Lighting Expert Cautions Landscape Lighting Professionals Against Premature Use of LED’s.
Landscape lighting expert, David Beausoleil, issued a public statement today drawing attention to the industry’s latest innovation, Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s). His concern is that landscape lighting professionals will begin replacing industry-standard incandescent and halogen lamps with LED’s before these new lamps have been standardized and proven.
(PRWEB) April 27, 2005 -- Landscape lighting expert, David Beausoleil, issued
a public statement today drawing attention to the industry’s latest innovation,
Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s). His concern is that landscape lighting
professionals will begin replacing industry-standard incandescent and halogen
lamps with LED’s before these new lamps have been standardized and proven.
Mr. Beausoleil, an instructor at Rutgers University and founder of Cast
Lighting, expresses his concern, “While LED lamps have great potential as an
energy efficient, long-lasting light source in outdoor lighting applications,
there are many problems with models currently available. The main issues are
heat build-up, poor color rendition, undeveloped optics and a lack of quality
standards. These new lamps have been rushed to market before all the bugs have
been worked out. Landscape lighting professionals that use LED’s are risking
their reputations since the lamps may not perform as desired and prematurely
burn out.”
LED’s are miniature electronic lamps used for many years as
indicator lights in computers and electrical devices. Their small size, long
life and energy efficiency make them ideal for these applications. Recent
research has broadened their use to include bright light sources in flashlights,
street signs and brake lights on cars. Since individual LED’s are relatively
dim, they are grouped in bundles to achieve a greater intensity of light. These
new higher-output devices have pushed the limits of the technology and have yet
to make significant inroads as dependable bright light sources in architectural
lighting.
Despite the early stage of development, LED products dominated
the recent Light Fair Conference held in New York City. This yearly industry
event is the largest forum of lighting manufacturers in the world. LED versions
of all commonly used incandescent lamps were found in many booths – most of them
from Asian companies. In contrast to these offerings, LED researchers in
pre-conference workshops explained in great detail the manufacturing obstacles
that have yet to be overcome. Their best-guess estimate for when LED’s would be
ready as bright light sources was 2 to 3 years.
Emphasizing the need for
caution, Mr Beausoleil stated, “The early years of landscape lighting were
plagued by poorly manufactured products. Because of this, lighting systems were
failing prematurely and reputations were damaged. It’s taken many years for our
industry to mature and for the products to reach a high level of quality. Lamp
quality is especially important; my company, Cast Lighting, offers over 30
models of lamps, each of them precisely manufactured to achieve the patterns and
intensities essential for the palette of the landscape lighting designer. When
LED’s reach this level of sophistication, then we will offer them, too – but
that’s a few years down the road.”
About David Beausoleil
David
Beausoleil, Founder and President of Cast Lighting, LLC., is widely recognized
as a leading authority on Landscape Lighting design and installation. He founded
Cast Lighting with the intention of providing the highest quality products and
training at prices affordable to the small business owner. Through his courses
at Rutgers and hands-on trainings conducted across the country, thousands of
landscape professionals, designers and architects have launched landscape
lighting businesses. Information about Cast Lighting can be found at www.cast-lighting.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prweb232470.htm