Welcome to the LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter for Sept. 29, 2021. We’re in the middle of our HortiCann Light + Tech Conference as I write this. Day one of the event included some outstanding presentations and a few technical glitches as well. Our Carrie Meadows somehow found time to write about a few of the presentations overnight. We had a very interesting presentation from ams Osram on LED advancements specifically for horticultural applications. And the session on plant response to lighting revealed some of the latest research into recipes and methodology.
Unfortunately, we had a technical issue that derailed our planned keynote address by Ricardo Hernandez of North Carolina State University at the start of the conference. The good news is that we have rescheduled and will now present that keynote today at 2:30 PM Eastern. I’d also remind you that you can still register and catch all the presentations on demand.
Those of you who are regular readers of this column know that I have been on a quality-of-light kick for the last few years. And I’m seeing no reason to deviate even as we wade through the market challenges presented by the pandemic and other forces. I mentioned in our lighting for health newsletter Monday some of the Strategies in Light presentations that focused on quality. I have an article on those talks coming in the next issue.
Moreover, as HortiCann has unfolded, I couldn’t help but think that in the horticultural word that quality is still the paramount tool. It’s just that you must measure quality differently. And you can probably make that same point for applications such as automotive and ultimately germicidal ultraviolet.
In any event, my upcoming article that I mentioned makes the point that we should know quality and beautiful aesthetics when we see it. And I felt that I knew it when I saw the lighting design in a new Saskatchewan, Canada resort. The lighting really becomes the architectural focus in several spaces within the Dakota Dunes hotel and conference center.
We are also seeing more and more building blocks that support light quality in luminaire development. Furthermore, I have a news story coming in that area involving additive manufacturing, but it has been pushed back a few days by HortiCann. Even in the modular space quality has become a primary theme. We just recently posted news of MetroSpec partnering with Nichia to bring the TriGain narrowband phosphor to modules. LEDs with TriGain phosphor enable really nice red color rendering and indeed high overall color rendering with no efficacy penalty.
I’ll close by repeating a prior request that I have made of you the readers. We have partnered with the fine folks at the LEDucation Conference and Tradeshow on some research regarding network connected lighting and controls. If you have experience in connected lighting and controls you should participate, because everyone will learn from our ultimate results. Simply go directly to the survey link and create an entry. And again I dangle the carrot — two entrants selected at random will get a very-cool RTIC cooler.
You will find many more stories of interest in the body of today’s newsletter. And always feel free to contact me to discuss content we post or to pitch a contributed article.
- Maury Wright, (858) 208-9442, [email protected]