I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Teresa Bair, Product General Manager – Outdoor and Industrial Lighting, Current, powered by GE. The topic: trends in LED outdoor area lighting. The interview informed an article I wrote for the September issue of tED Magazine.
DiLouie: What are the top 3-5 trends shaping how outdoor lighting is used, and what effect is this having on demand for specific types of lighting equipment?
Bair:
Higher lumen packages – Customer want fewer poles so they are looking for higher lumen, and sometimes higher angle, fixtures. Higher angle solutions allow you to get more coverage with less fixtures, which can mean increased pole spacing and fewer poles. Fewer poles, fewer fixtures means reduced overall cost, less installation time, and reduced maintenance going forward. A few years ago, clients were more concerned about eliminating light trespass and having as close to full cut-off as possible. Whereas now, we are seeing clients relax those standards in favor of less fixtures and increased pole spacing. Less fixtures and less poles mean lower overall cost.
Demand for longer life, more reliability – Reliability has always been important, but it is becoming even more important today as efficiency and performance start to plateau. Competitors are able to replicate efficiency and lumens per watt (LPW) more easily, but customers quickly realize that efficiency does not always translate to reliability so there is an increasing focus on reliability. Specifically, driver reliability is becoming an increasingly popular topic. Longer life means fewer replacements, less maintenance, and better payback.
Sensors and controls – The concept of integrating LED lighting hardware with sensors, controls, and software applications is starting to gain momentum in outdoor lighting. The idea of “intelligent environments” where lighting hardware works together with sensors, controls, and software applications is gaining traction in the indoor lighting arena, and while it is still in its infancy for outdoor, it is coming and it is important to be prepared. People that are looking to “future proof” their projects, are demanding outdoor lighting fixtures with NEMA standard ANSI receptacles for this reason. I’ll expand on that topic later in this document.
Lower color temperatures – For both aesthetic and potential health reasons, the demand for lower color temperatures is increasing. As we will discuss later in this interview, the American Medical Association (AMA) recently released a study that recommended 3000K color temperature or below due to the high amounts of blue light that higher color temperatures produce which can affect circadian rhythm in humans. Also aesthetically, many clients prefer lower color temperatures because it more closely replicates what people have grown accustomed to with the older metal halide or high pressure sodium lights. Those older lights emit a much warmer, almost orange glow as opposed to the LED lights which provide a brighter, white light. There is a shift toward lower, warmer color temperatures because people feel like it is more welcoming, and more aesthetically pleasing especially in applications like a residential neighborhood or park.
DiLouie: Aside from energy savings and long service life, in what ways has LED technology changed outdoor area lighting?
Bair: In addition to energy savings and long service life, LED area lighting produces a brighter, more uniform and vivid light which can increase visibility and safety.
Increased visibility allows for safer environments. For example, on a roadway where visibility is essential, LED fixtures allow drivers and pedestrians to more clearly identify potential hazards and avoid them. Additionally, picture a store parking lot, which is a common use of LED area lights. These places can be potentially dangerous especially after dark. The bright, uniform light produced by LED fixtures can help alleviate some of that danger. Not only does the bright light better illuminate the environment, it can also deter potential theft or physical harm. The increased visibility provided by LED area lighting can also help increase security camera visibility if an adverse event were to occur.
In addition to safety and visibility, LED area lighting brings the ability to leverage cutting edge technology in the form of sensors and controls. The most common sensor application for area lighting would be motion sensing. The LED fixture can be fitted with a motion sensor which would allow the fixture to automatically turn on when someone is present and off someone is not. This prevents wasted energy and light pollution during non-business hours or at times of low occupancy.
DiLouie: What are the top 3-5 technology and design trends impacting the developing of LED outdoor area lighting?
Bair:
Efficiency is starting to plateau.
The performance of LED chips is starting to level out. When the technology was new, efficiency gains were significant as advancements were made, but now that the technology is reaching maturity, those gains have slowed significantly.
This means that manufacturers need to find new ways to differentiate. The focus seems to be shifting from the LED performance to other areas of the area light fixture. For example, can you use a lighter housing material? That is more optimal for contractors because a lighter fixture means that it’s easier to install and requires less labor.
Aesthetics and form factor are growing in importance.
This trend reminds me of when cell phones first came out. If you think back to the first cell phone, it was very big and bulky compared to the sleek, light iPhone of today. A similar trend is emerging in LED area lighting. When LED’s first came on the scene, the performance gain was so significant that the design of the fixture itself didn’t seem to matter as much. Whereas now that LED technology is reaching maturity, end users want a sleeker, lighter, and smaller form factor. They know they’re going to get the performance of the LED’s so now the focus has shifted to whether or not the fixture is going to look nice on-site.
Sensors and controls are here – IoT.
The importance of sensors and controls is growing very rapidly. The LED fixtures that are being developed today need to have the ability to easily accommodate sensors and controls, otherwise they are not positioned for the future. You may be familiar with the term “smart building” or “intelligent environments” or event the “Internet of Things (IoT)”. All of these are predicated on the idea of using software in combination with hardware to create environments that are automated and “intelligent.” When you combine software with hardware, lighting in this case, the possibilities are virtually endless. For example, with outdoor area lighting, you can place an external node into the ANSI 7-Pin receptacle on each of the 50 area lights in your retail store parking lot. Link all 50 of those fixtures together using a wireless mesh network which then communicates with a software program on the desktop of the property manager. He or she can then schedule all 50 lights to turn on/off at a certain time each day. The predictive analytics can look for peak and off-peak hours and adjust lighting in the parking lot accordingly and so much more.
This idea of integrating software and hardware is going to continue to grow so it is essential that sensors and controls are a part of any LED light fixture design.
DiLouie: Still looking at demand influencers, what impact specifically are energy codes, light pollution ordinances, and the AMA guidelines having on outdoor lighting demand and product development?
Bair: The biggest impact of the evolving mandates is a divergent set of customer needs and increasing confusion. Through our involvement with industry, regulatory, and standards groups as well as with researchers on multiple sides of these topics, we can clearly say that there is no one single answer in every situation. Rather, the evolution of the technology has provided opportunities for tailoring solutions beyond what was possible in the past. This opportunity of choice comes with the inevitable consequence of information overload and incompleteness in research; so we, as an industry, need to continue a deliberate and persistent drive toward identifying the truths and ensuring that information available to customers is reputable. For us specifically, we have had the need to increase our nimbleness to address the specific needs while continuing to build our best understanding to provide the best advice when involved.
That being said, there are several energy codes, ordinances and guidelines that influence outdoor lighting development. Three examples in our industry today are Title 24 in California, the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), and the aforementioned American Medical Assocation (AMA).
Title 24 is a set of standards created by the California Energy Commission designed to help reduce the amount of energy consumed by residential and commercial properties. For larger scale projects in the state of California it is imperative that the light fixtures being used are compliant with these standards otherwise you will not get the bid.
The International Dark Sky Association is an organization focused on eliminating light pollution which they define as the inappropriate use of artificial light at night. What that means for lighting manufacturers is we need to develop lighting fixtures that put the light where it needs to be and nowhere else. The reflective optics that we utilize in our Current powered by GE fixtures accomplish this objective. They focus the light where it needs to go and reduce or eliminate light where it should not be. Receiving IDA approval can be a major factor, especially for more environmentally conscious consumers and therefore it is certainly a high priority during product development.
Lastly, one may not instinctively correlate the AMA with outdoor lighting but recently the AMA published a report that identified some potential adverse health effects related to LED lighting, specifically higher intensity, higher color temperature LED street lighting. In summary, high intensity LED lights emit larger amounts of blue light which appear white to the naked eye but are thought to be potentially harmful in high doses. For example, it is said that high amounts of blue light can disrupt a person’s circadian rhythm. Therefore, as part of this report, the AMA recommends that LED street lights use a lower color temperature, 3000K or lower, as opposed to the more common 4000K or 5000K. There are certainly valid arguments that are contrary to the AMA claims, but regardless this type of report certainly has an impact because utilities and municipalities do not want to risk installing a fixture that is deemed potentially harmful to their customers/residents. This is certainly a consideration for LED product development, specifically for roadway applications in this case.
DiLouie: In what key areas has LED outdoor area lighting improved over the past three years, and what benefits do these improvements offer?
Bair: Performance at lower color temperatures has increased. In the past, lower color temperature LEDs were not efficient enough to be practical. The LEDs could not produce enough light, or sufficient lumen output, with reasonable efficiency. It required too many LEDs to produce the required amount of light and therefore the fixtures were not efficient enough and not usable. However, as LED technology has improved over the years, it’s becoming much more practical at lower color temperatures. In the past the most highly desired color temperatures were in the high 5000’s, then it moved closer to 4000K and today it’s mostly 3000K with some interest in 2700K. That is because LEDs are now capable of efficiently producing enough light at those lower color temperatures.
Lumen Maintenance has improved. This essentially means that the LED fixtures of today decline in brightness more slowly. They are more reliable than they were three years ago. The performance declines at a slower rate over time.
Color consistency has improved. In the past, you might have all the same fixtures lining a retail parking lot, but when you look up at the fixtures you notice a slight variation in the color from one fixture to the other. As LED technology has improved, the consistency has also improved so that now if you were to look up at a group of the same fixture, you would see a nice, consistent light across all of them.
LEDs have become more lumen dense. A single LED can produce a lot more lumens than they used to which allows us to pack more lumens into a smaller space. This means that we can reduce the size of our fixtures which follows the trend of smaller, sleeker form factors that are being demanded in today’s market.
DiLouie: Several years ago, NEMA introduced a new standard control receptacle allowing new controls to be connected using a standard interface. What opportunities does this create for outdoor lighting? What implications does it have for the retrofit market? What implications does it have for smart cities?
Bair: The NEMA standardized new ANSI C136.41 dimming receptacle, now common on almost all manufacturers fixtures, provides reliable electrical and mechanical interconnection between fixture and any device having the ANSI C136.41 base; such as shorting caps, photo cells, control cells, and various other sensors. The receptacle commonly built into fixtures besides the three twist lock power contacts has four additional contacts; two of which support the connection of devices with either 0-10 VDC dimming methods or Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI). The other two contacts are reserved for future expansions to support various sensors and communication devices with analog or digital signals.
The standardized socket and base system brings the benefit for users that it helps standardize sensors and controls. It allows exchanging several types and manufacturers controls not only at first installation but at a later time as well. Additionally, it allows users to upgrade the control devices as use case changes from simple or no control to more sophisticated control schemes or to switch to more sophisticated sensing equipment to support data needs for smart cities. Bottom line, when buyers are looking at LED Outdoor lighting, if they want to “future proof” their installation, which almost all do, they should buy a fixture that has the ANSI control receptacle.
DiLouie: A growing number of manufacturers offer connected wireless outdoor lighting systems. What opportunities does this create for owners? What kinds of solutions are available, from the simplest to the most sophisticated incorporating software, monitoring, etc.? What are the most popular protocols? What else do electrical distributors need to know to support sales of these solutions?
Bair: The introduction of connected wireless outdoor lighting systems brings several opportunities for owners. First, it brings the ability to control your lighting network from one central location. Outdoor area lights can be connected using nodes that are placed in the ANSI receptacle on the top of the fixture. Those nodes transmit a wireless signal to one or multiple access points which then creates a wireless mesh network that communicates with a software program. This type of connected network provides unprecedented ability to control a vast network of outdoor lights from one location. Users can view real-time diagnostics so instead of a streetlight that has burnt out going unnoticed and causing resident complaints, users of the system will have real-time visibility to the performance of all the lights within their network. As soon as one goes out, an alert is sent through the system and a repair team can be dispatched immediately. Users can also create various reports to verify actual energy consumption and other parameters of each light fixture enabling analysis and forecasting for future electricity usage and maintenance requirements.
There is also the benefit of asset management. For example, when we talk to the leaders of municipalities today many of them wish they had a clearer picture of all the outdoor lights in their city, where they are located, and what type of fixture it is. With outdoor wireless lighting networks, you can now have that visibility. You can know where each one of your fixtures is located, how it is performing, and the individual specs of that fixture in case you need to order replacement parts or a new fixture.
Beyond real-time monitoring and asset management, there are many more sophisticated uses for these connected wireless outdoor lighting systems. Specifically when you start to introduce third party software providers and partners. For example, the Current CityIQ™ node is a very advanced piece of technology that captures real-time video surveillance with an integrated camera, wireless antennas, and on-board sensors. This intelligent node can then be paired with a partnering software via an API integration to create truly powerful, innovative solutions. For example it can be paired with a software solution called Shotspotter where the two solutions work in tandem using sound waves and visual surveillance to help law enforcement zero in on exactly where a gun shot took place and who is responsible for taking the shot.
That is just one example but the possibilities are endless from reducing traffic congestion to increasing pedestrian safety and beyond to crime detection. Most networks that are emerging today will use a WiFi, cellular, or ethernet signal or a combination of all three. 5G is also starting to gain some interest and soon we will see cities utilizing 5G networks throughout their jurisdictions.
So what does this mean for electrical distributors? It means you should be thinking beyond just the LED lighting fixture. Start becoming familiar with these emerging sensors and controls because in the very near future it will becoming increasingly rare that a buyer would buy just the fixture. The projects of tomorrow are going to feature these wireless outdoor lighting systems which means LED fixtures with electronic nodes, sensors, and software control systems. This can open up new revenue streams for distributors who are willing to expand beyond just fixtures and bulbs.
DiLouie: What are the main attributes of an outdoor area lighting solution that electrical distributors would be looking for? How do they confidently select a quality product?
Bair: Is the product easy to order and stock? LED outdoor lighting can be very complex. There can sometimes be dozens of SKU’s and countless ordering combinations which can make it difficult for a distributor to identify which SKU is the right one to order. Look for manufacturers that make it as easy as possible to identify the right ordering logic.
Is the product reliable? Buy from a company with a good reputation and proven track record of reliability. As with any technology, as advancements are made, the barriers to entry get lower and lower. It becomes increasingly cost effective and attractive for the competition to replicate another company’s products and it’s increasingly attractive for new competitors to enter the market. Therefore, you must look beyond price. Look for a company with a long history of success and good reputation in the market. Research what kind of warranty comes with the product. A 5 year warranty is standard on most reputable outdoor lighting solutions. Other attributes to look for are lumen maintenance and driver reliability. Often times the driver is the first thing to fail in an LED fixture, so driver reliability is critical. As a distributor, you don’t want to get hit with an influx of returns or faulty fixtures, both of which could significantly impact reputation and your bottom line.
Do they use quality materials? The majority of companies use die cast aluminum housing for outdoor fixtures, which is the industry standard today. Beyond the housing, protecting the optics and optical performance are key. GE uses flat glass to protect the optics opposed to the competition which often uses plastic or acyllic. Flat glass holds up better to outdoor pressures like dirt depreciation. Dirt does not stick or accumulate on flat glass like it does those other materials which means better performance over the long-term and less maintenance. Reflective optics allow us to have more control over the photometric distribution. This allows us to precisely control where the light goes. It puts the light on target. Some competitors put a lot of light out and have higher lumens per watt, but you need to look one step further and examine the photometrics. Often times you will find that the fixture that puts out the most light might be concentrating all that light straight down in one confined area. Whereas, most projects require light to cover a larger area and be more uniform. That is where reflective optics really shine (sorry for the bad pun there) but it is true. You want the fixture to put the light on target, as uniformly and efficiently as possible and therefore you need to look at BOTH LPW and photometric distribution.
How long is the lead time? Our fixtures are designed and assembled in the US which often means shorter lead times, especially to distributors in North America. You want to be able to provide the best experience to your customers which means getting them the product they need when they need it.
DiLouie: What can distributors do to ensure they are most competitive in the outdoor lighting market?
Bair: Become more familiar with the emerging sensors and controls market. As mentioned earlier, this is critical because in the very near future it will be rare that someone would purchase a LED light fixture that is not controls-ready. Additionally, for both new construction and retrofit projects, sensors and controls will be included more often than not so if distributors can get ahead of that they will be in an advantageous position.
Pick the right SKUs to stock. Identify the outdoor lighting fixtures that are most highly demanded and then make sure they meet the criteria outlined above in terms of having a strong reputation, high reliability, and good performance.
Understand the most common applications and maintain ample stock levels. They need to understand their customers most common applications and make sure they’re offering the right products in a timely manner. Identify which ones to stock versus which ones are pass-through.
