Attendees will be guided through the seminar program, in particular the new organization into tracks, as well as develop an understanding of the intended audience, level, and most important, logistics of the program.
Attendees will also be introduced to the show floor layout, helping to orient them to the organization of vendors and the special areas on the show floor, including the different Design, Daylighting and European Light + Design Pavilions and the various lounges where they can network with colleagues. They will also learn where to get help throughout the duration of the show.
Both first-timers as well as past attendees who want more information on maximizing their LFI experience will benefit from this session.
LFI Innovation Awards
Also of interest Wednesday morning is the LFI Innovation Awards from 8:30 am until show opening at 10:00 am. Enjoy an informative and entertaining multi-media visual presentation of the LFI Innovation Award winners and see the best in innovative design and technology on display in this unique lounge. A Continental Breakfast starts at 8:00 am.
Tuesday workshops
Tuesday delivered another day of great presentations and workshops and brought all one day closer to the opening of the trade show. As the LightFair slogan says, “Experience the brightest lights in Las Vegas,” referring to the Trade Show, it can also be said that attendees are also experiencing the brightest minds in the industry in the conference.
Sustainability vs. Lighting Quality
Tuesday morning led off with a workshop entitled, "Sustainability vs. Lighting Quality - Does it Have to be a Trade-off?" presented by Nancy Clanton and Naomi Miller. This was by far the most engaging and enthusiastic presentation attended so far, while also being informative and interesting. Billing themselves as the ‘Swedish cousins’ due to family roots, Miller provided a humourous start to a serious topic.
The class commenced with the recitation of the sustainable design ‘credo’ of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), “Sustainable design meets the qualitative needs of the visual environment with the least impact on the physical environment. (It) includes maximizing the use of daylighting, minimizing the use of energy, avoiding skyward illumination, ensuring system durability and maintainability, encouraging environmentally-responsible manufacturing processes, and advocating the development and use of renewable energy and other sustainable building materials and technologies.”
Referring to the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) as the ‘Dairy Queen’ lamp because it resembles the soft ice cream swirl, Miller related both the ‘soft’ existence and future prospects of this alternative. She commented that, “People who design exterior lighting really understand the Sun and layering light. They understand the nighttime environment and not to duplicate the Sun,” referring to the work of architect Lisa Heschong, also a presenter at this year’s conference.
When discussing other lamp types, Miller mentioned the difficulties of the Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) lamp and how it could become a target for LED. In a whining session, which they said feels good, the effectiveness of the dimmable CFL, which is virtually non-existent, was mentioned. LED has a strategic advantage when it comes to dimming, if designed correctly.
When the topic of LED arose, Miller mused, “Do we have another hour?” and cautioned the attendees to beware of the claims and test the product in the application. When discussing thermal management, she referred to her scientific process of the ‘grab test,’ stating that if you can’t hold it due to extreme heat, there is a concern.
It was added that designers have to embrace the total opportunity for LED in the future and not restrict its application potential by perception. The presentation closed with ‘happy conclusions’ and ‘lessons learned,' including that LED fixture efficacies has risen dramatically in two years and hold promise for ever-increasing performance and that the ‘Ban the (incandescent) bulb' publicity has reached consumers and has raised consciousness about sustainability issues.
Cooper Lighting SOURCE Awards
Students and the entire educational process both to new industry arrivals, as well as those practicing their disciplines for years, are playing a key role in LED commercialization and market transformation and LightFair has recognized this with respect to lighting in general, offering new programs and educational opportunities in the 2008 program. A Student Outreach Program, including a volunteer work component in exchange for courses and significant overall discounts to students are all part of this new initiative.
Elly McCloud, LightFair Executive Director states that, “LFI understands the importance of further educating these students and offering them access to the best in lighting, design and education. This is why we have established the LFI Student Outreach Program – to groom and partner with tomorrow’s lighting future.”
'Green' luncheon
Green was the word at and the theme of today’s luncheon keynote speaker, David Gottfried, founder of the US and World Green Building Council (USGBC). Parallel to SSL development, global transformational change in how we conduct business, make products and manage our organizations is undergoing explosive growth. Understanding and embracing the principles of sustainability and life cycle value fuel this societal cultural change.
The core of value includes efficient use of precious resources, environmental restoration and protecting our health. The results are tremendous: increased profitability for businesses, personal lives and the planet. Gottfried’s passionate presentation outlined his lie’s journey. He further accounted his green ‘evolution’ and today’s green ‘revolution’. In closing, he emphasized that although we are dealing with change through technology, it is all about people, as people create and use the technology.
Lighting Fundamentals for Architects
Architect Lisa Petterson gave an informative presentation on ‘Lighting Fundamentals for Architects and interior Designers' on Tuesday afternoon. Her mentor, architect, Bill Lam, posed that it would be easier to teach lighting design to architects rather than architecture to lighting designers, with the concept that integration is essential at the onset. Under his training, Patterson began her career in lighting. Patterson commented that she is using LED more and more, particularly in exterior landscape applications and that she is looking forward to future opportunities in indoor applications. She cautioned the participants to question and understand lamp life and lumen maintenance claims.
New multichip LED
Close to 100 attended a reception hosted by Cree at New York, New York on Tuesday evening. Held for Cree Solutions Providers (CSP), a program and network that offers customers a full range of LED lighting-system solutions and design assistance to help accelerate time to market and reduce product development costs, Ron Hall, Cree Sales Manager presented the MC-E LED (Multi-Chip LED using 4 EZBright chips) announced earlier in the day and to be featured at the Cree booth in the trade show.
The MC-E has the same footprint as the XLamp XR family of LEDs, yet provides 4x the light output of an XR-E and is believed to be targeted for general lighting applications. Addendum: Early Wednesday morning, Andrew Huang of American Technology Research gave Cree the ‘thumbs up’ on this announcement; positioning Cree as a share ‘buy’.
Press Room Rumours and Quirks & Quarks
Ushio, a reputable manufacturer known for their significant market share of quality halogen MR16 lamps, is releasing an LED MR 16 with a reported 50,000 life, but when reviewing the press kit, they are also releasing a ‘best in class’ new halogen MR 16 with a reported 18,000 hours life. Confusing? Not knowing the cost of the LED unit, it appears conflicting and contradictory on the surface, A bit ironic and somewhat like oil and water!
DIOGEN, a division of Holiday Creations, manufacturer with over 90% of the global LED Christmas holiday lights market, is moving into the general illumination marketplace with the announcement and release of their DIOGEN LED bulb self billed as the ‘Lightbulb of the future’. It will have to be determined if they can bring this product line to ‘every good boy and girl’!
Upcoming Wednesday events
On Wednesday, the US Department of Energy will formally announce 20 million reasons why we will see the acceleration of solid-state lighting development at a 1 pm press conference. Also on Wednesday, at 2 pm, is John Curran’s seminar entitled, '100,000 Hours of Life & Other LED Fairy Tales,' in the ongoing saga to present the myths and truths of SSL. Elly McCloud, LightFair Executive Director provided an update that this seminar is now sold out and stands as the highest subscribed of the conference. The truth is out there and sometimes reality bites!
Also look for the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative delegation led by Lighting Domain Director Michael Cavallo as they tour LightFair in their ongoing assessment of SSL technology and products for their outdoor public space and commercial building aggregation initiatives that are intended to alleviate the barrier of first costs.
