiece show, spanned 80 metres of the River Rhone's banks. The phenomenal centrepiece, named "Incandescence" celebrated the importance of light in human development. 

"Incandescence" took six years to create, it featured nine illuminated domes, shaped like incandescent light bulbs.Each dome was the size of a small family car. The six minute show explored the symbiotic relationship between the human race and light. The iconic incandescent light bulb was used to represent the historic relationship between humans and artificial light, exemplifying it's often forgotten impact on human development. 

"Incandescence's" co-creator, Severine Fontaine said: "I chose to work with Philips, which is a prestigious partner, providing high-quality and high-tech products that enable spectacular light effects. The Philips technology allowed me to explore and create emotion, working light with great delicacy as if it were a musical score. Philips provided more than just products, the team also bought passion that allowed me to realize my concept and light scenario in optimal condition for the artistic quality of the art work."

Available for Pre-Order: Hue Lux

Following the astronomic success of the original Hue lamps, Philips lighting have created Hue Lux. These new white only bulbs emit fully dimmable warm white light and have all the functionality of the original Hue lamps. 

These lamps have been designed to produce a welcoming warm white light which can be dimmed to suit your mood or occasion. The can be controlled via the Hue app which is available on most smartphones. 

A spokesperson for Philips explains: "Hue Lux is a snap to set up and use and the bulbs fit right into your current light fittings or luminaires. Choose a starter pack or add to it with a single bulb. 

Philips Hue Lux provides a personal and interactive way to control lighting from a smart mobile device or tablet. It enables use of light in a variety of functionality such as timers, alarms, geo-fencing and soft security elements.

Wait for the three LEDs on the bridge to light up. Download the free Hue app to your iOS device and connect your device to the bridge. Find your bulbs. Name them. And start controlling your lights. You can add up to 50 bulbs to your systems"

Here's what's new:

iOS:

• Added improved support for Hue Lux lights, our new white only bulbs
• Added a showcase of 3rd party apps we like
• Numerous UI improvements including
• Merged Light Control and Light Overview into a single Lights menu option (iPhone/iPod only)
• Improved responsiveness of scene recall and enabled background scene blurring for all devices
• The photos on the Scenes dashboard have been given a new more modern look
• Improved interaction for scene creation and editing
• Bug fixes and stability improvements

Android:

• Added improved support for Hue Lux lights, our new white only bulbs
• Added a showcase of 3rd party apps we like
• Numerous UI improvements including
• Improved Light Control
• The photos on the Scenes dashboard have been given a new more modern look
• Improved interaction for scene creation and editing
• Bug fixes and stability improvements

To order your very own Hue starter pack or for more information on this or any other LED lighting product call 0118 950 7125 or visit www.theledspecialist.co.uk

The Department of Energy and Climate Change Practice What They Preach and Install LED Lighting

Lighting in the Department of Energy and Climate Change (D.E.C.C.) has been replaced with energy efficient, cost effective LED light sources. Since their installation, member of staff have commented on the improved brightness levels and lower energy consumption.

Prior to the upgrade, the offices at 3 Whitehall Place were illuminated by T5 fluorescent lamps. Some argue that T5 and LED lamps have the same energy saving features; building managers often opt for T5s due to their low cost. The D.E.C.C. believe a clear advantage of opting for LED light sources is their localised control system which turns lights off if rooms are vacant and dims them down to 5% as natural daylight pours in.  

During the make-over, the fluorescent lamps on all 8 floors of Whitehall Place were replaced with 1,300 Philips LED fittings.

In their own case study D.E.C.C. stated: “Compared to retrofits in most comparable buildings, which tend to use relatively inefficient T8 tubes, the energy savings are slightly lower, however they are very significant.”

The project spanned for 26 days and cost £401,000, during this time the building’s heating and cooling system was also upgraded. Since these two renovations, the energy consumption in Whitehall place has reduced by almost 30%, majority of these energy savings can be attributed to the lighting switch-over.

The D.E.C.C. anticipates annual savings of around £22,000, predicting an addition £7,000 saving on maintenance costs. They said: “There are additional savings to be had from the switch to LED lighting in the form of lower maintenance costs- it is claimed that LED luminaires typically last 5 times as long as the fluorescent equivalent.”

This refurbishment is part of the government’s recently announced UK Lighting Sector Strategy. This new initiative intends to slash energy consumption and encourage innovation in lighting.

Aside from the obvious energy and maintenance savings, the lighting overhaul has other benefits. A D.E.C.C. spokeswoman reported that responses to their questionnaire showed that, 71% of workers at Whitehall Place found that the LED light sources improved the lighting in their work space.  

Philips' Light at the Museum Pilot Study

The Dutch National Museum for Science and Medicine was home to Philips' landmark pilot study for connected lighting mobile apps. Findings from the study indicated that 7 out of 10 museum visitors would like to receive location relevant information via their smartphone.

Philips, the global leader in lighting, hopes this innovative mobile app for connected lighting will provide a template for use in museums, hospitals and supermarkets in the not so distant future. 

The exhibition is part of a pilot project for Philips' LED based connected lighting systems for indoor positioning. The connected lighting systems use Visual Light Communication (VLC) technology. The exhibitions luminaires are placed in a positioning grid, they are individually identifiable and communicate with the camera's sensors in smartphones and tablets. Each light fixture in the grid communicates by blinking at high frequencies undetectable to the human eye, information relevant to the patrons location within the exhibition is transmitted through these fast pulses. VLC transmits data one way only meaning users personal data cannot be accessed by the connected lighting app. 

Upon arrival at the museum, visitors were given a tablet with a pre-installed app, the app contains a variety of multi-media content relevant to various locations within the exhibition. As the visitor moves around the exhibition, the individual light fixtures act as positioning beacons transmitting their location to the tablets camera sensor which trigger the apps content at various locations.

Visitors completed a short survey after their museum tour, the findings indicate that;

67% of visitors liked the fact that the tablet automatically provided additional relevant information at various information points

63% of visitors said that the tablet made the visit to the exhibition more enjoyable and interesting

50% of visitors under 50 years old said they would visit museums and exhibitions more often if there were tablets available to provide additional information or to guide them around a special route

Dirk Van Drift, Director of the Boerhaave Museum said: “We now know that offering a location aware and interactive experience encourages people to visit our museum more often. What is also really exciting and innovative is that we were able to achieve this by using energy efficient lighting, giving us a double advantage.”

The “smartphone generation” (those under 50) said they were open to trying connected lighting mobile applications in a number of settings. Almost 50% of all visitors claimed they would like to receive location-based information and use way finding services offered via the app in hospitals, shopping centres and supermarkets.

Jella Segers, from Philips Lighting said: “The survey findings show that we need to think of lighting differently. Lighting has gone beyond mere illumination. We can now deliver great quality and highly energy-efficient LED lighting that acts as a positioning grid to deliver targeted information, enriching people’s experiences of the places they visit, whether it’s a museum, supermarket, airport terminal or any large public indoor space.” 

Leading Student Accommodation Developer, Unite Students, Announce a £21 million LED Switch-Over

Unite Students have teamed up with industry gorgon, Philips Lighting, to replace existing halogen and incandescent light sources with energy saving LED lamps in all their student properties by 2016.

Unite estimate the lighting project will take 2 years to complete. It will cover over 120 properties, 23 UK towns and cities, creating better living and working environments for staff and students. During the switch-over, more than 300,000 LED light fittings and 85,000 dimmers and sensors will be installed in corridors, kitchens, lounges, common rooms, reception areas and even outdoor spaces.

Philips LivingColours lamps (pictured) will be installed in every student bedroom throughout Unites properties. These innovative lamps will allow students to personalise their lighting to suit their purpose, be it studying, relaxing or socialising. 

The LED switch-over is part of Unite’s recently developed “Home for Success” scheme. Under the “Home for Success” scheme, Unite pledges make improvements which will make their 41,000 student residents feel more at home whilst reducing energy consumption and maintenance costs. It is hoped the “Home for Success” scheme will have a 5 year payback time; the resulting savings have already been assigned to other areas, including; free cleaning services and longer reception opening hours.

Richard Smith, Managing Director for Unite Students, said: “We are pleased to announce this partnership with Philips and our investment in LED lighting, which supports Unite Students’ commitment to providing a home for success for the students that live with us. Success for students means many different things from getting the best degree they can, securing a job after graduating, making lasting friendships and relationships to personal growth and developing into who they want to be.”

He continues: “The new lighting will create a more inviting space for students which they can personalise for socialising or study. At the same time it will reduce Unite’s carbon footprint and the longer lifecycle of LED lights will significantly reduce maintenance workloads for our city teams.”

Philips’ Commercial Director for the Office and Industry sector, Dan Scott said: “Philips is working closely with Unite students to drive down energy consumption and maintenance costs through the use of efficient lighting. The new lighting is also helping Unite Students to achieve its primary goal of creating the best possible environment for student learning; reinforcing the power of light to uplift and transform our surroundings.”

Dan explains: “In addition to supplying the lighting itself, Philips is providing a range of services to support Unite Students in unlocking the potential that lighting can bring, both in terms of energy efficiency  and ambiance. Prior to commencing the roll out across the portfolio Philips surveyed the Unite Students properties to evaluate the existing lighting, in order to deliver the best results and recommend the most appropriate lighting solutions. Philips will manage the installation and provide after sales service support to the Unite Students team.”

Tonight Chelsea FC Become The First Premiership Club To Use LED Floodlighting

This evening Stamford Bridge will host the UK's first football game lit by LED floodlights. During Chelsea's friendly against Real Sociedad, Philips lighting promise fans and players better quality light and enhanced night vision thanks to their innovative ArenaVison LED floodlight system.  

CEO of Philips Lighting, Eric Rondolat explains: "The world's first ever floodlit football match took place in England, so as sports lighting goes digital it is only right that the lighting standard is again being set there. We are witnessing another technology milestone in the modern football game."

Philips ArenaVision LED floodlighting solution was created to meet the latest Premier League broadcasting requirements whilst provide players, broadcasters and fans with a top class sporting experience. Philips ArenaVision LEDs emit flawless, uniform beams of light creating exceptional vertical illuminance of the players. 

Eric Rondolat elaborates: "Our LED pitch lighting meets the new stringent broadcast criteria of the English Premier League in helping to deliver high definition, flicker-free, super slow-motion images and ensures that Chelsea delivers the best possible viewing experience to the 40,000 plus fans in the stadium as well as those at home." 

It isn't just broadcasting images that are improved by ArenaVision, the club can also expect a huge improvement in its environmental impact. Unlike the old fashioned metal halide floodlights, used in previous seasons, the new LED solution can be switched on instantaneously eliminating the need for a warm up period which in turn reduces light pollution in the area. Maintenance costs are also significantly reduced as Philips LED floodlights promise to last for up to ten seasons whereas the old metal halide lamps could only be used for three seasons. 

As with most connected lighting systems, ArenaVision is complete with its own dedicated user interface and control system. The club's maintenance managers will easily be able to switch between optimal lighting configurations, giving them total flexibility and the ability to dim and switch each individual floodlight. 

The control system comes with an added benefit, it can also be used to create entertainment lighting. The control system can be used to create a number of lighting effects that previously could only be achieved using dedicated stage lighting. This additional features means the floodlights can be easily integrated into pre- and post-match light shows creating the ultimate, exciting stadium atmosphere. 

Ron Gourlay, Chief Executive of Chelsea FC said: "I am delighted to be able to work with Philips on delivering the best possible environment for our supporters to enjoy Chelsea matches in. Once again, Chelsea Football Club is at the forefront of innovation and we look forward to many more memorable games at Stamford Bridge under this new floodlighting system." 

After seeing the benefits of ArenaVision at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC are in the process of up-lamping it's training ground to ensure lighting at training is similar to that of match days. The new high-tech connected lighting system will also enable the club to create varied illuminance levels by only lighting specific areas of the training ground creating the ideal practice environment for it's world class players.  

The LED Specialist and our sister company, Lightsave Fuller Read are preferred Philips lighting distiributors, if you require more information on this or any other LED lighting product visit our website http://theledspecialist.co.uk/ or call 0118 9507125

New Government Scheme Aims To Encourage Businesses To Replace Outdated Lighting

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced their plans to encourage businesses to cut carbon emissions and reduce the demand on the National Grid.

The scheme allows businesses to compete against one another for money to fund energy efficiency measures. The budget for the pilot scheme has been set at £20 million. Businesses will bid for the money to fund lighting renovations which would not be possible without the funding.

The first stage of the scheme is a £10 million Electricity Demand Reduction auction. The auction will be open to all sectors of the economy up and down the country. The auction gives businesses the opportunity to bid for funding for a variety of projects, including LED switch-overs and improving motors and pumps.

The government has shown particular interest in projects which promise to deliver up to 100 kilowatts of savings throughout the winter period. The DECC tells us that over 300 organisations including hospitals, airports and supermarket chains are considering taking part in the auction.

The pilot auction scheme will run for two years. If the 2014 trial is successful and delivers lasting electricity savings, the government will continue to offer such funding through the capacity market due to be launched later this year.

It is hoped this will ease the pressure on the National Grid who, as we reported earlier this month, are expecting blackouts during the winter of 2015 due to their inability to meet our increasing electricity demands. Capacity providers will be offered a steady, predictable revenue stream in return for a guarantee they will deliver energy when needed. This is likely to result in increased bills for energy consumers, estimated at £13 per household per year.   

McDonald’s Energy Saving Plan- 20% Energy Cuts but 2020!

LED Street Light in McDonald's

Fast food gorgons McDonald’s aspire to increase energy efficiency by 20% in company owned stores by 2020.

Earlier this month, McDonald’s published a 116 page report focusing on corporate social responsibility. The report details a number of areas in which McDonald’s wish to improve, areas of particular importance were; sourcing, food, people, community and the planet. One of McDonald’s’ key goals for 2020 is to achieve a 20% increase in energy efficiency in seven of the company’s top markets (including the UK).

Although the strategy report is rather vague, it does mention implementing LED lighting: “We have identified a portfolio of energy-efficient solutions… such as high efficiency exhaust fans and LED walk-in refrigerator lighting, with the potential to support our aspirations goal of 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency in our company owned restaurants by 2020.”

Restaurant in the US have already hopped onto the LED lighting bandwagon. Currently it is standard practice for US, company owned McDonald’s restaurants to have LED dining room lighting, LED building signage and some franchises even have LED car park lighting.

The ‘aspirational goals’ set by McDonald’s only apply to company owned restaurants, not for its franchises. The top seven markets, to whom these goals apply to are; Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, the UK and the US. McDonald’s owns 19% of restaurants within these areas. According to the report, a framework of goals for franchise restaurants will be developed by 2016.

For more information on how energy savings can be achieved using LED lighting visit our website http://theledspecialist.co.uk/ or call the office on 0118 950 7125. 

Now In Stock: Which? Magazine's Best Buy Spotlight

In their June issue, Which? magazine awarded Integral LED's 5.3.w GU10 their Best Buy Spotlight award. 

The warm white, 5.3w GU10 lamp was tested against 23 named brand, halogen and LED GU10 spotlights. Integral's GU10 lamp, shown in the video below, came out on top due to its sleek, modern design and energy efficiency. Integral promise their 5.3w GU10 will save 85% in electricity costs and a return on investment within a year. 

  

We are currently selling Integral LED GU10s at just £3.90 per bulb which, at the time of publishing is cheaper than all of our competitors. 

To make a purchase or for any more information on this or any other LED lamp call the office on 0118 950 7125 or visit http://theledspecialist.co.uk/index.php/led-light-bulbs/led-gu10/integral-led-gu10-5-5w-non-dimmable-3000k.html

UK Government Minster Explains Why The Government Are Backing Lighting

Business and energy minister Michael Fallon speaks to Lux about why the government is getting behind the lighting industry and the LIA's strategy.

London Underground Upgrades To LED Lighting

Underground stations including Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street and Victoria are currently being redeveloped. Bob Benn, stations engineering manager for London Underground told the Lighting for Rail conference that once the make-overs have been complete, these stations will use 100% LED lighting. 
The initial lighting design was created before the LED boom, and so planned to use fluorescent lighting products. In order to keep up with the times, London Underground lighting teams have agreed to update specifications ensuring they take full advantage of newer LED technology. 

Benn said: "We were basically dealing with an obsolete design. We've managed to change it all to LED lighting, but that's been a major challenge in London Underground in order to get that through the system." 

Although LED lighting has a higher investment cost, London Underground will see fast payback due to LED lighting's significant reduction in energy consumption and maintenance costs. The longer lifetime offered by LED lighting is a massive benefit to the London Underground maintenance team as conducting maintenance in busy, hard to access stations has an extremely high cost.

A number of London Underground stations have already been upgraded from costly T8 fluorescent lamps to LED tubes. This change-over saw a return on investment in 18 months and has saved millions of pounds in maintenance costs. 

Speaking of the astronomical savings, Benn said: "From the point of view of whole-life cost, we're very aware of the reduced maintenance of new technology."

London Underground estimate that work at Bond Street will be finished by 2017, while work at Victoria and Tottenham Court Road will continue until 2018. These redevelopments are part of a London wide scheme of station upgrades to prepare for the completion of Crossrail.

Taiwan places restrictions on LED lighting efficacy

Earlier this month, the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced that all LED lights must have a minimum efficacy of 70 lumens per watt. According to this new legislation, all indoor, warm-white LED lamps must have a minimum efficacy of 70lm/W while cool-white LEDs must reach a minimum of 75lm/W.

The Global Lighting Association (GLA) support the implementation of this legislation, their representative Michael Ng said: “Minimum efficacy requirements should be set at such a level that good-quality products are widely available and at an affordable price. The GLA globally support one minimum level of performance for lighting products, just like what is announced by Taiwan’s MOEA Bureau of Energy. This is very different from just an energy labelling scheme. In general this serves the purposes of ensuring safe and quality products for the consumers, maintaining interoperability and competition on performance. There are adequate surveillance and penalties in place to ensure that the vendors are truthful and the standards used are internationally harmonised.”

When asked about this new legislation, Thorn Lighting’s Head of Global Lighting Applications commented: “it’s an interesting turn of events, the move is clearly designed to discourage people using high colour temperature, or perhaps to encourage retailers or manufacturers to favour warmer light by making it easier to comply.

Although he is not sure the move will have a knock on effect: “whether it will catch on on a global scare is a difficult one. We see general disquiet over the use of high CCT in the outdoors in many countries. Generally it is not liked, but that may be a more historic thing. Previously such cold colours were simply not available. In some countries, South Africa for example, there is generally a wider acceptance of colder colours, less so in Europe.”

In Taiwan in 2013, lighting accounts for 10.9% of the country’s total power consumption, according to figures obtained by the MOEA’s Bureau of Energy (BOE). Residential lighting accounted for 40% of the total lighting power consumption. 

15 Fun Reasons To Switch To LED Lighting

Philips’ Unite Lighting Project- Improved Quality at reduced costs

Philips help Unite, the UK’s leading operator of purpose built student accommodation, to help improve lighting quality while reducing lifecycle costs at The Grange student accommodation in Leicester.

Project Brief:

Who?                            Unite

Where?                         Leicester

What products?         Circular bulkhead LED, Coreline Recessed and Pacific LED

What services?           Lighting survey, installation, commissioning, after-sales service and on-                                         going support

Helping students see the light:

Philips provides an LED lighting  and services package to Unite, the UK’s leading operator of purpose built student accommodation, to help improve lighting quality while reducing lifecycle costs at The Grange student accommodation in Leicester.

Unite provides homes to 41,000 students in over 130 properties across 23 university cities and works in partnership with higher education providers, as well as renting rooms directly to students.

The Grange is located on the main campus of De Montfort University and is home to 220 students. The property is made up of shared flats with communal kitchens and living areas, and self contained individual studio apartments.

Supporting sustainable business:

Unite is committed to minimising its environmental impact and has an on-going programme to improve energy efficiency at its properties as part of its overall corporate responsibility strategy. Alongside this, the company prides itself on providing a high quality home environment for its students.

“Lighting was identified as an area where improvements in energy performance would also enhance the internal environment for our customers,” recalls Unites Energy and Utilities Manager James Tiernan.

At The Grange, Philips evaluated the existing lighting to identify areas for improvement, using its recently enhanced lighting survey methodology. Philip’s methodology ensures in-depth understanding of the existing installation and the customer’s business goals and objectives. This information underpins a tailored solution that delivers optimum benefits.

After conducting the survey, Philips managed the installation and commissioning of LED lighting throughout The Grange. LED lighting has been installed in all bedrooms, kitchens, common areas, back office spaces and external areas. Extensive use has been made of circular bulkhead LED fittings, which combine excellent light distribution with a robust housing and IP65 rating. These have been used in students’ rooms, corridors, kitchen areas and stairwells to replace old 2D fluorescent fittings, bringing significant improvements in energy consumption, light output and lifespan. Administration areas, such as reception areas, are using CoreLine Recessed fittings, replacing modular fluorescent luminaires, while Pacific LED fittings have been installed in the laundry room. Presence detectors have also been introduced in corridors and daylight linking in spaces that receive high levels of natural daylight.

Philips will also deliver after-sales service and on-going support to the Unite team.

Efficient solutions with no compromise on style:

The entire lighting solution not only minimises the building’s energy consumption but will also dramatically lower lifecycle costs by out-living previous solutions and lasting for many years beyond traditional lighting fixtures.

 In addition, the new lighting offers improvements in uniformity, quality, and control of light, which provides students with an environment conductive to study and learning whilst also improving the visual appearance in all areas of the building.

“Moving from predominantly 28 watt 2D fluorescent fittings to 18 watt LED fittings has delivered a substantial reduction in energy consumption and the improved controls have bought further savings still. Around 30% of our maintenance requests are lighting related, so we expect significant reduction here too, bringing additional savings in hardware and man hours,” James Tiernan continued.

“There are other intangible benefits that can’t be quantified but are very important. For example, the improved light levels create a better living environment for students, which is important for us in supporting their success whilst at university. Universities are also beginning to look more closely at the carbon emissions of their supply chain, so it’s important we can demonstrate that we are taking measures to reduce our carbon footprint,” he concludes.

Student Alertness Increases Under LED Lighting

A study conducted by Fagerhult’s lighting academy found student’s alertness (caused by the hormone cortisol) was boosted by increasing LED light levels.

Although these findings are novel for LED lighting, the link between alertness and lighting levels had already been established in a 2009 study using T5 fluorescent luminaires. The work conducted with fluorescent luminaries showed cortisol levels in student’s blood increased when exposed to boosts of a high luminance in the morning and early afternoon. Results from the 2009 study showed increased fluorescent light levels saw students’ performance rise by one grade on average during the darkest part of the year.

Henrik Clausen, director of the Fagerhult Lighting Academy said: “People started asking whether LED lighting would have the same effect as T5 so we had to repeat our research.”

This latest study measured the hormone levels of students at a university in Sweden, researchers found student’s cortisol levels increased in LED lit environments with luminance levels of 100cd/m2, mirroring the results of the 2009 study. When asked about the results, Henrik Clausen said: “Actually the pupils’ cortisol levels raised a little bit faster with LEDs that they did with fluorescent lamps. It’s probably because there is an inherent peak of blue light in LEDs, but we don’t know that for sure.”

The research facility is now looking at students’ grades to see if the improved hormone levels results in better academic performance, but has not yet proven a correlation in the LED-lit classrooms.

When speaking at the International Lighting Fixture Design conference in London last week, Clausen cautioned that the research should not be applied too widely: “If you want to do research you have to choose a path and we chose to focus on classroom lighting, so we don’t claim that this approach works for everything”. 

Barker’s For the Ban

Last week a hotly debated topic in the House of Commons was the European Union’s ban on incandescent lamps. 

Conservative MP for Bury North, David Nuttall proposed that as part of our renegotiation of membership of the EU, the UK should push for complete exemption from the ban on incandescent lamps.

The pan-European ban on incandescent lamps has seen the gradual introduction of energy efficient LED light sources since its introduction in 2009. Nuttall believes the UK should be given back “the right to be able to use whatever light bulbs we want without being told what to do by the EU”. 

Energy Minister Greg Barker highlighted the benefits of the ban stating “By having energy-efficient light bulbs we are driving innovation and driving down people’s electricity bills. We do not want to go back to having high-cost energy bills and turning our back on innovation.

Labour MP for Edinburgh East, Sheila Gilmore questioned whether those with photosensitive health conditions, for who LED lighting and fluorescent lighting can cause ill health, might be allowed to continue to use incandescent lamps.

Barker responded: “The UK is sympathetic to concerns raised about the potential health impacts of lighting. We want a flexible approach. And we want to ensure that the EU takes on board the health concerns that have been raised about these technologies.” He closes the debate by promising to press the European Commission to take this into account in the upcoming review. 

Light, Beyond Illumination- Coming Soon To A Streetlight Near You

Industry giants Philips and Ericsson have teamed up to create streetlight columns with integrated mobile broadband. It is hoped this innovation will allow telecom operators to harness the infrastructure of the existing streetlights to expand and strengthen their data networks.

If the project comes to fruition, telecom gorgon Eriksson will be able to rent the space within the lighting columns to mobile operators.

Philips’ CEO, Frans van Houten said: the technology offers cities a more energy efficient and safer urban area. This new connected LED streetlighting model is another example of us bringing the Internet of Things to life, and demonstrates the capabilities of light, beyond illumination. 

Coming Soon: Ansell LED Twistlock GU10/MR16 IP65 Downlight

Amongst Ansell’s second range of LED products is this highly recommended Twistlock GU10 Downlight which is soon to be available from The LED Specialist.

• The IP65 rated downlight is suitable for bathroom use. 

• The downlight has Die-cast aluminium construction with a clear glass overlay. 

• The fitting is supplied less lamp with GU10 and MR16 lamp holders. 

• All downlights are complete with permanent earth on stirrup brackets to enable GU10 mains earthing. 

• Wiring is easy thanks to the generous size of the terminal housing.

Code	Lamp	Description
LFALD/IP65/W	GU10/MR16	50 watt – White
LFALD/IP65/MW	GU10/MR16	50 watt – Matt White
LFALD/IP65/CH	GU10/MR16	50 watt- Chrome
LFATLD/IP65/SC	GU10/MR16	50 watt- Satin Chrome

For more information about this or any other Ansell product call 0118 950 7125 to speak to our team of lighting experts or visit our website www.theledspecialist.co.uk

The LED Specialist's End of The Month Offer