The future of lighting
Lighting is in the midst of a technological revolution. More than one hundred years after Thomas Edison kick-started the lighting industry by inventing the first commercially viable incandescent light, the industry is undergoing a radical transformation.
The move from fluorescent to LED lights will have a significant impact on energy use, cost, and the carbon footprint of lighting. But what seems like radical change is only the beginning of the story.
In a second technological revolution, we are in the process of moving light from AC power to Power over Ethernet. By combining the transmission of power and data on one low-voltage cable, we are effectively integrating light into the Internet.
The possibilities of digitally powered and controlled lights go far beyond what we could have imagined just a few years ago. Powering lights using Power over Ethernet technology makes a separate power network redundant. The same network that provides control to all kinds of digital devices like computers or phones can now also provide both control and power for the LED.
What advantages does this provide? There are functional benefits. Power over Ethernet is clean power, improving the lifespan of lights and eliminating the need for power transformation on every single light, as is the case today. It also makes installation as simple as plugging in an IP phone in an office.
We can also expect significant sustainability benefits. Power and Light delivered over Ethernet means that each light becomes an endpoint on the network. Pinpoint control and monitoring enable granular analysis of usage and more possibilities for energy and cost savings, for example through electrical load shed, helping flatten grid peaks. Colour also influences mood and our experience of temperature. Light can make us feel warmer or colder, reducing energy consumption on air conditioning. And total control allows for management to an energy budget – reducing light usage to meet a pre-determined energy limit.
But what will really change the way we thing of and use and light is that digital lighting will provide a whole new environment for innovative applications of light. Users will be able to control individual lights, set lighting preferences, and interactively design their immediate surroundings, such as their specific desk areas. Lights can integrate with existing building systems such as HVAC and communications. This will enable linking lights with, for example, emergency calls or in-building alarms, and to intuitively direct attention to the right area, be it a person in need of medical attention, or the safest emergency exit.
In less dramatic but just as impactful cases, the ability to adapt lighting hues to match our natural biorhythms has been shown to improve concentration and productivity in schools and offices, and even to speed release times after surgery.
We are at the early stages, with the first trial deployments in the UK and US, but the lighting industry is gearing up for this revolutionary transition. For Cisco, digital lighting is an example of the Internet of Everything coming to life. It shows how connecting the previously unconnected brings benefits such as energy savings through granular control.
But more than that, digital lighting shows how the Internet of Everything opens up unthought-of possibilities. Smart, connected lighting will become an important platform for innovation over the coming years. We have barely scratched the surface, and we are excited to see the new applications for light that will emerge in the coming months and years. We think Edison would approve.
Dr Maria Slowinska, Project Manager, Light-as-Service, CISCO CREATE