Is The Light Switch Becoming Extinct?

The LED lamp has got a pretty certain future but with the way that technology is changing so rapidly, how much longer will the humble light switch last? 

Lux Magazine's James Holloway has looked into what the future holds for Light Switches and proposes five things that could replace the switch

1. Gestures

The idea behind gesture controlled lighting is pretty simple. Why have to always travel to the light switch to turn a light not when you could wave at it from the comfort of your seat. As a matter of fact, the technology already exists to make gestured lighting controls. An example already being produced is Ubiquilux's 'e-Motion', in which you wave up and down to turn a light on or off, but also you can wave side to side to adjust brightness. 

One reason to change to this type of switch is purely due to cleanliness, with less physical contact with a switch, germs won't be passed on as easily, extremely useful in hospitals. What is unsure is how close you would need to be for your gesture to turn the light on, if you need to be very close, whats the point? You may as well have a switch! if further away, surely your normal movements could be confused for a light switching gesture. 

2. Voice Control

Our phones, computers and tvs can now all be controlled by our voice so why not our lighting? 'Vocca' is a new voice activated light bulb adaptor which simply screws in between your lamp and its housing. It can work with any lamp and adds on a minuscule 0.25W of power. Finding it hard to see the downside? Imagine someone listening in on your private conversations, scary. 

3.Presence Detection

Motion detection is getting on a bit now but the problem with it is, if you're sat reading a book in the comfort of your own home, you're likely to be sitting still, and the problem with sitting still and lights powered by motion detectors is that they will turn off. 'Zulu' is a new product that aims to tackle this issue, it is a wireless power adaptor that connects to your phone via bluetooth. This detects your presence inside your home and in certain rooms, it doesn't matter whether you are moving or sitting perfectly still, the light will stay on as long as you are in the room. No more standing up and waving erratically when you get plunged into darkness mid sentence. 

 4. Apps

We are all pretty familiar with the Philips Hue, an app which allows you to control your lighting from your tablet or smartphone through bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Not only can you control whether your light is on or off, you can dim your lighting or even chose your favourite colour to light the room. Although we automatically reach for our phone for practically everything we do, is digging your phone out and finding the correct app really much easier than just flicking a switch? 

5. Smart Home Hubs

Smart homes are the most smart when all systems can communicate with each other. A way to do this is to put a smart thermostat in your home. Google's 'Nest' is the ideal smart home hub as it can do more than just control your lighting, combined with a smart alarm system, you could set your lights to turn on at a particular level when your alarm system is activated and you are not at home. Other systems can make your lights flash when carbon monoxide levels are too high. Very clever but the technology still needs to improve to learn people's preferences

Is the noble light switch facing extinction after all?

All of the new technologies above are extremely innovative and we can't see any reason why they could not become part or our everyday lives. However, as impressing as they all are, it is more likely that they will enhance the light switch rather than supersede it. Although, this point of view may not last for ever. We are always looking for a simpler way to do things and our expectations of technology are getting higher and higher. Maybe light switches will become extinct sooner than we expect. 

Article adapted for this blog from Lux Magazine article 'Five things that could replace the light switch.' 

'Bring the Sun Indoors'

New Lighting Company Creates Lighting that Mimics the Sun and Moon

Startup lighting company Sunn is launching an app that controls LED smart lamps to simulate the 24-hour light cycle of the sun and moon. This would deliver incomparable holistic health benefits. 

This app claims to enable you to tell the time 'through subtle changes in colour and brightness', ease your transition into the day, keep you alert whilst working, help you wind you down for bed and eradicate winter blues.

This app will work with Sunn's wall or ceiling mounted plate shaped lamps but these are not yet available, however the app will also work with the Philips LED Lamp. Sunn's website allows consumers to 'pre-order' as the Los Angeles based company is currently crowdfunding its campaign. Crowdfunding is a way for startup companies to raise funds, it is an internet process in which people can donate their money to the company. 

Sunn has stated that, 'We've completed production- quality version of both Sunn lights. This means we've sourced and completed tooling for many of the large components which is typically the largest hurdle in bringing a product to market. We've also completed the first version of the iOS app as well as the cloud-based backend that will support the Sunn app on iOS, Android and web platforms.' 

Sunn has reported that it has organised manufacturers with operations in Europe, Southeast Asia and North America. 

Wired magazine reported that Sunn can help combat depression that afflicts people in the northern hemisphere in the dark of winter, a condition known as Seasonally Affected Disorder (SAD). 

Although white lights already exist to increase productivity, Sunn's lamps claim to offer a kinder and gentler approach to lighting that subtly copies the suns changes throughout the day rather than a concentrated burst of light for a certain period of time. 

Sunn's app can brighten a lamp gradually in the morning to work as an alarm, match lamps to  sunshine at a certain time of location, dim down lighting at bedtime and mimic the moon's glow. 

Companies like Sunn are helping us understand the health benefits of more natural lighting, take a look at their promotion video on their website for more details. 

http://sunnlight.com/

( Pictures Courtesy of Kickstarter) 

The future for lighting: Smart Lighting

The sale of home lamps that can do everything is about to be turned on, according to a new research report, lamp vendors will sell nearly a quarter of a billion smart lamps each year by 2020. 

Smart Lamps as they are commonly being known as, are LED lamps that connect to digital networks and can therefore perform in a variety of innovative ways. Some of these include; users being able to remotely switch their lamps on or off and change the brightness or colour from the comfort of their sofa or from around the world through apps. Whilst some smart lamps have been developed to flash when they detect smoke or intruders, to pulsate music and respond to other sounds and to light up inside the house when your car arrives into the driveway or turn your key in the lock. 

Smart lamps are associated with smart home controls similar to the Nest by Google and with the newcomer the 'Internet of Things' (IoT) or 'Internet of Everything' (IoE) which is the concept that all the planet's objects can communicate with people as well as each other. The common example of this being the fridge that detects a shortage of beer and promptly orders more to replenish its stocks. Smart home controls are will be able to do these things as they are already built around LEDs, which in addition to emitting light also act as an electronic chip. 

Most LED lamps on the market are not yet 'smart.' Whilst they offer energy savings of 80% or more compared to traditional light sources and are said to last over twenty years most lamp producers have not yet teamed this technology with intelligence. But this is changing, Philips have created the Hue lamp which can change to any desired colour as well as many other features. 

As prices start to drop and developers begin to standardise wireless controls, shipments will rapidly increase. GE have annoucned their smart lamp, 'Link' which will be sold for about £10, closing the price gap between smart lamps and non-smart LED lamps. 

The ABI said in a local press release that,' annual smart bulb shipments are set to increase to 223 million by 2020, achieving a total installed base of over 400 million.' This is a huge increase on the 2.5 million units that the ABI research said sold in 2013.

ABI practice director Malik Saadi has commented that, 'Because of the additional dimensions smart lighting brings to the consumer lifestyle, including lighting automation, and because of its carbon footprint efficiency, this industry will rapidly become one of the key technologies that could bring IoE closer to consumers.' 

The move towards connected smart lighting is attracting other industries into home and commercial lighting. Internet companies are poised to play a big role and even the automobile industry is on the convergence trail, with BMW recently announcing street lighting combined with an electric car charger. This begs the question, which industry does smart lighting really belong to? How likely is it that Google will become the next owner of the lighting profession?