Inspired by NatureInvented by NichiaOnly nature produces a brighter, warmer whitethan Nichia, creator of the white LED. And likenature, Nichia covers the entire range of white,from cool to warm and everything in between,for every architectural lighting application.Our <strong>LEDs</strong> are also nature- friendly, using lessenergy than traditional lighting while runningcooler and lasting longer. So, for all yourlighting needs, the sky’s the limit. Ask forthe original white LED, only from Nichia.<strong>LEDs</strong> byEver Researching for a Brighter Worldinfo@ nichia.com • www.nichia.com
LIGHTINGLighting industry still learninghow to apply advanced <strong>LEDs</strong>“White light is boring – color is the only reason we get excited about<strong>LEDs</strong>,” announced Dominic Meyrick, Lighting Principal of HoareLea, a specialist lighting design consultancy, in an impassioned talkat the Applying Advanced <strong>LEDs</strong> conference, held on 28 June inLondon, UK. However, there were many other speakers and audiencemembers who could appreciate the benefits of using white <strong>LEDs</strong> indifferent applications, while at the same time acknowledging themyriad of challenges still to be faced.LEDSMAGAZINESome lighting designers view <strong>LEDs</strong> as a troublesome technology that is only useful for colorchangingapplications, but the LED community is now moving to address the concerns ofthe lighting industry. Tim Whitaker reports from the Applying Advanced <strong>LEDs</strong> conference.Industry standardsThe lack of industry standards is a recurring issue. In a panel session,Kevin Dowling, vice-president strategy and technology at ColorKinetics, listed several organizations that are developing standards,procedures and metrics for the solid-state lighting industry. “There israpid activity but it’s never quick enough,” he said. “Standards needto make sense to manufacturers, specifiers and the end users.”The industry has to decide what characteristics to measure, the methodsof measurement and also identify accredited laboratories to performthe measurements, said Dowling. Required metrics includeluminous flux, efficacy, lifetime, color rendering index (or an updatedreplacement), light distribution, and binning.Among the organizations involved in addressing these issues arelighting standards bodies (e.g. IESNA, ANSI, IEC, LTEC), color scienceand photometry organizations (e.g. CIE, CORM), research organizations(e.g. NIST, NPL, Lighting Research Center) and industrygroups (e.g. NEMA, NGLIA). Dowling said that we are “likely to seereleased review documents this summer”.In late July, the US Department of Energy's solid-state lightingprogram announced a collaboration with the Illuminating EngineeringSociety of North America (IESNA) to develop standards for solidstatelighting (for further information see www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/news/3/7/23).<strong>LEDs</strong> in building designOrri Petursson, senior designer with lighting designers Speirs andMajors Associates, said that there are many claims surrounding <strong>LEDs</strong>and it is hard to distinguish truth from hype. On the majority of thecompany’s current schemes, LED-based products are part of a lightsource pallet. “In most cases, they take the role of feature lighting, notfunctional lighting,” he said, highlighting three main reasons for this:white light <strong>LEDs</strong> tend to change color of their own accord and the costper lumen is too high to be able to compete with conventional lightsources. “Also, the quality of white light from <strong>LEDs</strong> is sub-standardRGB <strong>LEDs</strong> for architecture: the Sports City Tower, a 1000 ft (300 m)structure being built in the Gulf state of Qatar, will be covered in astate-of-the-art lighting skin composed of around 4000 individuallyaddressable LED elements. The tower will support the Olympicflame for the Asian Games in November 2006. Kevan Shaw LightingDesign is responsible for the tower’s lighting scheme, whichfeatures a network of RGB LED elements. “Each custom-made unitcontains six 1 W <strong>LEDs</strong>, two of each color, and has custom optics toprovide a predominant distribution below the horizontal,” saiddesign director Kevan Shaw.compared with what we are used to and accept.” However, for RGB,Petursson agreed with Hoare Lea’s Meyrick that <strong>LEDs</strong> offer a far bettersystem than conventional methods of color mixing.Most LED products are custom built around a project, rather thanoff-the-shelf. However, lighting designers want more from their suppliers.“Where’s the unique application, where’s the unique fitting,where’s the blue-sky thinking?” said Meyrick. “We want unique prod-ledsmagazine.com August 2006© Copyright 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd www.iop.org and Cabot Media Ltd. All rights reserved17
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