How lighting has changed over time

Think you’ve heard them all? Here’s a story about changing a lightbulb, that’s changed the whole lighting industry.

So just how much has lighting changed over time?

For years, lighting has been just that. Lighting. Illumination. Luminescence. Pretty simple.

But in recent years, lighting has taken on a whole new meaning, as new products hit the market and the function of lighting changes.

The illumination itself is merely one element of the system – lighting can also act as the infrastructure supporting new services and products that can benefit our lives.

Changes in lighting mean brightening up a room is only the beginning

“Our whole strategy is called ‘Beyond Light’,” says Lydell Stokes, General Manager of Future Markets at Pierlite.

“That means we’re looking for complementary solutions that work with – and are adjacent to – a lighting solution, and we use lighting as the infrastructure for other services.”

An example of this ingenuity is Pierlite’s Aether air sanitisation system, developed in response to the global pandemic.

“Why did we develop this fitting as a light fitting?” asks Lydell.

“Well, lighting is what we do; it’s core to our business, but we’ve invested significantly in answering the question of: what value do our customers and society need beyond simply providing lighting?

“Our strategy has a really heavy focus on safer spaces and wellbeing, and this is a core part of our quite comprehensive portfolio of product, IoT-enabled technology and services
offerings.

“It’s low impact, it’s unobtrusive. Very different from non-UVC floor standing air filters that just move air around. Most people don’t even notice them in the ceiling because they’re really low glare, and the hard work is done in the ceiling cavity. Unless you’re standing under it, you wouldn’t even think the light’s on, even though it’s providing great light. It’s a really high-quality luminaire that inactivates COVID-19 and influenza, kills bacteria and provides a clean air environment.”

With an ever-increasing focus on the health and safety of people in commercial and residential buildings, this type of lighting technology is certainly tapping into a need that exists today.

But it’s far from the only innovative lighting product on the market.

Keeping the blue light out

The impact of blue light is something that we’ve become increasingly aware of, thanks to numerous studies into its effect on our well-being.

As part of its focus on delivering human- centric lighting solutions, LEDVANCE’s LED luminaires are becoming a bit more human-friendly by reducing exposure to blue light.

“In partnership with our parent company, we’ve developed LED chips for our lighting with much, much lower blue light,” explains Craig Hewitt, Managing Director of LEDVANCE.

“People think that by getting warmer colour temperatures, you get less blue light, which is not true. Blue light is present in all colour temperatures of lighting, so you have to have a special chip to take out the blue light.”

The TruWave range from LEDVANCE helps reduce blue light in LED lighting, which has been shown by numerous studies to impact circadian rhythms, melatonin creation and consequential sleep, which in turn can increase the risk of depression, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity and
cardiovascular problems.

Research also suggests it could increase the risk of retina disease, macular degeneration.

Screen time is a big issue because of blue light, says Craig.

“TVs, tablets and phones are a big issue because of blue light, but what people forget is there’s a lot of blue light coming out of LED lamps and luminaires in their homes and in their offices.”

Another lighting-related development at Pierlite has come from the desire for businesses to create safe working environments, with full environmental sensors helping companies monitor the flow of people within a building.

“We’ve got people track and trace, which is all anonymised, and we’re able to measure 20 different data points out of this little sensor, including air quality, airflow, temperature, humidity and occupancy.

“We can actually start to provide that information to the occupants of the building – and that’s really just starting to scratch the surface about what we can do with that data.”

Redefining Smart Lighting

Of course, this is only an insight into the innovative work that’s going on in the industry, but the potential for lighting to impact people’s lives is significant.

Whereas a few years ago, we were focused on how lighting was hooked up to the Internet of Things and controllable from your smartphone, the reality is that people don’t tend to want to control lighting from their phones.

Craig says the future of smart lighting is significantly different.

“We’ll be working on products that provide a better living and working environment. It will be smart, and it’ll know the time of day, so instead of just switching the lights on and off and dimming them up or down, it’ll create the colour temperature mood for the time of day. It’ll be human-centric in the house.”

At Pierlite, it’s not just in the home or office environment that lighting is changing things.

“Now, as part of Signify, we have a truly amazing range of exciting technology that is simple to use for the business or residential client.

“In addition to our existing and proven Interact, WiZ and Hue offers that enable pre-emptive HCL, IoT integration, sensing and mood adaptive experiences, including, for example, connection to your music, we’ve got a whole solution for agriculture and aquaculture lighting,” says Lydell.

“Simply put, these have lighting recipes to help crops and fish grow more effectively. In an indoor space, you can get eight times the crop yield, and the fish are more relaxed and require less feed, providing better quality and yield.”

See. You’d never heard that one before, had you?