Will LED Change the Lighting Industry?

Lighting used to be straightforward. Bulb type, fixtures, lighting levels, and controls had been chosen (with or without you) during design and construction of the building. As an occupant, you got to tag along and buy replacement bulbs with almost no ability to change or adapt to new needs and technologies. Maybe you embark on small projects like isolating banks of fluorescents, playing with bulb color temp, or adding task lighting. But for the most part it didn’t matter if there were changes in space utilization, occupancy, window shading, or anything else that impacts lighting needs: you were stuck with the original design.

More recently, awareness of lighting ergonomics and energy costs has been rapidly increasing, though still faster than lighting technology itself. The era of the ubiquitous “lighting retrofit” came about as it became an economic advantage to swap out that existing out-of-date and out-of-design installation with a new system of your choice.

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