Creative Home Lighting Arrangement
LED lighting has grown in popularity in recent years, particularly due to its long lasting lifetime and low energy requirements. Originally manufactured for industrial uses and some home appliances, this technology has advanced dramatically in recent years, and is now a common source of light for homes and offices. Along with improvements in lighting, LEDs are now mass produced, making them a very affordable alternative to traditional lighting. An LED can last 70,000 hours, practically eliminating the need to replace burned-out bulbs or otherwise undertake maintenance, almost literally, for the life of the home. Most furnishings and interior décor would depreciate and wear out well before LED lighting. At 5% of the energy of an incandescent bulb, home and office lighting has never been lighter on your electric bill.
This latter point cannot be emphasized enough, as Australian consumers are well aware of the significant increases in electrical prices in recent years. Lighting comprises as much as 19% of global electricity use (according to a report by PWC), with the potential to reduce lighting energy by 40% of its current level. Given that nearly every household appliance has undergone an energy revamp in the last ten to fifteen years, with almost all appliances consuming considerably less electricity than before, home lighting still stands out as the winning contributor to modern society’s transition to energy efficiency.
Now, for more than just practical purposes, LED lighting is catching on with artists as well as the home décor industry, whose professionals are applying their creativity and sense of style with some of the most elegant and fashionable lighting arrangements. For example, when it comes to led outdoor strip lighting, Australia is a rapidly growing market. Unlike the infamous guerrilla artists who have placed LED displays in public places, drawing some negative attention (the city of Boston closed down a bridge after regarding the LED display as a potential threat), LEDs have been used increasingly in sculptures and interactive displays. The flexibility made possible by LEDs, particularly with respect to color, direction, dispersion, and illumination, has turned home lighting into its own form of art, for public places as well as both inside and outside the home.
Several online sources offer inspiration for LED lighting with explanations of products. One good example can be found at www.worldofthought.com.au. Because LEDs are capable of operating on a 12-volt circuit, hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers – in this case, meaning those who are not licensed electricians – also have the opportunity to be creative by making their own lighting arrangements without violating housing codes.
Thus, LED lighting is transitioning into its own art form, as an esthetic challenge being taken up by professionals and hobbyists alike.
While there are many benefits to LED lighting that can be financially quantified, the sheer diversity of options is leading people to spend significant sums of money on creative home lighting arrangements. This opportunity has, in part, fuelled the industry’s significant growth in recent years, starting from a small cottage industry in the early nineties, to becoming a $12.5 industry at 40% growth expected for the coming years.
LED lighting is here to stay. The economics are now sensible for home use, which is a major driver behind the rise in popularity of led strip light systems. As another prediction, new manufacturing processes are expected to reduce the cost of LED lighting by 90% by 2015, bringing costs for household LEDs to a bit more than a lightbulb. Prepare for a whole new world of light!
