The new color metrics defined in the IES TM-30 (Technical Memorandum) continue to wait for the global lighting industry to adopt what is really good work. So it's nice to see some in the industry proactively support the new metrics that should supplant CRI as measures of color fidelity and gamut. Indeed, Soraa chief scientist Aurelien David has posted on the Soraa blog site a piece that does a great job explaining TM-30 and championing the work. As David points out succinctly, the CIE (International Commission on Illumination) has been working on a replacement for CRI for decades and has yet to deliver a metric that is sorely needed in the solid-state lighting (SSL) space. Moreover, the TM-30 publication is both effective and represents a relatively simple transition.
We first covered TM-30 during the stage when the committee was working on the standard. It was in part based on work done by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The IES published the document last August.
Soraa's David is absolutely correct that the IES work should be adopted, and it should be adopted globally. I called for the same thing in an editorial. And some companies are publishing TM-30 metrics on their component and/or finished products. Xicato, for example, published the metrics for its entire product line.
Unfortunately, the politics of the CIE may stand in the way of progress yet again. Not long after the IES publishing date, our sister publication Lux Review described some dissent within the industry. We need more companies to simply adopt the work as have Soraa and Xicato, and proactively drive de facto adoption with or without buy-in from the CIE.
