Are you ready for the future?

This blog would be an easy space to dispense predictions about what the future of lighting design will be. I could point out constricting energy codes and pending light source choice restrictions. I could point out increasing attention being paid to power density requirements or the growing influence of LED technology over the larger lighting industry. Then after making all those arguments I could sit back content and make a bold prediction like-we will all be using LED for everything by 2020…unless, you know, we’re not.

If I did that, if I made some kind of bold prediction, I’d be doing you a disservice. What I will do instead is challenge you. I challenge you to think about all the projects on your boards right now. Now think about the projects you’ve specified in the last 2 years. Are they ready for the future? I don’t know what form of lighting technology will be the preferred method of tomorrow, but I do know one thing. Lighting technology is changing rapidly, and improving almost daily. From LED and OLED technology to lighting control to daylighting systems, the industry is rapidly improving on technologies that are becoming less expensive and more desirable in the marketplace.

While it’s impossible to predict which companies and technologies will win out, there are some questions we can ask ourselves to leave the open-ended modularity necessary produce low-cost retrofits in the future. Here are some examples:

Are you thinking about ballast/driver placement in ceilings, walls, and floors? Are they integral to the lighting fixture or remote? If you needed to replace them could a contractor do it easily or would they have to cut open ceilings and walls?

Are you specifying LEDs? Are they integral to the lighting fixture or on a module that can be removed? If it’s the former, how easy will it be to replace the fixture in 5 or 6 years?

Are you specifying more conventional lamps? How easy will it be for your client to stay on spec as lamps get replaced? Have you speced lamps that will survive forthcoming code restrictions? Do you have a more effiecient backup in mind for when you client calls in 2014?

These aren’t crystal ball questions, they are the other side of sustainability. As lighting professionals we often think about lumens per watt or control methods to reduce energy consumption. But we rarely think about the embodied energy of our fixture manfucaturing, or the dry wall, or the construction to put these fixtures in place. Solid design endures and in today’s climate it should be able to endure code changes, manufacturing changes, and technological improvements.

So, is your project ready for the future?