In recent years, LED light sources have been widely adopted in the architectural, automotive, entertainment, signage and signalling industries. Thanks to their long life and low energy consumption, LEDs are an obvious choice for coloured illumination in a wide range of lighting jobs.

Even white LEDs are now available for general lighting schemes. These latest high-power LEDs are noted for their efficiency, lifetime and design benefits, which greatly boost the capabilities of those with lighting jobs in developing new designs and applications for use in office, retail, hospitality, healthcare and residential settings.

Efficiency is an essential feature, as it reduces the direct electrical consumption of a lighting system. More importantly, as those with jobs in lighting would know, to enhance the effectiveness of a building’s lighting system is to cut the amount of heat it generates, which in turn lightens the load on HVAC systems and further increases the building’s energy savings.

Some may argue that on a lumens-per-watt basis, conventional fluorescent lamps (which deliver 45 to 100 lm/w) are more efficient than even the most advanced LEDs (which deliver 40 to 80 lm/w). However, what really matters in lighting jobs these days is not how much light a lighting fixture can generate using a certain amount of energy, but how much energy it takes to provide the right amount of light where it is needed. This difference is crucial, because the ultimate purpose of all lighting jobs is to provide a pre-determined amount of light to a particular place or space. In other words, when designing and implementing a lighting solution, it is important to evaluate the performance of the whole lighting system, not just that of any single light source.

In this sense, LEDs truly deserve the spotlight. As those with jobs in lighting would know, an LED is a directional light source. Compared to a conventional fluorescent tube, which distributes its light 360 degrees around its long centre axis, all the light emitted by the LED falls within a hemisphere. This difference makes LEDs a better choice in cases such as under-cabinet or ceiling lighting, as all of the light emitted will go in the desired direction. If conventional fluorescent tubes are used in these cases, then a substantial amount of effort will be spent on capturing and redirecting half of the light that is going the wrong direction.

Another example is refrigeration lighting, as many of those with lighting jobs would recall their hard work of installing fluorescent tubes in supermarket freezer cabinets. These professionals would be interested in knowing the fact that fluorescent tubes become less efficient as temperature drops, while LEDs behave in exactly the opposite manner and become more efficient in colder environments. Such is another environmental factor that significantly boosts the profile of LEDs as a favoured technology in a wide range of lighting jobs.

Industry experts predict that more lighting designs and applications will benefit from the unique properties of LEDs. A brighter future is clearly visible for all lighting jobs.