Phoenix Products Company''s Yazi Fletcher explains why responsible and efficient use of light increases with LED technology
Light; it's a resource we can’t live without. In addition to being a necessity in all aspects of our lives, it allows for unrivaled productivity, safety and profitability for countless industries including ports.
But are we using light in the most effective, responsible manner? Ten years ago, I would have said 'no', but we have made enormous strides with the introduction of LED technology.
Light pollution, spill, trespass and glare have presented challenges to lighting designers like myself for many years. Light pollution refers to wasted artificial light directed upward to the sky. It causes an otherwise dark sky, to be illuminated with excessive, unnecessary lighting from below. Light pollution disturbs wildlife, wastes energy and obscures our view of the night sky. Organisations like the International Dark-Sky Association are increasing the industry’s awareness of light pollution in an effort to 'preserve the night'.
Light spill refers to light that is cast in unintended spaces. Outdated lighting technology and inefficient design are the biggest instigators of light spill.
Light trespass is a more severe variety. It is a type of light spill characterised when the excessive light creates a nuisance. Imagine a street light that shines right into your bedroom at night. Not only does it cause an inconvenience, it wastes energy and resources.
Glare is another historic irritation in the lighting world. Glare is a visual sensation created by excess, uncontrolled brightness. It is a very important lighting design factor to consider, especially for outdoor applications. Glare can be characterised two ways: discomfort glare creates an irritation and/or eventual pain for an operator, and disability glare creates an actual reduction in visibility. Either issue impairs the ability of a person to perform tasks and decreases productivity and safety.
Take control
LED lighting technology has allowed us to control the way light sources affect the surrounding environment with respect to light pollution, light spill and glare.
By design, LEDs are much smaller light sources than traditional options. Each diode can be controlled through lensing to aim the light exactly where it is needed and eliminate light pollution, light spill and glare. This is the most prominent characteristic of LEDs that allows for control and energy waste reduction. It can decrease light pollution by up to 50% and energy use by up to 70%.
Another control option that LED technology presents is dimming controls. A system can be installed that controls the light output from 0% to 100% for certain areas that don’t require full illumination all the time. Adjustments can easily be made for the time of day or night and the type of activity occurring in the illuminated area. The opportunities are endless when you have multiple light sources in one fixture.
The general nature of LED technology goes a step further to reduce light pollution. Traditional options require up to 20 minutes of warm-up time following a restrike. This is lost productivity and a source of frustration for many terminal operators. In this industry, 20 minutes of lost productivity is out of the question.
For this reason, ports and terminals often keep traditional lights on constantly throughout the night, making for immense light pollution, light spill and subsequently wasted energy to illuminate needless areas like the night sky and the open sea. With LED technology, however, fixtures are instantaneously bright so they can be turned on and off as much as needed with no reduction on the rated life of the light source. In fact, they can even benefit from sporadic on/off cycles as the fixture remains cooler over time.
LEDs are even being incorporated on to automated equipment for use only in transfer zones or when manual intervention is required. This further reduces energy usage and light pollution.
The lighting industry has made enormous strides in safety, energy saving and maintenance but also in preserving darkness and improving user comfort. LED technology offers countless benefits for ports; efficient and responsible use of light is among the largest.
Yazi Fletcher is chief technical officer for US-based Phoenix Products Company, a lighting company specialising in innovative, durable performance lighting fixtures with a special focus on high performance LED lighting. Yazi has over 20 years lighting experience and, since joining Phoenix 11 years ago, has been instrumental in the advancement of LED lighting in the heavy duty lighting arena, with a special focus on ports, mining, commercial and industrial environments.
