subject: What is Commercial Lighting? [print this page] Author: Art Icklewright Author: Art Icklewright
Due the wide and varied nature of commercial premises e.g. factories, offices, public spaces, commercial lighting is in fact a broad term. What this kind of lighting has in common with domestic lighting is the need to save money, energy, and the environment without reducing the quality of the lighting. Commercial and domestic settings are also both subject to the new EU ruling which came into force in September to phase out incandescent bulbs in favour of more energy efficient energy saving bulbs and lamps / halogen and CFL bulbs.
Many of us may be familiar with the use of fluorescent lamps in e.g. office spaces. These gas discharge lamps combine the electricity with mercury in lamps / tubes to turn the ultra violet light produced into visible light that comes from the fluorescent effect generated by this reaction. Despite their bulkiness, these are much more energy efficient than incandescent lamps / bulbs. Other familiar commercial settings for most of us are shops. These could use a combination of light sources, but to pick an example, retail high street clothing or gift shops will need long lasting, reliable, energy efficient bright lights for displays and accent lighting, preferably that dont produce too much heat. Low voltage dichroic lamps work well for track and display lighting, are compact, have high efficacy and require low voltage. These multifaceted reflector lamps (MR) are compact and therefore flexible in how they can be deployed. LED lamps can also be very compact, and they can provide a bright focused light source that doesnt give off heat because they dont use heated filament and gas combinations to produce the light. For this reason they could be used to provide light near to products on sale to enhance their appearance, without fear of damaging the products. Other large public spaces, entertainment venues e.g. theatres, concert halls, stadiums etc, are likely to use intensely bright lamps that can light large areas if necessary such as (pressurized) metal halide lamps and parabolic aluminized reflector lamps (PAR lamps). Although there are lamps most likely to appear only in some larger commercial settings, it is likely that most commercial lighting will involve a combination of lighting types which also have domestic applications.About the Author:
