This post focuses on the technical side of LED's, and in future posts I will to examine the aesthethic application of LED'S - the sexier side.

LED lighting is becoming a viable alternative for commercial and residential installations - at long last! Can you tell I'm a fan?

Energy efficiency, looks, ease of maintenance, and adaptability are the main considerations when designing lighting layouts. Combinations of direct and indirect, task, and decorative lighting should give options to create different areas of interest while providing adequate lighting for staff and customers. With the present and future Building Energy Rating requirements and long term cost of operation and maintenance in consideration, low energy lighting has to be specified wherever possible. Lighting should be dimmable wherever possible, and ideally provide a soft, warm white with excellent colour rendering.
LED lighting has finally overcome its shortcomings in all of these areas, and is fast becoming more feasible for everyday commercial, and larger scale residential use. As a result, more designers are utilising this technology in fresh and innovative installations.

Whole-Life Costs

The following table example demonstrates the whole life cost implications of using LED lamps, and shows a comparison with competing lighting solutions. By covering the costs of purchase, operation and maintenance, the real whole-life cost of ownership can be shown. The information is from Thorn Lighting.

For more information visit www.thornlighting.co.uk

Performance:

• Providing the best visual effectiveness

• Output of 650 lumen with stable through-life light quality.

• Excellent colour rendering - Ra 94.

• Diffuser gives good glare control and even light distribution.

Efficiency:

• Conserving energy and effort and providing lighting that is practical and efficient to install, operate and maintain

• Saves energy - only 12W power consumption. Energy use is cut by 50% and 75% compared with 18W compact fluorescent and 50W halogen mains downlights respectively.

• High efficacy - 54 luminaire lumens per circuit Watt is better than most low wattage CFL’s.

• Fully switchable and dimmable to 20%.

• Easy installation with through wiring possible.

• Fit and forget for reduced maintenance costs, with a design life of 50,000 hours.

• No heat concerns.

• Eco-friendly - no mercury.

• IP44 for use in indoor humid areas and entrances.

Comfort:

• Giving people satisfaction and stimulation

• Welcoming and relaxing warm white colour appearance (3500K).

• Diffuser gives a wide, soft beam with good horizontal and vertical illuminance, increasing the illusion of spaciousness and atmosphere of the area.

Emergency lighting is required in all public places to enable a safe exit of occupants if the mains power fails. There are serious legal and/or insurance consequences for not having properly functioning emergency lights. It is the legal responsibility of the property owner or manager to ensure this, and to check and maintain the emergency lighting system on a regular basis.
As well as those already outlined, there are  several other advantages to using LED for emergency lighting, especially in commercial situations:

They require virtually zero maintenance. This greatly reduces labour costs and lamp replacement costs over time.

Automatic self-testing makes it easier for owners to comply with on-going fire safety obligations as there are no bulbs to replace or fail in an emergency - valuable peace of mind as well as saving labour when maintaining Fire Safety Register reports.

Can be fitted as an attachment to a recessed LED fitting (which requires no additional cabling), that are automatically self-commissioning, have a short recharge time, and have several hours operational life from fully charged. The attachment fits onto the recessed downlight so there is no need for a separate light unit on the ceiling. This allows more emergency lighting to be provided in the space without the ceiling appearing cluttered or spoiling the design aesthetic.