1. With the advent of smart cities, the lighting
industry is in a phase of transformation and
hence is in the process of re-inventing itself.
Lighting
in Transition
www.mgsarchitecture.in
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November 2014

2. A
s the world’s population rises at an
increasingly rapid pace, driven by
ever igniting urban growth, the topic
of the ‘sustainable, livable city’ is gaining
momentum. According to an estimate, by
2050, more than two-thirds of the world’s
population will live in cities—
and over three billion people
will live in new, expanded, or
renovated urban settings. To
accommodate this massive
urbanization, we need
smarter ways to manage
the complexities, reduce
expenses, increase efficiency
and improve the quality of
life.
When it comes to
improving the quality of life,
light becomes an inevitable component
as its timely and adequate availability
affects quality of life, safety, security,
and productivity. ‘Smart lighting’ is the
answer to all these as it is the lighting
system which, with the help of latest
technology, delivers light only when and
where, needed; and to the extent, required.
In short, a typical smart lighting solution
would switch-on the light in a room as one
enters and switch-off as he exits, thanks to
the sensor-based LED dimmable lighting
solutions, and integration of lighting–
partial or full–with automation.
Setting New Trends
The recent developments have
altogether changed the way
lighting was being perceived.
Lighting is not merely
considered as a product but
has evolved to become a
service to be offered when and
where needed! Speaking on
this transformation in lighting
technologies, Mr B S Praveen,
MD of Pune-based B,A,G,
Electronics, says, “Smart lighting helps us
reach optimized light level, with the help of
efficient light source to maintain the best
comfort, well-suited to the purpose. This
has been only possible with the arrival of
sensor-based, dimmable LED lighting
solutions to be supplied with higher
efficiency luminaires and light sources.”
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November 2014

3. Explaining the reason of this
miraculous change in lighting, notes Mr
Puneet Dhawan, Senior VP and Business
Head at Lighting BU of Orient Electric,
“Efficiency, durability, and performance
are the three key variables which are
driving this change. The new age products
will be intelligent, responsive and would
have the flexibility to deliver customization
as never before besides being eco- and,
consumer-friendly. We can see this change
happening across the segments – be it
lighting solutions for general, industrial, or
professional segments.”
Elaborating on the sustainability
featureofLEDlighting,‘MrArunGupta,MD,
NTL Electronics India Ltd, says “As there
is a strong movement towards sustainable
solutions in lighting, LEDs seem to be the
next big thing in commercial and residential
spaces.” He shares that switching from a
traditional to an LED-based lighting system
alone can yield significant energy savings
of more than 50%. “Additional reductions
in power consumption can be achieved by
incorporating occupancy or photo-sensors
in the lighting systems. While occupancy
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sensors–by using passive IR or RF
technology–detects the occupancy of space
and turns the lights on or off automatically;
the photo sensors help adjust the electric
lighting based on the available daylight.
Another aspect can be lighting automation,
wherein lighting can be controlled through
remote or from mobiles/tabs over the
wireless network. This helps setting mood
lighting and allows customization to a
greater extent.”
EON Electric Ltd, a relatively diversified
player in the country’s LED lighting arena,
was quick in recognizing this shift. “Our
company has been quick to recognize this
certain change,” admits Mr V P Mahendru,
CMD, EON Electric. According to him, the
company stopped manufacturing CFLs in
one of its very large units in Noida four
years ago because of the adverse effect
CFLs create in the environment due to
the mercury content. “The domestic
LED lighting industry, which has already
registered a sharp growth in demand, will
get a further boost with the introduction of
smart cities project,” asserts Mr Mahendru.
The Technological Barrier
The announcement of smart cities project
has forced the companies to look beyond
the boundaries, and accordingly, bring
in the latest best from the developed
world. But, do all the technologies being
developed from outside India suit to Indian
conditions?
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5. According to Mr Dhawan, while
bringing in the latest best lighting
technology to India, one needs to look at
the dynamics of the Indian market, quality
of power being distributed, spikes and fall
in voltage, etc. All these call for extensive
customization. “We at Orient Electric had
realized this much before and developed
our competence centre for electronics
to understand the issues and find out
solutions. We have been able to develop our
own electronics which bring stability and
longevity to the products while providing
best light output and efficiency,” he says.
Adding another aspect to it, Mr
Gupta shares, while bringing the global
technological trend in India, local weather
conditions should be kept in mind. “The
products should be able to withstand
extreme climatic conditions. The casing
and product design should be such that
they are equally effective across seasons
and regions.” Another major issue
according to him is the unique power
supply situation which has been the norms
rather than exception across the country.
“The products malfunction on a regular
basis due to these problems,” laments Mr
Gupta who feels that juxtaposing the global
best will therefore not work in the Indian
conditions – we need to focus on creating
sustainable drivers and basic electronics
for lighting products that can withstand
severe conditions.
Keeping this in view, the German driver
and electronics giant B,A,G, electronics has
come up with reliable intelligent dimmable
LED drivers - with 93% efficiency; 50,000
hrs of life at 75 case temp; low ripple
and THD at 10%; EMC compatibility up to
300 MHz; independent channel dimming
control etc. “Such products provide
sustained high efficiency, and do not cause
disturbance to other electronic equipment
such as medical equipment, computerized
equipment, telecommunication equipment,
etc,” assures Mr Praveen adding that
these products are designed to withstand
extreme conditions that India is known for.
Are You Future Ready?
It is obvious that products that are
designed and developed outside the
country will not be able to withstand typical
Indian conditions. Accordingly, the lighting
giants got busy creating products that
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are innovative, efficient-energy savers,
sustainable, and can be able to meet
extreme local requirements.
“AtOrientElectric,ithasalwaysbeenthe
goal to develop innovative and customized
offerings to meet the evolving consumer
needs,” says Mr Dhawan adding that our
aim is to provide end-to-end solutions
across categories and sectors. “We are
known for durable, efficient, eco-friendly,
superior quality products; this is aided by
our own manufacturing capabilities. Our
products are competitively priced and we
have tried to pass on the benefit of our
expertise in design of electronic drivers to
our valuable consumers.”
Mr Dhawan elaborates that Orient
Electric’s vision is to partner its customers
at every stage of their life by offering
superior lifestyle solutions that make
their world safer, easier and creatively
inspiring. The company has a very diverse
LED centric portfolio covering varied
segments of modern office and industrial
segment. It also offers outdoor lighting
solutions – street lighting, flood lighting,
and landscape lighting.
NTL, on the other hand through
constant innovations with extreme focus
on R&D, is working to enhance its portfolio
in lighting automation for both indoor
and outdoor applications to be used in
commercial as well as residential space.
“In fact, our recently launched Tulip
downlight is a perfect fit for smart cities.
This is a decorative downlight fixture where
the heat sink is of tulip shape with low
depth and sleek design and this makes it an
ideal fit for the places where there is less
space between ceiling and the false ceiling.
The Tulip-shaped fins ensure effective heat
dissipation and add aesthetic value to
the product,” informs Mr Gupta. He adds
that this particular product from NTL can
be used in hotels, departmental stores,
shops and boutiques, homes, corridors,
staircases, lift, lobby, reception etc.
The emerging scope at smart cities
project has further widened the perspective
of innovation and EON Electric seems pretty
excited about it. The company offers down
lighters, panel lights, bulbs, tubes, street
lights, weather proof fixtures and strip
lights in its LED portfolio. After foraying
into LED lighting two years ago, Eon is
ramping up LED manufacturing facilities at
its Haridwar plant and setting up an R&D
centre at Noida. “We are in the process to
add more varieties of efficient LED lights
with automatic controls to be used when

7. and as required, and hence, help further
economizing the power consumption.
For this, we have earmarked `400 crore
to emerge as one of the LED biggies
within five years from now. Our company
has already invested `100 crore and the
remaining amount would be pumped in
phase-wise,” informs Mr Mahendru.
The announcement of smart city
project falls in line with many new players’
awaited entry in the country’s lighting
industry. The entry of `3,000-crore Chinese
lighting giant, Opple Lighting, seems one
amongst them. With a presence in over 50
countries, the company provides
lighting solutions for both retail
and commercial users. “This is
the right time for us to enter
a market which is asking for
digital lighting and automation.
With150 SKUs, we are confident
to offer solutions to address
contemporary issues in lighting
that too at an affordable price,”
saysMrNaveenSaxena,country
head for Opple Lighting in India.
He informs that the company would invest
about `60 crore for its India operations,
primarily for brand building and marketing.
“Besides 400 shop-in-shop stores, we have
plans to set up 50 exclusive brand outlets
called ‘Experience Store’ to provide special
consultation service for ‘lighting design
solutions’, where Opple experts will help
the costumers understand and implement
the best lighting solutions for their space,”
elaborates Mr Saxena.
Conclusion
Clearly, the lighting stalwarts foresee a
new wave of opportunities lying down the
lane. The only need is to do the homework
perfectly and develop products that can
meet the needed objective. LED has
already evolved as technology meeting all
parameters of performance. So, the focus
would be on customizing and making
luminaires suiting to specific needs and
requirement, where the roles of designers
and architects become of the utmost
importance.
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8. “Lighting was among the first aspects
of a home to be automated and ‘smart
lighting’ today is at the core of modern
smart homes. An important part of a smart
home, therefore, is the ability to control
lighting,” says Dr Satish Kumar, the
Energy Efficiency Ambassador and VP at
Schneider Electric India. According to him,
automation in buildings is very important
as these buildings (including office,
commercial, and residential) consume
40-50% of total energy in a city. “For
instance, the annual lighting electricity
consumption per square meter of the office
building varies from 20 to 50 kWh/m2
. The
international community, by incorporating
new technologies, is trying to bring this
consumption down to 10 kWh/m2
per year.
Lighting Automation Saves Energy
This can be possible with the integration of
smart lighting control systems that allow
energy savings ranging between 20-50% by
tuning the lighting smartly to the patterns
of use and environmental dynamics.”
Schneider has a separate business unit
to talk on efficient building systems, which
include building automation segment.
Apart from this, the French conglomerate
has various other business units which
are already engaged in creating smart
cities somewhere or the other across the
country. “We are neither in lighting nor in
generating electricity, but we ensure safe
provision of the same – from power plant
to power plug. We also help customers
understand the benefits of deploying
energy efficiency systems and ensure to
demonstrate the savings. It is about how
many units a building is able to save on
energy consumption,” says Mr Kumar.
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