Innovative LED Lighting from LightFair 2018

The most energy-efficient LED light is cold, blue, and focused directionally on a small area; it is some of the worst light quality imaginable. Yet in the early years of LEDs, energy efficiency, or efficacy (measured in lumens produced per watt consumed, lpw), was the prime metric for judging LED performance. The industry suffered through a light-quality debacle rivaling compact fluorescents. Times have changed.

“The LED revolution has arrived,” according to Mark Loeffler, a lighting designer and consultant with an eye on sustainability. LEDs are now standard products in commercial spaces (see this month’s feature: Lighting Design for Health and Sustainability: A Guide for Architects), and efficacy is so good that improvements are now happening in small steps rather than big leaps. Though still important, chasing energy efficiency is no longer the main driver for product selection. For Loeffler, LED quality and controllability are now key, and as LED technology evolves, it is now providing products, design options, and functionality that have not been available in lighting before.