SWITCHING to energy-efficient lighting is one way to respond to the recent hike in electricity tariffs. Philips’ support manager, lighting applications Asean Matthew Cobham says new lighting technology, in particular light-emitting diode (LED), offers a triple-win proposition: cost savings, energy conservation and environment preservation.

Cobham says new lighting technology, in particular LED, offers a triple-win proposition: cost savings, energy conservation and environment preservation.

The solid-state light source also enables savings in maintenance costs and has a long lifecycle, he points out.

“LED lasts about 50,000 hours or about eight years of continuous use, after which it still has about 70 per cent of brightness. It is more robust than incandescents and also highly resistant to shock and vibration,” Cobham adds.

Other advantages of LED sources are better optical control, wide range of colours and design flexibility.

Cobham highlights that LEDs offer an ideal option for city beautification purposes, acting as a tool to extend the city and its people’s unique identity and lifestyle.

“For designers and architects, this light source offers more colour choices and effects far beyond the capabilities of conventional lighting, control options and greater design flexibility. Due to their compact size, LEDs offer designers more opportunities to integrate light sources into their designs,” he explains.

In fact, the use of LED illumination for city beautification is growing, as iconic architects and designers choose the technology to light towers, facades, bridges and fountains without the cost or complexity of some conventional lighting methods.

According to Cobham, Philips has been involved in many lighting projects worldwide. In the Brazilian state capital of Sao Paulo, for instance, the grandeur of the Octavio Frias de Oliveira bridge was accentuated using Philips solutions, which consume

53 per cent less energy than traditional lighting systems while reducing maintenance costs and improving road safety.

“LED lighting systems are being used to light up bridges, monuments and buildings in ways never possible before. LED lights for city beautification are used as facade lighting where the lights can be projected onto a building, or make the whole facade a luminaire where the lighting is integrated into the architecture,” Cobham explains.

At a gathering of lighting designers and architects at Rick’s Cafe Casablanca in One Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, recently, Philips demonstrated the various uses of LED lights for both outdoor and indoor applications, focusing on city beautification. The company lit up both the exterior and interior of the cafe with LED lights and showed how the beautiful colour changing effects could suit the activity, ambience and mood of the place.

Among the lights showcased were the Strip 11 LED, Dynaflood LED, Beamer LED, Projector LED, Lattis LED and Grazer LED, which Philips says are maintenance-free and offer high reliability and energy efficiency.

Change and save millions

Energy-efficient lighting can help Malaysians save RM544 million in electricity bill annually.

Philips Group of Companies Malaysia’s chairman and chief executive Rajah Kumar stresses that there is a need to encourage businesses and homes to use energy-efficient lighting so electricity supply companies can meet the demands of other sectors and avoid any costly investment in new facilities. At the same time, such lighting can help reduce the environmental impact of new power plants and improve public image, he says.

At a national level, Philips’ research shows that if six million households each replace 100-watt incandescent lamps with three 20W compact fluorescent lamps, this would lead to energy savings of close to 1.576 billion KW-hours.

“Given that Malaysia has six million households, this would mean almost

RM544 million in savings per year. This can be implemented immediately given that many existing energy-efficient technology can be installed without difficult modifications,” Rajah says.