The Importance Of Low Voltage Lighting

Until fairly recently lighting was considered solely as a means of illumination, with little or no regard given to the type of light emitted, or how the light was cast.

However, within the last few decades, the rapid progress in lighting design and technology has led to a new appreciation of the value that lighting can provide both indoors and outdoors.

The most noticeable examples of this appreciation were first apparent in the commercial sector, where carefully positioned spotlights and downlights drew customer attention to store displays, special offers, paintings and statues.

Indoor lighting suddenly took on a dual role. In addition to illuminating an area, indoor lighting was now also being used to accentuate certain features and objects within a given space.

These advancements in indoor lighting technology provided designers with another tool in which they could create not only the look they desired, but most importantly, the atmosphere they desired.

In turn, store owners soon found that they were able to increase sales and profitability simply by using lights placed strategically throughout their establishment, and especially on items of high value.

However, due to the inefficiency of the lighting technology used at the time, and the high costs associated with it, this appreciation for indoor lighting remained largely confined to the commercial sector.

As a result, very few domestic establishments used indoor lighting for home design, choosing to use it purely as a tool for illumination, rather than accentuation of their home.

The Advent Of Low Voltage Indoor Lighting

The recent developments in lighting technology are perhaps the most exciting and important in lighting history. New technologies now allow for lower energy consumption, improved light quality and longer lasting bulbs.

Collectively, these advancements have been grouped together under the classification of “low voltage lighting”, or “energy efficient lighting” as they are sometimes called.

Technologies such as fluorescent, LED and halogen bulbs all offer greatly reduced savings in terms of the amount of electricity used in comparison to standard traditional incandescent bulbs.

What is so exciting about low voltage indoor lighting, is that for the first time homeowners are being given a versatile and economically viable tool to illuminate and accentuate their homes. Doing so in a similar fashion to the lighting displays seen in the commercial sector.

With the incredible versatility and economic viability that low voltage indoor lighting provides, it is not surprising that this technology has been welcomed with open arms.

Currently, it is mainly western countries which have benefited from energy saving lighting technology. However, as the cost of the technology falls and becomes more widespread, those in less developed regions of the world will also be able to benefit from reduced energy costs thereby making indoor lighting much more viable and cost effective for low income families.

The Future

New advancements in low wattage lighting technology are occurring all the time, and this is great news for consumers because it means that there will be a greater range of technologies to suite different needs.

In addition, the technology itself is also improving, offering consumers much better quality lighting than they may have experienced in the past.

In many western countries for example, governments have begun to issue homeowners with power saving fluorescent bulbs or have implemented programs to ensure that they are heavily subsidised and so are affordable to all.

A low power fluorescent bulb can offer a homeowner substantial savings in terms of the amount of electricity used each year, which has a direct bearing on that households overall energy usage and outgoing utility expenses.

One problem that has plagued the fluorescent bulb however, is the need for it to require a “warm up” period before it reaches full illumination.

In addition, some users have complained that they do not like the color of the light emitted by energy saving bulbs and consequently, the uptake of fluorescent bulbs has been slowed somewhat by less energy conscious individuals who still prefer the old style incandescent bulbs.

Fortunately however, the energy saving fluorescent bulb technology has improved considerably to the point where there are now light bulbs that have an almost instant on illumination and mimic the spectrum of light seen with traditional light bulbs.

But the real advancement to look forward to in the future, and the one that is likely to make the biggest impact both in terms of energy reduction and environmental benefits, are the low power LED lights.

Currently, there are a wide range of low power LED lights, although like the fluorescent bulbs, they also started out with certain problems due to technological limitations which hindered their uptake somewhat.

The first generations of LED lights for example, suffered from a limited color spectrum of emitted light and far shorter lifespans than claimed.

These problems however, have largely been eliminated and LED lights are now just as effective in terms of light production as other lighting technologies. Furthermore, they can now confidently boast having the lowest energy usage and the longest lifespan of all the different lighting technologies available to date.

At present though, the relatively high cost of LED lights has meant that it is not cost effective for domestic homeowners to purchase them as replacement bulbs, and as a result, most people are still using the energy saving fluorescent lights in their home.

But as the cost of LED lights falls in line with fluorescent or halogen bulbs, their widespread uptake is virtually guaranteed due to the considerable benefits that they offer.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that as lighting technology does continue to improve and become more energy efficient, we are likely to see low power devices using technologies such as the LED bulbs.

For example, hand held torches, solar powered outdoor lights, computer monitors and even desk lights are all now starting to use LED bulbs due to their low wattage power requirements and cool operating temperature.

So for anyone who is in the LED lighting business, it is important to recognise the diverse range of products that can use this technology rather than being confined solely to traditional fixed lighting fixtures inside the home.