As the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic and Parlympic Games showed, lighting is an extraordinarily powerful design medium. Architects would do well to fight tooth and nail to ensure that project cost plan allocations for lighting, especially external lighting, are adequate, if no generous. Of course, this is easier said than done as lighting, and again external lighting in particular, happens at the tail end of projects.

As of 1 September 2012, the UK government has effectively banned the production of general use incandescent lamps. ‘Inefficient light sources started to be phased out in the UK in 2009, starting with most frosted lamps and clear incandescent sources over 80W’, explains Artemide technical lighting consultant Luke Locke-Wheaton. ‘Over the past 4 years, ever- increasing numbers of incandescent lamps have effectively been removed from the market.’

Clear incandescent lamps over 7 Watts recently joined this prohibited list. The government has also introduced strict new measures in Approved Document L: conservation of fuel and power. ‘As lighting manufacturers, we need to future-proof existing products and ensure new ranges adopt technology that meet these strict requirements’, says Locke-Wheaton. ’ Artemide has therefore invested heavily in research and development of new technologies, especially light-emitting diodes, known as LEDs.’

Luminaire size has a big impact on efficiency. ‘Traditionally, larger housings allowed big reflectors to be used, maximising and harnessing all the flux emitted by the lamp, but with LED’s it’s the size of the heat sink that is critical’, says Locke-Wheaton. ‘The measure of efficiency was generally taken to be the output of a bare lamp compared with that of the combined lamp and luminaire, but this notion became unclear after LED technology was introduced.’ Heat, and therefore the junction temperature of the LED chip, is all-important when calculating LED efficiency and Artemide has invested heavily in developing heat sinks that draw heat away from LED chips.

Lighting manufacturer Philips’ Designer bulbs offer a new approach to lighting design which separates the optic from the light bulb. Designers can select the brightness and then the effect in combination, exercising more control and able to swap and change at will. As LEDs have such a long life, this helps to build in flexibility. Philips’ Master LED range, with dimmable glow effects, has been developed to radiate warm light in all directions, as a low energy substitute for incandescent lamps, suitable for retrofit projects where they facilitate the switch to LED technology.

Turning to the external environment, Woodhouse lighting development manager Guy Harding says, ‘The industry is undergoing a fundamental change with the advent of LEDs and it is almost as if traditional discharge lamps and luminaires no longer exist, but discharge lighting still has its place and LEDs may not be suitable for all applications.’ Harding emphasises the need to consider LED life, sealing, lens design, efficiency of power supplies and maintenance when specifying LED luminaires.Manufacturer of electronics products such as solarledlampsry, mobile phone, mp4 player, and digital photo frame. Designers need to check that LEDS can be replaced if they fail prematurely. Unlike discharge lamps, LEDS are not replaced on three or four year cycles and their light output at end of the module’s life must be considered.