Philips Lighting rides analog-to-digital wave

The lighting industry is changing from analog to digital technologies, a move that could bring traditional semiconductor and IT suppliers into lighting, said Philips Lighting CEO Rudy Provoost.

Before heading the 117-year-old Philips Lighting business, Provoost was CEO of Philips Consumer Electronics, a position that gave him a good understanding of the digital world.

"Over time, as the shift from analog to digital technology continues, we will indeed see companies in the ICT (information and communications technology) world probably get involved in digital lighting," he said.

(Credit: Philips Lighting)

Potential new competitors would be Asian high-tech manufacturers or semiconductor makers, he said. "The question is not if but how. That landscape is going to change."

Philips is pushing hard into solid-state lighting, having spent about $4 billion acquiring LED (light-emitting diode) lighting companies over the past two years. Provoost this week is in the U.S., where some of those acquired companies are, including LED lighting firm Color Kinetics and Genlyte.

Energy-efficient lighting is one of the areas that is expected to benefit from a government-led stimulus package, which has provisions for retrofitting government buildings, schools, and municipal buildings.

Provoost said that LED lighting is far more efficient than alternatives--five times more than incandescent and halogen lights and at least as efficient as fluorescents--and they last longer than others.

The most promising areas in the short term for LED lighting are office buildings, shops, outdoor lighting for city "beautification" projects that use colored lights, and in consumers' homes.

But he said that Philips' strategy is to invest in energy efficiency across all the lighting technologies it sells.

"North America is an interesting case. If you look at the installed base of lighting, still two-thirds of the buildings are using light sources from lamps that are not energy efficient," he said. "This is an area where other technologies could change the landscape, with solid state lighting being a subset of that."

Too often, building designers and policymakers focus on energy-efficient lighting in new construction. Provoost, who is also chairman of Royal Philips' sustainability board, says retrofitting existing buildings would have a greater impact from an environmental point of view.

Philips Lighting CEO Rudy Provoost.

(Credit: Philips Lighting)

"The issue is not available solutions. The issue is that the lighting industry, other industries, and policy makers have to have a thoughtful discussion and (take on the) moral responsibility (about energy use and the environment), which still isn't getting the attention it needs," he said.

Policy can play a role in getting energy-efficient LEDs to market faster, he argued.

One problem holding back LED lighting adoption is the higher upfront costs. Over the lifetime of a light (LEDs can last decades), an LED lamp will be more cost-effective because of lower energy consumption and maintenance costs.

"The value proposition is just rock solid...(but) we need to find ways to get people over the financial barrier," he said. "We'd love to see more urgency and courage from policymakers in coming up with smart schemes to stimulate efficient lighting, particularly the retrofit part of this opportunity."

[microg]

I like the idea of LED lighting but it seems like it is only good for direct lighting and not lighting up an entire room. Someone prove me wrong, please.

[rapier1]

You can use it for more diffuse lighting - it all really depends on the enclosure/lens assembly. You can also bounce it off of walls to create indirect lighting. I'm still not entirely happy with the color spectrum though.

[cyberspittle]

Corporations and governments (local, state, etc.) can already become involved in lighting efficiency. http://www.ledcity.com/ is one program. Glad to see some light on the subject. ;)

There are non-direct lighting. I bought a "led globe" at Walmart, which is basically a cluster of LEDs. These can also be found on the internet (hint: Google if you have to).

[joeltom]

I haven't been real impressed with what's been offered in LED christmas lights. For outdoors, they just aren't bright enough. Seems like they should be brighter. White light is somewhat better, but blue is way too dark, and I don't see much in other colors. And I've tried LED headlamps and flashlights in the woods and they just don't seem to light up a path very well. It really makes me wonder how good they are going to be for household/business lighting....

[joeltom]

P.S. I also bought an LED trouble light from Sears for working on cars. I thought it was good because it didn't need to be plugged in. 45 LEDs on the thing and it just doesn't light up the engine compartment like an old fashioned 60-watt incandescent. Is this as bright as LEDs get?

[skrubol]

No. I have a single LED flashlight that is much brighter than my old 3-cell incandescent mag lights. The majority of LED lights you can buy in brick and mortar stores are using old LED technology, and using the cheapest (5mm through-hole) LED's available. Modern power LED's are a whole different ball game.
LED's are expensive though, so to match a 60 watt incandescent, you're talking close to a $100 lamp.
My 5 watt flashlight (mentioned above) was $60 straight from China. Just the LED in it goes for about $25.

[HeavyJim]

Oh, boy, the green movement. Now thousands of environazis will be tearing out old fixtures, which you need to make led's work right, and adding to the landfill. Green hint, keep what you have, don't remodel.

[sslPro]

info from a SSL lighting pro -Led lumen output, efficacy & product quality all have risen greatly since 05.
Thermal mgmt issues, & quality of color rendition are improving nearly monthly. Our lights don't have the
blue- ish tint / some competitors have issues & it's still buyer become educated!
Look for incandescents to be banned by 2013/14 and flourescent by 2014/15 on merit.
Luckily for me and my teammates business model logic portends a great few yea-rs upcoming.
Recommended brands Polybrite ,Philips,Nexxus & lights with Cree chips.
Ps since going all Led at my home My highest electric bill has been $52 on 2 occasions *it's almost
always about $34 per month (summer usually about $40 a month- family of 5 !! IT'S ALL ABOUT THE
INTELLIGENT USE OF ENERGY & RESOURCES!