Do you have the perception that LED lighting can only light up rooms and billboards? Then you are wrong. To an increasing extent, LED lighting is used in plant nurseries and greenhouses and for that reason, we take a closer look at how light-emitting diodes can accelerate vegetation as well as the pros and cons related to using LED lighting.

During the last couple of years, LED grow light has become particularly popular in greenhouses. The purpose is to speed up the vegetation process and compared to traditional grow light, there are several advantages related to the use of LED.

Advantages of using LED lighting

In most nurseries, sodium vapour lamps are used as grow light. This has been the case for decades but today, many greenhouses have realized the potential of LED luminaires as grow light. The rate of efficiency is the only advantage of the traditional sodium vapour lamps. This rate is typically 10% higher than the efficiency rate of LED lighting. However, the vast number of LED advantages compensate for this fact.

All plants and crops are different and require different amounts of lighting. Therefore, there is no final prescription for how to illuminate a greenhouse. However, it has been proved that the optimal photosynthesis occurs when the plant is exposed to a mix of red, yellow, and blue light to simulate the circadian rhythm. In order to ensure the best growth conditions, the plants must be exposed to red or yellow light 65-95% of the time. The remaining 5-35% of the time, the plants must be exposed to blue light. Sodium vapour lamps emit a yellowish and uniform light, which affects the plants’ growth conditions. On the other hand, LED lighting allows for adjusting the colour temperature, which is a huge advantage for the nurseries.

Another advantage of LED is that this type of lighting does not emit ultraviolet rays and only a limited amount of infrared rays. This is in contrast with sodium vapour lamps, which generate heat due to the UV and IR rays. This means that the LED luminaires can be installed closer to the plants. If sodium vapour lamps are installed within a short distance from the plants, the risk of ignition is present.

Furthermore, there is a great difference between LED luminaires’ and sodium vapour lamps’ lifetime. Sodium vapour lamps typically have a lifetime of around 10,000 hours, which is five to six times below the lifetime of a light-emitting diode. Seeing that the grow light has to be turned on during most of the day, sodium vapour lamps must be replaced on an annual basis, which can turn out to be a great expense. This replacement can be limited to happen every six years with LED.

Finally, the energy efficiency is a crucial factor, inasmuch as it is possible to save 70% on utility bills. For that reason, LED lighting is a greener and far more economical solution.

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An interior designer will probably dare to say that there are many “rules” when it comes to choosing the right lighting for salons. It’s all about, making the customer feel welcome as well as giving employees good working conditions. In this week’s blog post, we share our thoughts why choosing the right lighting for your salon is important.

Be aware of accurate color rendering

Maybe you’ve heard this before; someone has had their hair dyed by a hairdresser, and when they went out in sunlight – the color of the hair suddenly changed? This specific situation will any salon avoid. The simple solution would be to get lamps installed with the right color rendering. As we said so many times before, color rendering is determined by an index that reflects the light source’s ability to reproduce colors in relation to daylight. We recommend using lamps with CRI value of 86 or higher.

Highlight interior and the guests with color temperatures

You can choose bulbs in different color temperatures ranging from hot to cold light. A warm temperature (2,700K-3,500K) is most flattering on guests’ skin and will complement most interiors. Colder color temperatures can be equated with daylight, which is typically not the best color temperature in a salon.

Eliminate shadows

How your guests feel when visiting your salon is extremely important as a positive experience enhances the customer experience. The easiest way to minimize shadows on the face is to place your lighting by the mirror on each side. Spot luminaires in e.g. the ceiling will create shadows and we’ll not recommend to using these.

Use good quality lighting

LED bulbs have revolutionized energy-efficient lighting, giving you great benefits that are ideal for salons. Although these types of lamps typically have higher costs now and then, you should see it as a investment that is worth it. LED lighting has a longer lifespan, uses less energy and provides long-term savings on, among other things, maintenance and replacement.

There are many manufacturers that offer LED lights, so choosing the lighting that matches your needs can be difficult. Look for LED bulbs that replicate halogen bulbs with a high CRI and light quality.

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When it comes to interior design and lighting, the bathroom is most likely the room in the house that receives the least attention. Some do not think about it at all, others are convinced that a single fixture in the ceiling is enough. For us, proper lighting in the bathroom is important and it can affect our mood either positively and negatively.

This week’s blog post is about how you implement the lighting in layers, increase the overall mood of the room and match the atmosphere to any moment.

Task Lighting

To create a good atmosphere, the light in the bathroom must be practical, i.e. it’s about getting the right lighting that illuminates your face clearly and in detail when you, for example put on make-up or shave in the morning.

The most common mistake we see people make is to place lowered ceiling luminaires directly over the mirror. It will throw shadows on your face, making daily morning rituals more difficult to perform. To avoid this, you can set up vertical fixtures or lamps that are mounted on each side of the mirror, which will shine evenly and give a clearer picture of your face. Advantageously, you can choose dimmable lighting, which allows you to adjust the brightness depending on e.g. the time of day. The shower is a secondary area where this type of light is applicable. For example, if you have a glass door in your bathroom, a dedicated fixture will most likely be needed. Otherwise, we recommend a recessed light with a glass lens.

Ambient Lighting

Ambient Lighting is important to pay attention too when installing the right level of light. It may include lighting fixtures illuminated from above, such as built-in lights and ceiling lights. This type of light should act as indirect light and not spotlights. If the bathroom can’t get natural light in, ambient lighting can actually compensate it if you choose lamps with a natural color temperature. LED products such as a surface mounted ceiling lamps, pendant lamps or lamps hidden behind a molding dropped several inches below ceiling height can be an obvious choice.

Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is used to draw attention to features, architecture or functions. It is probably the most overlooked type of lighting in bathrooms, but you really get the opportunity to decorate and make your bathroom look unique.

Make the World more Sustainable

An overlooked way to create a good atmosphere in your bathroom is when choosing the bulb. As you probably know, LED bulbs are environmentally friendly and use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. The color temperature can vary from warm to cold light, and is an excellent alternative to real daylight – especially for darker areas in the room. If you want to take it a step further, we recommend installing LED lighting with a dim function where you adjust the light according to the need you have in a given situation.

When choosing LED light bulbs, you are contributing positively to a better environment, achieving energy savings and investing in versatile and attractive bathroom lighting.

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You probably know it. You drive in your car in the evening hours. Suddenly, the pedestrian, previously invisible in the dark, becomes visible between two streets lights or perhaps the shadow of two parked cars. It can be a dangerous scenario and can we do anything to avoid it at all?

This week’s blog post is about how a combination of sensors in the city landscape, either via street lights or roadside lights and the development of intelligent car lights, can actually solve this particular problem.

Can Street Lights and Cars Make Road Traffic Safer?

Experts talk about what they call the “camouflage effect”, which is, when light conditions blur the contrast between an object and its surroundings. This is the case when the human eye has to capture objects under these conditions, as does the so-called eyes of autonomous vehicles.

Scientists at the Light Technology Institute in Germany have developed the Propix headlight, which can adapt its light distribution to the environment. By combining stationary street lamps with this headlight, optimum visibility can be achieved. The light can help to reshape photometric distributions to completely suppress certain areas while other areas light up. Meaning, when the sensors sense an “obstacle” placed in a blind spot for the eye or cameras, the lamp will automatically react and illuminate or dim the light – what we also know from LED lighting.

They believe that if we can equip cars with an additional sensory organ that can sense movement, road traffic can be made even more safe, which is also the goal of this headlight and the technology behind it. They are still not quite there, and it is planned to test the technology in a test area for autonomous driving. The challenge lies in the interaction between the different sensors in street lighting and the headlight, says chief scientist Cornelius Neumann.

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8 ways to Create a Cozy Lighting with LED Strips

In the past, switching on the light could be tantamount to expensive and slow heating. Today efficient LED lighting offer you many options to decorate your home. You can choose from a wide range of color temperatures, lumen levels and forms.

LED strips are versatile and can be customized. They can be placed different places in the home, basically through adhesive back or via clips as far the power and surfaces is within reach, to which the strips can be attached. In this blog post, you can read more about 8 ways to use LED strips in your home and create the absolutely perfect atmosphere in any room.

1. Light for multiple purposes
You can relatively easy install LED strips in your home. It is a cheaper alternative when you want to emphasize the ceiling or put special architectural details in focus such as
Create a warm feeling in your entrance, which is the first thing your guests see
Add ambiance to your bathroom
If you are living in an older house or apartment you can highlight ceiling details by highlighting it with light
Use LED strips in your kitchen to illuminate for under cabinets.

2. Don’t overlook the bathroom
the bathroom is typically the space where we forget or at least give low priority to decor and lighting. In addition to installing backlighting behind the mirror, you can also add low light with the soft lighting LED strips provides.
You should keep in mind that the bathroom is often an area where the lighting itself can withstand e.g. dust and water. Therefore, we recommend that you always choose lamps with IP rating of 65.

3. Cabinet light with sensor
You may have seen that display windows use LED strips as an added feature. You can choose to use LEDs with sensors that will ultimately improve the space and purpose you want to cover. Lighting under the cabinet will cover the functional need, which means that when you open cabinets and drawers, the light will automatically turn on and off.
It’s a smart way to help you get a complete overview of everything you have in your closet. This way, you do not always need to turn on your ceiling light if you need to find something that is located in the back of the drawer or closet.

4.Light behind the mirror minimizes shadows
We see this type of lighting becoming more and more popular in ordinary homes. Backlighting behind the mirror is an updated approach to mirror light bulbs. It will create a soft glow, provide a very even light level and limited shadows that we would prefer to avoid when we see ourselves in the mirror.

5. LED strips are ideal for shelves
If you choose to apply lighting to your shelves, they can help highlight your favorite books, collectibles or art in an interesting way. LED strips consume approx. 90% less energy than traditional filament-based light sources. Overall, commercial LED strips will give you over 70,000 hours of lifespan, after which the light will still emit 70% of its original brightness which of course will minimize maintenance costs.
This type of lighting is especially ideal for the size of the bookshelf as it can be adapted to any length.

6. Stairs
You can also use LED strips under the handrail or under the tread. In most cases, lighting on the stairs is not only served to look nice, but the light also has a real function in terms of safety and navigation. Yet again LEDs is a good choice that consumes less energy and installing the light with a sensor can at the same time minimize your electricity consumption.

7. Assemble your furniture with the light
You probably know it. You have been advised that white walls give the feeling of a larger space? The same is true of using light with our furniture. If you add strips under furniture it will not only creatre a unique glow but helps to make less space feel larger as well. Of course, not all furniture will produce the right effect. You may want to consider accent lighting for:
Sofas and armchairs – adds atmosphere and makes it easier to find the remote when someone puts it under the sofa
Tables – update an old table with the modern look of LED strip lights to add a soft light
Cribs and beds – lighting makes it easy for you to see at night without waking your children or partner, or adding them to a headboard that enhances the atmosphere.

Outdoor lighting
You can easily use LED strips for outdoor use. However, you should be aware that the lamps have the correct classifications based on the environmental conditions to which the light is exposed. Look for IP65 rating or higher in areas where spraying, rain or lighting will be exposed to dust and dirt. Otherwise they can be placed almost anywhere.
Whether you want to create a cozy atmosphere with lighting on stairs up to the garden, railings, paths or something completely fourth – LED strips are a great way to do it!

Tips on LEDs

Lighting and lighting are rapidly advancing in the industry, but they can also be harmful as they are a viable option. Here are three tips to help us better understand LEDs:

1. There are small, powerful light sources that are transforming the world of lighting and lighting.

LED – LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, an electrical component that generates light in a semiconductor. Using this material to produce an LED, this piece produces different waves of visible light.

Schematic overview of an LED chip

White light is created by using a blue chip and adding a yellow layer of phosphor or a combination of green, blue and red diodes (chips). The first method is to incorporate phosphorus in the industry because of its flexibility and effectiveness. An added phosphor layer can be added on top of each chip alone or as a layer over the complex diodes. Both methods will produce a specific color spectrum depending on the added phosphor layer.

In general, LED technology is not a new technology. In the past we used them in various parts such as green and red LEDs on a TV. This type of LED is called low power. Over the past few years, the power of LED chips has increased to 8 watts, and the debate over lowering the cost level has led to the adoption of this technology in the lighting industry.

LED spectral curve

Market research shows that by year 3, about 5% of the old lighting equipment will be replaced with LEDs. Since LEDs are more expensive than conventional lighting sources, the final cost of this equipment will be higher for consumers (of course, we will say that in the end, considering all the cost factors involved in using the LED). LEDs will be less efficient than other sources.) The efficiency of LEDs, like other light sources, is measured in lumens per watt.

It is expected that by the next decade the light output of these sources will be as high as 200 lumens per watt, although the lights used by the chips may cause the number to drop to 160 lumens per watt.

Future comparison of different light sources market

2. Can be more efficient than many light sources.

Another feature of LEDs compared to other conventional light sources is the diffraction of light in a certain direction. Since we often want the light to go down, LEDs have the feature to allow light to The lower side will direct the light without wasting it on the usual reflectors of the lamps.

The optical performance of the LEDs is measured in lumens per watt. And the optical efficiency of fluorescent lamps is measured with the LOR-Light Output Ratio unit. This unit shows the optical efficiency of these sources.

The LED optical rate may give us a false impression of the amount of light emitted by the overall light output. When calculating the fluorescent lamp output light flux, we must consider the LOR of the lamp at the same time as the lamp output lamp. To have it.

Type of light and fluorescent light sources

3. Because they do not need to be replaced, they are longer than other light sources.

Another feature of LEDs is their long life span. Because they have no moving parts and no strings to damage, they have a long lifespan. That makes it a great option for situations where high-altitude lights are installed and switching on the light bulb is not easy. Typically, a lamp’s lifespan is a period of time when the lamp’s output light flux is reduced to 5% of the light bulb’s early life. This is called the L70.

According to the L70 definition, LEDs have an estimated lifespan of about 3 hours. Fluorescent lamps need to be replaced 1 or 2 times over a period of 3 hours, and they will have between 2 and 3 percent light loss each time, however, during this time the LEDs do not need to be replaced and approximately 2 percent They will have light flux.

Driver lifespan in many cases depends on the type of system design. For example, the driver will be suitable for a period of 3 hours at a certain temperature for a 5 hour LED life, otherwise we will need to replace the driver. And keep in mind that switching drivers is not always easy, especially when the driver is not easily accessible

Compare the lifetime of different light sources

4. The lifetime of the diode is determined by their internal diode temperature.

The internal temperature of the LED chips increases greatly, making the light output gradually less and less.

The higher the internal temperature of the chips, the faster the chip output of the LED chip is. Higher temperatures mean that the blue chip and the phosphor layer on the chip are destroyed, resulting in the loss of light output of the LED chip, which happens slowly and gradually.

This increase in room temperature occurs at the normal room temperature. It is clear that the higher the ambient temperature, the higher the room temperature. Some observations show that a 2 degree increase in temperature leads to a half life of shelf life.

For example, some lighting equipment manufacturers say that it reduces the degree of shelf life by up to 4 hours, which is not the case for all LEDs. Another case that affects the amount of light output is the current passing through the diode.

Higher current will lead to higher temperature and decrease shelf life of the lamp. Therefore, managing the temperature of the LED chip is a key point in controlling their lifespan. For this purpose, a LED headlight is designed for heat exchange and cooling based on a specified lifetime.

Investigation of proper operating temperature of LEDs and their relationship with lifetime

5. They are capable of producing different light colors, even in the so-called white light color they have different spectra.

6. The color coefficient of the LEDs is determined by their spectrum.

7. With LEDs we will have a new opportunity to evolve the spectrum of different colors.

8. The LED driver adjusts them, which means that it prevents them from becoming too hot and unstable.

9. Proper use can reduce overall costs.

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