A couple of years ago, lighting manufacturers went gung-ho on LED technology. The versatility and the beauty of it worked well with interior designers and consultants. Fast forward to present times and you will find the same consultants and interior designers exclaiming “oh no!” Manufacturers have decided to sideline the LEDs and talk about it only if required. by Jason Prince
The reason? Unknown actually. Unexplained failures of certain lights in a circuit, and redundancy related to software programming, seem to frustrate the final end installer of LEDs in buildings.
If a lighting fixture consists of 24 LEDs, if there are two or more LEDs that are not working, most often than not, there is no other options but to change the entire set of 24 LEDs.
Having said that, the technology of LEDs is fast evolving. R&D of big multinational lighting companies give impressive progress reports on their websites. News of highly efficient drivers, which can currently achieve an efficiency rate of up to 91%, excellent thermal characteristics, higher lumen output are declared periodically. Therefore, there are good chances that the problems mentioned above could be nonexistent in the near future.
But as we stand today, there are two great fields among others where LEDs have proven Lord and mighty.
Emergency Lighting
Central Battery-based emergency lighting system is fast gaining popularity in the Middle East. Although it is compulsory as per UAE fire code & Civil defense for almost a decade now, it has only recently found its way into MEP specifications in Saudi, Qatar and other GCC countries.
The very nature of emergency lighting design is such that it comes on only when the mains lighting failure occurs, ensuring that there is sufficient light for the tenants and occupants to find their way out. This has to be on for three hours and the battery is equipped for this purpose.
Except for exit lights, emergency lights are only required during emergency conditions, and in this lies the success of LEDs.
Architects usually have a problem with fluorescent 8W emergency lights as it ends up spoiling the carefully designed theme of the project. But LEDs effortlessly blend into the ceiling and, in most cases are not visible unless switched on. In most cases, it has a stainless steel finish that can be RAL shaded to any ceiling colour.
Contractors tend to complain that LED lights are much more expensive than fluorescent lamps. However, LEDs consume only half the energy consumed by the lamps for the same lumen output. So in essence, they are an ideal green solution.
Most standard LED lights boast 60 to 100,000 working hours which means that the replacement time is much better than the fluorescent lamps.
In fact, a recent renovation of one of the shops in Mall of the Emirates after five years proved that while all other lamps and tubes needed to be changed, emergency lights on LEDs could still last for another five years!
Low Voltage Display lights
Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3 and the soon-to-be completed Concourse 3 boast many LED display lights. These are a mix of low and high ranges of display lights.
We will be hearing of many more LEDs applications that were previously unthinkable. And we hope that this technology will become more energy efficient and cost effective in the near future.
About the author – Jason Prince is the Marketing Manager for Inosafe Lighting Solutions. He can be contacted at jason@inotecme.com
