I recently interviewed Paul Lewis, Vice President – Brand Marketing / Hubbell Lighting on the topic of what’s new in LED outdoor area lighting for an article I developed for the February 2020 issue of tED Magazine. Here’s the transcript.
DiLouie: Aside from energy savings and long service life, in what ways has LED technology changed outdoor area lighting?
Lewis: Significantly improved photometric performance, form factor flexibility, controls integration and visual comfort. All of these criteria can be met comprehensively with new LED solutions without compromise.
DiLouie: What percentage of new luminaire sales are LED-based in today’s outdoor area lighting market?
Lewis: Approximately 99 percent.
DiLouie: What are the top trends shaping how outdoor lighting is used, and what effect is this having on demand for specific types of lighting equipment?
Lewis: Energy reduction, user defined control, reduction of spill light, visual comfort and architectural relevance. These trends are driving demand for products with a broad offering of wireless control solutions, precise/high performance/low glare optics as well as a range of luminaire form factors to compliment a variety of architectural styles.
DiLouie: What are the most popular markets and applications today?
Lewis: Effective outdoor lighting applies to a variety of markets and applications including auto dealership, university/campus, parking structure and retail, just to name a few. However, the key is to offer customers solutions that meet a variety of aesthetic, performance and budget requirements.
DiLouie: What are the top trends in outdoor area luminaire optics, drivers, and LED sources, and what effect is this having on product capabilities and designs?
Lewis: Optics and associated photometric performance are critical for site lighting. Optics, including TIR and edge-lit technology, are being used to achieve specific distributions required for area lighting applications. High performance asymmetric site lighting should minimize backlight, maximize target illumination and optimize curb line distribution. For example, a typical area/site luminaire has 20 to 30 percent backlight. Hubbell Lighting offers luminaires with Strike Optic technology, which decreases backlight to 12 percent without an external backlight shield. For drivers a growing trend is the need to ensuring luminaires are equipped with adequate surge suppression. The standard is approximately 6kV. To ensure sustained operation, Hubbell Lighting is including 10kV surge suppression standard in a broad offering of luminaires.
DiLouie: What are the top trends in outdoor area luminaire aesthetics? Is the size of the LED source influencing available options, including even classic designs?
Lewis: The shift to LED has significantly affected the appearance of many luminaires. Aesthetics have trended toward sleek and contemporary designs which often clash or seem out-of-place when used in a traditional site lighting context. The key is to offer a variety of luminaire form factors to compliment a variety of architectural styles. This trend influenced our Ratio luminaire, a new spin on a classic rectilinear form, which brings a traditional “shoe box” luminaire aesthetic into the next generation of LED lighting.
DiLouie: What are the top trends in how outdoor area luminaires are controlled, and what new capabilities is this offering?
Lewis: A broad offering of wired and wireless control solutions is now mandatory to meet customer expectations and energy code requirements. Whether it’s a simple pre-commissioned system to enterprise-level lighting management platforms.
DiLouie: What do you as emerging trends, such as IoT, WiFi and LiFi?
Lewis: Continued proliferation of embedded networked wireless controls. We’re seeing market demand for controls solutions capable of scaling from standalone fixture control to networked enterprise deployments. This includes applications that call for the creation of intelligent mesh networks that will match up with interior lighting controls.
DiLouie: Several years ago, the AMA issued guidelines for outdoor area luminaires, notably in regards to dimming and optimal CCT range. How influential have these guidelines been on the market?
Lewis: Outdoor lighting can have negative effects if not well designed. Control of quality, spectrum and distribution of light is important, and we’re seeing more and more sates, cities and municipalities pass legislation to ensure their requirements are being met.
DiLouie: How significant is the retrofit opportunity for existing outdoor area lighting systems, including replacement and redesign involving new luminaires?
Lewis: A 2016 report from the DOE prepared by Navigant found that 874 million of the lighting systems installed through that year in the U.S. were LED, which captured 12.6% of the market that year. The report, “Adoption of Light-Emitting Diodes in Common Lighting Applications,” showed that LEDs have seen much more success replacing outdoor lighting, at 29.7% overall, including parking garage and building exterior lighting, both past 30%.
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?
Lewis: Electrical distributors need a range of products to select from that meet performance, availability, quality and budget requirements. I would recommend reviewing luminaire photometric performance to ensure the light is being distributed where needed and not wasted. I would also recommend they pursue an understanding of what level of surge suppression a luminaire offers. Additional surge suppression can enable longer life of the product by protecting against multiple surge events.
DiLouie: What can distributors do to ensure they are most competitive in the outdoor area lighting market?
Lewis: Utilize fixtures with high performance optics to maximize luminaire spacing, reduce overall project cost and energy consumption.
DiLouie: If you could tell the entire electrical industry just one thing about LED lighting for outdoor area applications, what would it be?
Lewis: Stop making compromises. There are solutions available that meet critical site lighting requirements including high performance, flexible forms, visual comfort and control without sacrifice.
DiLouie: Is there anything else you’d like to add about this topic?
Lewis: We are seeing demand for luminaires with integrated features such as speakers, phone charging stations, cameras, signage and RGBW color changing for wayfinding.
