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We keep hearing it: LEDs are the future of lighting. Long life span. Small size. Color-changing effects. Energy efficiency. Environmental benefits. The many advantages make it easy to laud the technology as the next biggest thing—an LED “revolution” it has been called. But with so much talk about a rather young and constantly evolving technology, the line between fact and hype can become a bit muddied at times. One thing that’s clear, however: LEDs have a long list of unknowns that need to be explored.
In early 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy, International Association of Lighting Designers and IES hosted the Lighting Designer Roundtable on Solid-State Lighting in Chicago. As James Brodrick discussed in his August 2008 “LED Watch” column, the goal of the roundtable was to solicit designers’ experiences with solid-state lighting technologies and open up a dialogue about their ideas and recommendations. What became evident in the meeting was that while designers are specifying LEDs, many still have concerns about the technology—about the need for standards to enable meaningful product comparisons, about false claims and misinformation from manufacturers, about their environmental impact and about teaching end users when to replace them, just to name a few.
As LEDs take center stage in the lighting world, many designers are waiting to see if the claims live up to the reality. Just a few months ago, in Grand Rapids, MI, they didn’t. City officials refused to go ahead with the new LED streetlights they had been testing because the prototypes weren’t producing the level of illumination needed. More importantly, though, officials questioned whether the streetlights were saving as much electricity as they had originally expected.
To get a better sense of some of the other unknowns, we turned to four lighting designers who attended the DOE roundtable in March to find out what their biggest reservations are when specifying LEDs. Here’s what they said.
—Rebecca Falzano
PATRICIA HUNT
SENIOR ASSOCIATE/LIGHTING DESIGNER, HGA ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEER
When I was asked what I thought was the most significant problem with LEDs, I sat down and made a list of all the concerns I knew of: inconsistency of color, inconsistency of brightness, inconsistency of life, the need to change out the entire luminaire at the end of life instead of changing out a lamp, sustainability issues when viewed from a cradle-to-cradle perspective and problems with standardization—to name just a few. It made me wonder why I would want to use such an unstable product. The truth is there are many good things about LEDs, but that is not the point of this roundtable. My determination was that there are two points that I think are the greatest issues that designers struggle with today with regards to using LEDs.
Number one is the high expectations that our clients have for this miracle product that solves all the problems of other lighting sources and eliminates global warming to boot. That is a lot for a light that is as small as a pinhead to take on. No wonder there is so much snake oil out there. We need to remind our clients that LEDs are one more lighting tool with pluses and minuses like any other light source. Our job as designers just got tougher because now we need to educate our clients about a product that—not only may be a bit beyond our understanding—but is changing almost daily.
This brings me to my number two concern that I believe lighting designers are struggling with. The sample we see today in our mock-up may or may not match the product that ends up on the job a year down the road when it is time for installation. The color and the brightness may be different or, depending on the product, it may not be made anymore. When using LEDs, we need to work with reliable lighting manufacturers who can help us avoid the pitfalls that are out there. The goal is not to inhibit the growth and development of this tool but better learn how to make the most of all it has to offer.
JEFF GERWING
PRINCIPAL/SENIOR LIGHTING DESIGNER,
SMITHGROUP
The advent of LEDs and the subsequent excitement they have created within the industry, and even with everyday consumers, create great opportunities, but also great challenges. Lighting designers have always been early adopters of new technologies, but we do have reason to be cautious as LEDs develop. I admit that my first usage of the technology six years ago, although successful, was a bit naïve. As we see many products coming to market, there are numerous concerns that the industry is attempting to address; a primary one revolves around the complex issue of replacement.
It is true that LEDs have a predicted life commonly rated at 50,000 to 100,000 hours, but in reality, when do we replace an LED fixture? LEDs do not burn out, but rather fade over time, similar to old mercury vapor technologies. Will clients or their maintenance staff be savvy enough to realize when luminous output is not sufficient for the application? Some manufacturers are starting to acknowledge this concern, but many are not.
When it comes to replacement, we currently change out lamps and/or ballasts when they stop functioning. With LEDs, will we change out the entire fixture, or just the LED board? If replacement requires changing the entire fixture, is throwing away (or hopefully recycling) a heavy heat-sink housing reasonably sustainable? Nearly every manufacturer advertises LED fixtures as being sustainable.
With the rapid development of LED technology, will replacements of a future LED board even be possible within the existing fixture housing, or will heat and circuitry differences cause problems? Will LED “lamps” become standardized between manufacturers or are we going to find ourselves in a Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD type of dilemma?
It is clear that LEDs are the future of lighting, so we must—as an industry—find a way to expediently address these and other looming questions, so that the opportunity we have before us is remembered not for unfulfilled promises but for its incredible successes and environmental benefits.
SAMANTHA LAFLEUR
LIGHTING DESIGNER, ATELIER TEN
Most of our projects for academic and institutional clients have 25- to 50-year life spans before major renovation or reconstruction would be considered. For such an installation, the initial appeal of the 50,000-hour life claims of an LED product fades with the reality of the current requirements of their “relamping.” As a result, we prepare our clients and the installation for complete luminaire replacement. While relamping is, on the surface, a reasonable and traditional luminaire requirement, the LED luminaire industry has yet to develop a sufficient array of product offerings that allow for simple plug-and-play “lamp” replacement. To date, manufacturers recommend replacing the luminaires not one by one once they begin to fail but the entire installation.
What this spot-fixture failure creates, given the likelihood that one or more fixtures may fail in a given fixture collection, is the possibility of gaps in a luminous environment. Manufacturers do not offer guarantees that their current products will continue to be available for any longer than a year or two, which means that future “burn-outs” are to be replaced with new luminaires. These replacements may or may not have similar luminous qualities to their adjacent fixtures—variations in brightness, color, LED consistency, controllability and distribution must be anticipated.
For most clients, our recommendations to date are to prepare to purchase new fixtures when it comes time to relamp and to expect that time to be 15 years from installation versus 20 to 25 (with some extension of this range based on usage and ambient heat). From a labor, cost, constructability and materials-waste perspective, this approach often takes the LEDs out of consideration. To be pragmatic, installation details developed today for one particular luminaire should be detailed to allow for sufficient dimensional flexibility for alternative fixtures to be used in the future, with different power supply, wiring, ventilation and adjustability requirements.
Until LED manufacturers begin to offer more bulb-style LED devices to slot into fixture housings, thus allowing for more traditional spot and group relamping, the fixtures themselves remain a specialty item.
AVRAHAM MOR
LIGHTING DESIGNER, LIGHTSWITCH INC.
My main concern when specifying LED lighting is not how long it will last, but how the fixture or lamp will be replaced when it does eventually burn out. As a lighting designer, I could be held liable for the cost of ripping out drywall or replacing conduit. The only LED fixtures I will use on a job are ones which can be maintained without major disruption.
Many manufacturers assume an LED fixture will last long enough that it can just be thrown out at the end of its life. They don’t design them with replaceable parts, or they don’t sell replacement parts. If the manufacturer designs the fixture with connectors which allow the LED array and driver to be replaced without changing the housing or wiring in the walls the user can maintain the fixture.
Manufacturers face the challenge of providing replacement parts or repair service for a rapidly changing technology. This may not be economically viable. But the problem remains that this business is not set up to throw out fixtures. After investing in expensive LED lighting during the construction phase, building owners don’t want to spend a lot of money tearing out walls when it’s time to replace it. |
