Lux Reports: Retailers are using light as a branding tool. Primark has opted for a bright feel while the opposite approach is popular with retailers such as Hollister and Desigual. Image credit: Primark

Building brands, driving sales, controlling costs, and preserving the all-important ‘look and feel’… who said retail lighting was easy? Here are the eight biggest trends influencing retail lighting in 2015.

1. Energy Saving LED Retrofits:

Retail was one of the first sectors to start dabbling in LED lighting, because of the big energy savings that can be made by replacing electricity-guzzling halogen spotlights. Major retailers are announcing big new rollouts nearly every day: Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Next, Walmart… but it’s still a small minority of stores that have switched to the new technology, and it’s mainly the bigger chains with significant resources and economies of scale behind them. In time, though, it seems inevitable that LED will be everywhere.

OUTLOOK: Loads of shops have already gone LED but there are plenty left – especially the smaller ones.

2. Branding with light:

With stiff competition from online shopping, bricks-and-mortar retailers are having to reinvent their stores as a place where consumers can experience the brands and the product. And they’re learning to use light as one of the most effective ways to become distinctive and recognisable – each in their own way. From Hollister to Primark, light is becoming part of what makes brands what they are.

OUTLOOK: This is a trend the lighting business is well placed to cash in on.

3. New colour technology:

Colour has always been key in retail lighting. Many buyers still assume that going LED means compromising on colour quality; but if you avoid the cheap rubbish, it doesn’t have to be so. Halogen has long been the benchmark for colour quality, but in fact many LED products are now outperforming halogen and the latest colour technologies use specially tuned light to keep whites clean while making certain colours even more vivid

OUTLOOK: LED spent a long time proving its adequacy. Get set for it to start fulfilling its real potential.

4. Lights that do new things:

What if lights could guide you around a shop and send you special offers when you’re looking at particular items? Well, now they can, thanks to super-accurate positioning systems powered by LED lights. It’s done by modulating light in a way the human eye can’t see, but that can be picked up by the cameras in shoppers’ mobile phones. The light from each luminaire carries a unique code, which the phone uses to pinpoint its position. EldoLED is already installing its Lux Award-winning positioning system at retail sites in the US, GE has several trials under way at retail sites in the US and Europe, and Philips is trialling its system at a museum in the Netherlands.

OUTLOOK: We’ve yet to see it in a real-life retail application, but we’re very excited about it.

5. The flight to quality:

We’ve all seen heartbreaking examples of poor-quality LEDs in retail. A well-meaning store manager has tried to save money on energy and maintenance, and now the shop is dim, all the clothes look washed out and the customers feel like zombies. Those days are coming to an end: the wild west of the LED market is being tamed, and even those buyers who had their fingers burned (literally or figuratively) in the early days are trying again, with a renewed focus on look and feel.

OUTLOOK: Some scepticism remains, but LED is winning new friends daily.

6.Overcoming the fear:

Retailers can’t afford to get the look and feel wrong, so LED rollouts tend to be nerve-wracking. There is always a certain risk when you invest in new technology. And with no real standards for LED lighting products, we might just have to embrace that risk. With warranties, funding and improved quality, it’s getting easier, but there’s still inertia – partly the result of bad experiences, uncertainty or mistrust over exaggerated energy-saving and lifetime claims made by manufacturers.

OUTLOOK: Lighting refits are never simple, but more and more people are at it, giving buyers confidence – and it’s getting easier by the day. 7. 

 Justifying the spend:

It’s easy enough to prove the environmental benefits of an LED upgrade, but sadly that’s not always enough to persuade the finance department to approve the upfront expenses associated with a new lighting scheme. Imagine how much easier it would be if you could prove the correlation between better lighting and increased sales. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to separate the lighting from the myriad of other variables that influence people’s shopping decisions. As Simon Waldron, Sainsbury’s electrical engineering manager, told Lux: ‘The controllability of variables is missing. We need a standardised approach to proving the link between lighting and sales which at the moment can’t be applied.’

The building’s long history, and its 18 meter high ceiling, presented the facility team with a challenge of respecting its heritage while ensuring that the fixtures were as easy to maintain as possible.

This has been achieved mainly with linear LED luminaires, recessed from existing ceiling pockets, which focus the light down the central spine of the building’s three-storey glazed atrium.

Lighting designers kept in close contact with Heritage Victoria throughout the project and ensured that the lighting installation was fully reversible and didn’t do any damage to the building surface.

As well as recessed ceiling fixtures, linear LED luminaires have been placed high up to uplight the ceiling and emphasise the columns and the geometric shape of the atrium.

Lower down, mannequins sitting on swings and posing on podiums are lit with narrow-beam metal halide spotlights. The spotlights are placed in pairs on the columns around the atrium with linear LED uplights positioned in-between the spotlights to highlight the top part of the columns above.

The arcade arches around the building are lit with linear LED fixtures concealed within the structure. All light sources are warm white with a colour temperature of 3000k.

Using mainly LED light sources means the store has achieved an electrical load of 12W/m2 for the downward light and 10W/m2 for the architectural lighting to the arches, trees and ceiling structure.

 Novel Energy Lighting supplies LED lamps, fittings, and controls for many retail applications. Contact us for volume quotes or for lighting designs: www.novelenergylighting.com, or Tel: 02085408287

From domestic households and the catering sector to industrial applications – light emitting diodes (LED) are becoming ever more popular, because high quality LEDs in particular from renowned manufacturers such as the lighting expert Osram feature significant benefits compared to standard light sources.

They feature good colour rendering, high energy efficiency and durability, consequently reducing running costs such as power overheads or replacement costs.

The structure and principal of LEDs

Light emitting diodes consist of several layers of semiconductor material that generate light upon the application of DC voltage. In contrast to incandescent lamps an LED is a monochromatic light source, and according to its composition emits light with a specific colour. White-emitting LEDs also initially generate monochromatic light that must then be converted, and this is usually achieved with a combination of blue LEDs with a yellowish phosphor layer or by mixing the light of red, green and blue LEDs (RGB). Furthermore, specific RGB colours can be mixed to create an infinite number of colour tones by varying the mixing ratios. 

PET PCBs for greater flexibility

Typical LED modules consist of several combined LEDs, a fixed PCB and various other components. A practical alternative to fixed fibreglass PCBs are flexible materials based on polymers, as these enable the production of LED modules with a high diversity of forms, in turn opening the way to new designs and lighting solutions. Flexible light engines can also be manufactured on rolls, providing simpler handling as well as automatic manufacturing and the reduction of stock keeping overheads.

A robust, non-conductive material with a high optical reflection factor is ideal for producing such flexible PCBs, and the material should also be environmentally compatible and chemically stable. Such requirements are best fulfilled with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) versions. With regard to these advantages, the lighting manufacturer Osram developed its PrevaLED Flex Linear light engine that fully exploits the benefits of flexible PET PCBs. The light engine consists of a thin and pliable copper layer in which the requisite circuit has been etched and sealed between two PET layers. 

An efficient direct current solution

Due to the electrical properties of LEDs, their drivers should directly supply a constant current to the module. The reason for this is that in contrast to LED systems requiring constant voltage, other current control components on the module are not needed with systems supplied by constant current directly from the LED driver. This provides efficiency increases of 5 to 15 per cent. A sophisticated system for grouping and mixing the various LEDs (various bins) is used to achieve homogeneous voltage distribution in the LED lines various (also switched in parallel) with simultaneous constant current operation, thereby also avoiding brightness and colour deviations within the partly long and flexible systems. This in turn enables a uniform distribution of light colour and brightness, across each section and the complete module.

Light on a strip

In addition to flexibility, a special benefit of the strip solution is cutting the strip to suit the desired length, enabled by switching the LEDs in parallel. With the Osram PrevaLED for example, the strip can be cut after each segment without the module forfeiting any quality of light. One segment has a length of either 93.3 mm equipped with 10 LEDs or 140 mm with 12 LEDs, and the length itself is restricted merely by the supply of current, which must be as homogeneous as possible for all LEDs to create light with high uniformity. In this regard the distance between the current source and the LED is an important factor – the maximal length of a flexible LED module with single-sided power input is currently 1.5 metres, and module lengths of three metres can be achieved with central power input. As a consequence, the length of the light strip can be individually modified between approximately 10 cm and three metres, and installations that previously required the back-to-back switching of several modules can now be produced as one unit. 

PrevaLED also cuts installation costs by up to 30% compared to standard lighting solutions. The LED strip can be bonded simply into luminaires or luminous elements, enabling the saving of valuable work time. The broad flexibility of PrevaLED comes to the fore during simple installation and the implementation of sophisticated design projects, and the PET strip can for example be bent to form a circle with a radius of just 15 cm. With a colour temperature of 4000 Kelvin, a good colour rendering index of over 80 and up to 170 lumens per watt, PrevaLED Flex is not only a genuine alternative to fluorescent tubes but also opens up new possibilities for designing light.

PrevaLED Flex module. The flexible LED strip can be cut-to-suit after each segment to achieve precisely the required length.

New designs can be simply implemented with flexible PrevaLED Flex modules.

Light with savings potential

With regard to power consumption, the emission of greenhouse gases and maintenance costs, LEDs from quality suppliers such as Osram offer high potential for savings without any sacrifices in terms of light quality. If the significantly longer lifespans are also considered, the total calculation is distinctly positive. When upgrading to LEDs, power costs according to the specific system solution can be cut by up to 80%. Incandescent lamps in this regard are characterised by an efficiency of around 10 lm/W, halogen lamps have approximately 20 lm/W and fluorescent sources have 70 to 90 lm/W. Comparable white LEDs achieve an efficiency of between 70 and 100 lumens per watt according to type and light colour, with LED power consumption (according to type) being merely 0.1 to 15 watts. This means that even highly compact LEDs provide powerful lighting.

It’s a question of quality

In order to exploit the complete spectrum of advantages inherent in LED technology, when selecting the appropriate light source this mainly concerns the quality of components. The light source manufacturer Osram has upgraded its portfolio, helping consumers to more simply identify high quality LEDs at a glance, and will present its largest LED lamp spectrum until now in the Autumn of 2014. More than 90 LED lamp types will be available in the retail market with easy to recognise, uniform designs, and the consistent look of the popular candle, drop-shaped and mainly pear-shaped classic LED lamps will be characterised primarily by their smooth, white heat sinks. The uniform designs of the Osram lamps go beyond similar appearances to also provide a highly practical aspect – all lamps are based on identical modules used in different lamps.

Retrofit lamps are especially suitable for refurbishing classic lighting systems to energy efficient and durable LED technology. An example are lamps from the Osram Classic A40 series, featuring construction sizes and bases identical to classic incandescent lamps to enable easy replacement.

Light without shadowing

Decisive for the success of a lighting technology is whether the light from a lamp is perceived as being pleasant. This in turn depends on various factors, for example colour temperature and luminous intensity. The distribution of luminous intensity in the so-called far field is also important, meaning where light hits walls, floors or table surfaces for example. Of special importance in this respect is that light is distributed homogeneously and that minimum shadowing or linear structures are seen. The optics within LED lamps are responsible for this task. Because such optics can be seen from the outside with clear lamps, these are not only a functional element but must also be visually attractive. The optic also ensures that the “technology” of the lamp, meaning its LEDs and electronics, cannot be seen from the outside. 

Optics in the classic bulb-shaped lamps in the new Osram LED portfolio have been designed to largely exclude irregularities such as dark shadow lines in far field light and to achieve homogeneous light distribution, and this is achieved by the particular form of the plastic optic developed specifically for the new lamp generation. The design of the optic was developed with the aid of in-house programmed software due to these stringent technical and aesthetic requirements. Optics in the new Osram LED portfolio radiate at beam angles of up to 300° and also achieve a high level of uniformity in illumination. 

Retrofit lamp from the new Osram portfolio.

Highly diverse lighting solutions

In addition to high levels of efficiency, the inherent diversity of the compact diodes is also advantageous, ranging from applications for video walls in sports arenas to the illumination of refrigerators. Because of their specific properties such as low heat generation and flat constructions, LEDs can be used in locations where other luminaires may only be installed in compliance with strict conditions – such as in fire protection applications. LEDs also generate no infrared or ultraviolet radiation, making them ideal for use in foodstuff counters and hospitals, and thanks to their tough constructions, LEDs are the ideal light source for applications exposed to high loads such as in the automotive sector. Osram LEDs also achieve very good colour rendering values of up to Ra 95.

Novel Energy Lighting sells a range of Osram LED products. One of the more popular lamps is the Osram LED Star GU10 6.5W Dimmable.

For Philips and Siemens the answer has veered toward ‘a,’ most recently with Philips’ announcement this week that it will seek ‘alternative ownership’ for its lighting group, a move that echoes Siemens’ 2013 spin-off of its Osram lighting company.

At GE however they’re taking a new crack at ‘b’ with a quiet corporate restructuring in which CEO Jeff Immelt has fused GE Lighting with a division charged with ‘growth and innovation’ and whose boss, Beth Comstock, also runs the Silicon Valley-based GE Ventures, a firm that invests in startups in software, energy, healthcare and manufacturing.

‘On Monday, Sept. 16 GE announced internally that they will align the Lighting business with GE’s growth and innovation team, led by Beth Comstock,’ GE told Lux in an email. ‘The transition is not effective immediately. It will happen over the next few months.’ The company has yet to publicly announce the change. The move had surfaced in an article in Fortune Magazine, which said Comstock takes the lighting reins on Oct. 1.

 ‘NOT FOR SALE’

It was Comstock who two weeks ago told Lux that GE Lighting is not for sale, denying rumours that if true would put U.S.-based GE in the same category as Holland’s Philips and Germany’s Siemens as traditional large industrial companies moving away from direct involvement in the lighting industry.

As part of the shift, Maryrose Sylvester continues as president and CEO of GE Lighting, but she will report to Comstock. Sylvester had been reporting to Chip Blankenship, who has been president and CEO of GE’s appliance and lighting business unit. Earlier this month GE sold its appliance division – dishwashers, toasters, washing machines and the like – to Sweden’s AB Electrolux for $3.3 billion.

Appliances and lighting had accounted for $8.3 billion in sales at the $146 billion company last year. Lighting was about $3 billion of that GE told Lux this week – until now, GE has not separated out lighting numbers from appliances. Appliances was the latest division to go at GE as the company focuses on high margin industrial goods and services.

Comstock, a rising star at GE who also serves as corporate marketing officer and senior vice president, reports directly to Immelt.

BEEN THERE DONE THAT 

She has solid experience at the type of digital industry convergence that challenges today’s lighting business, which is shifting from conventional incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, to lights based on LEDs – light emitting diodes, or semiconductors – a transition that is opening up the field to new digital only manufacturers and to Internet and consumer technology companies like Google and Apple.

Her background includes several years overseeing digital strategy for media giant NBC Universal as president of integrated media, when broadcasting giants like NBC, CBS and ABC were beginning to cope with the incursion of technology powerhouses like Google and YouTube into their industry (NBC was part of the GE empire at the time; GE sold its remaining 49 percent share to cable TV company Comcast for $16.7 billion in early 2013).

That familiarity could help Comstock navigate GE Lighting around a global market where lighting could underpin everything from smart cities to the connected home, and which will rely on innovations and partnerships with technology and networking firms among others.

All the while, she will have to figure out a way to make money. LED bulbs cost much more to make than conventional bulbs, but startup companies are pushing down end user prices faster than some of the cost-burdened giants can afford. LEDs in principle also last much longer, eradicating any replacement bulb business model.

Thus, GE will have to hone a profitable business out of selling lighting services, controls and connectivity.

NETWORKING

Not only will it have to foster relationships with Internet and networking companies, but it will have to fend off challenges from relatively new lighting companies like Opple, Cree, TCP and Acuity, born in the modern lighting era and not encumbered by a legacy lighting business (GE and Philips have both been a making bulbs for over 120 years).

No wonder, with challenges like this, Philips decided on an ‘alternative ownership’ escape route. Even after an impressive run of innovations that has included the Hue line of bulbs that can change brightness and colours via wireless remote control, Philips is setting into slow motion a plan to find buyers for its lighting division, which it says could take a year or two. (Some industry observers are even whispering about a hookup between Philips and GE. Neither company would comment on that speculation).

Comstock told Fortune that there’s tremendous opportunity to partner with startups that develop LED technology for commercial and government buildings.

She certainly talks the talk.

‘Beth Comstock is passionate about change and innovation,’ reads her bio on GE’s corporate website, not yet updated to relfect her new lighting role. ‘She leads GE’s growth efforts via marketing, sales, licensing and communications and oversees GE Ventures. Her current priorities include partnering with and investing in start-ups, developing new markets in analytics, energy and affordable health through GE’s industrial internet, ecomagination and healthymagination initiatives, and making connections that spur a culture of inventiveness and grow brand value.’

It also notes that she serves on the boards of Nike and of Quirky, ‘an online hub that makes invention accessible.’ Quirky helped GE develop its Link connected bulb.

Looks good on paper. Let the innovations begin. There aren’t many other choices.

Shuttla

www.novelenergylighting.com

Lux Magazine reports: Let’s say you’re in charge of energy use at the company and you want to take big steps to slash the bill. Who you gonna call? A building insulator? A smart meter salesman? The most common answer is….

 ‘An LED vendor.’

 That’s according to a poll of over 100 UK energy professionals in the public and private sector by Energy Live News (ELN), which asked them to name which measures they took over the last year, and which ones they are planning.

 ‘LEDs were the most popular choice for energy professionals to save energy over the last year – and they look set to remain favourites for the next 12 months,’ the website reported.

 83 percent of respondents said they tapped LED lighting over the last year, and 80 percent said they’ll bring in LEDs over the next 12 months.

 The number-two measure both for last year and the upcoming one didn’t even involve outright product purchases, as managers reported that ‘changing culture and behaviour’ was also high on their list (in other words, remember to turn off the efficient new LEDs).

 The poll did not specifically ask about new boilers, solar panel installations or building managemet systems, although those did receive write-in votes.

 ‘Insulation, variable speed drives, AMT or smart meters and energy management systems tied third, each being installed over the last year by around two fifths of energy professionals,’ ELN wrote.

 As popular as LEDs were among respondents, they elicited some reality checks from ELN readers in the website’s comments section.

 ‘When it comes to lighting LED is not quite the panacea for all ills it’s set up to be,’ wrote one.

 ‘Manufacturers are making grandiose claims about the longevity of these fittings without the evidence to back them up – the technology is so new there just haven’t been the number of hours in a year to claim they’ll last 100,000 hours or whatever they claim.’

 To that, another reader shot back, ‘Have you not heard of accelerated testing?’ One fan of LEDs commented that it might still be too early to splash out for them.

 ‘Buying LED today may not be the best option,’ he said. ‘It might be better to wait a few years when efficacies will be even higher, as in many applications they have the potential to last 20-30 years and in that situation you may be better off with an optimised package that will go the distance.
’

 In a cautionary tale, he added, ‘A lot of LED packages are poorly selected/sold and they will be replaced a lot earlier than hoped for.
’

 Poorly sold? Hmmmm. Sounds like the poll needs a subcateory: Changing the culture and behaviour of vendors.

—

Photo: To avoid this sort of utility bill shock, energy managers are turning to LEDs more than anything. Image is from Shutterstock

Lux Magazine reports: The government is considering ways to slash demand for energy by encouraging homes and businesses to install low-energy lighting and controls.

A consultation on ways to reduce demand for electricity was launched yesterday together with the Energy Bill, and runs until the end of January.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) believes that a quarter of the potential energy savings to be made in homes by 2030 could come from getting rid of incandescent lamps, while lighting and controls could account for more than a third of savings in commercial properties and nearly half in the public sector (including streetlighting).

In the residential sector, the major barrier to adopting these technologies is a lack of awareness, the government believes, while in commercial buildings the main problems are the payback period on lighting upgrades and the fact that the person using a building and paying the bills is not always the one with the power to make changes.

The government is considering various financial incentives for energy-efficiency measures as well as voluntary and information-based approaches.

Engineering body Cibse has welcomed the consultation, saying it comes “better late than never”. Cibse said that simple improvements to building performance could make a huge difference to the amount of energy needed in the future.

Any new measures to promote efficiency will come on top of the Green Deal, set to be launched fully in the new year, which will provide finance packages allowing  households and businesses to pay for energy-efficiency upgrades from savings on their bills.

Energy minister Ed Davey said the Energy Bill and associated measures are designed to drive low-carbon economic growth and “keep the lights on”.

Last year 39TWh of energy (that’s 39 billion kWh) was used to light commercial and public sector buildings, while around 15TWh was used in homes.

View our range of office lighting here:

Lux Magainze report: Energy-efficient lighting has come out top in a survey of green technology investments for businesses.

Over three quarters of businesses (77 per cent) polled by the Carbon Trust said they had invested in energy-efficient lighting in the past year, while 59 per cent had invested in employee training and 57 per cent had invested in energy metering and monitoring.

Almost all businesses surveyed said energy efficiency was an important consideration when buying or upgrading equipment.

However, the survey also highlighted reservations about the transition to the new technology, with only half of respondents (51 per cent) saying they were confident about manufacturers’ energy-efficiency claims.

Hugh Jones, managing director of business advice at the Carbon Trust said: ‘Our survey showed that return on investment is the most important factor for organisations considering investing in energy efficiency and low carbon technologies.’

The survey comes as the Carbon Trust launches the Green Business Directory, which lists suppliers that have been vetted under the trust’s Accredited Supplier scheme.

 View our LED ceiling panel range here, ideal for offices: