Lighting trends to watch out for in 2020

Sumit Padmakar Joshi, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Signify Innovations India (previously known as Philips Lighting India) looks into the industry’s crystal ball.

In 2020, lighting will expand beyond just illumination thanks to the emergence of several new technologies that will pave the way for a connected world. With the entry of LEDs, lighting has transformed from analog to digital and can be remotely controlled and monitored. This opens a world of possibilities with multiple applications across offices, homes, cities and public lighting, enabling both energy efficiency and higher productivity. Here are some lighting technology trends that will create the largest opportunities in the market by making way into homes and various other sectors in in 2020.

1. Li-Fi (Light Fidelity): Li-Fi is a wireless technology that uses light waves instead of radio waves to transmit data. Satisfying all the requirements of this digital day and age, Li-Fi is a perfect fit for financial institutions, government and public offices that demand highly secure and fast internet connection. It is also a great option for providing internet connectivity in public transport to enhance the travel experience for passengers. It is a much safer option compared to other wireless technologies as it doesn’t cause any interference with sensitive equipment and there is no compromise on speed or privacy.

2. Human-centric Lighting: With adults spending a major part of their day indoors, lighting can have a significant impact on their wellbeing. By tuning light to support our circadian rhythms and emotional needs, we can promote human comfort, wellbeing and performance. This can have multiple applications such as industrial light levels tuned to reduce fatigue and errors and the health impacts of shift work. Health and aged-care facilities where lighting simulates daylight rhythms to help patients and residents sleep better, recover faster and feel happier. Offices where workers can personalise light settings to suit their own vision, helping to create a more inclusive and comfortable workplace.

3. Horticulture Lighting: The farming method of the future is here. Now farmers can optimise their growth systems with LED lighting for sustainable crop cultivation, all year round. Tailor-made light recipes result in faster growth, bigger harvests, and higher quality plants. Finely-tuned light recipes supply the spectrum and intensity the crop needs without adding extra heat, giving farmers more control over the greenhouse climate, making year-round production possible.

4. Aquaculture Lighting: Light is a powerful tool for enhancing fish production and welfare. Adjustable LED technology can create specific lighting conditions to optimise aquatic environments as fish develop. This unique application of lighting offers new possibilities to increase revenues and reduce production costs for fish farms, supporting the development of sustainable aquaculture.

5. LED lighting comfortable for eyes: LEDs made their debut about 10 years ago in the lighting industry and transformed the sector with their superior energy efficiency and better light quality. As time passed, LEDs also evolved to become more comfortable for human eyes. The latest LED lamps diffuse and reflect light which in turn reduces glare and ensures no visible flicker. The result is a uniform light output that is comfortable on the eye. This is an important development, considering that we all spend most of our day under artificial lighting.

6. Non-traditional shaped LED bulbs: This year we also witnessed the emergence of non-traditional shaped LED bulbs, tube lights and downlighters that offer ease-of-installation and prevent wall damage. Some of these modern lighting solutions such as T-bulbs, downlighters allow customers to quickly replace their lighting fixtures without the need for elaborate installation or electrician support.



Author
Sumit Padmakar Joshi
Vice Chairman and Managing Director,
Signify Innovations India Ltd

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