Almost 150 years ago, Thomas Edison realized that by heating a carbon rod to a certain temperature, it emitted light and thereby created the first marketable incandescent bulb. For decades this was the method used to light homes, offices and city streets around the world, but after a few years, they noticed that this is not the most efficient way.
In the 1970s, in the midst of the oil crisis, there was a new way of emitting light that was more economical than the incandescent lamp, the halogen. This has the same operating method as above, it only has a tungsten filament, while the other has a carbon one. However, with the growing popularity of ecological causes, halogen lamps were gradually giving way to LEDs, which peaked in the mid-2000s.
With the promise of a lower energy expenditure – studies prove that an LED lamp can save 50% more energy than incandescent – and a durability 10 times longer than any other lamp this lighting medium has been growing more and more over the years. years. An Abilux survey released at the end of 2017 pointed out that consumption of this type of lamp should increase 10% per year by 2022. With this accelerated growth, a recent study by Million Insights pointed out that by 2025 the global market for LED lamps should be worth 108 billion dollars.
Nowadays, with technology constantly advancing and people’s need to increasingly have almost complete control over all the objects they have, the connectivity between all – or most – of these articles is of utmost importance. For this reason, it was created, what is called today Internet of Things (IoT), a network of interconnectivity between physical objects, vehicles and even buildings that have a technology capable of collecting and transmitting data the LEDs have entered this network.
The most modern LED lamps today have the possibility of connecting with several other objects and even transmit the most diverse data to the smartphone of those who command them. Its simplest of commands is to turn the light on and off, even more complex like copying the colour grid of a photo and transmitting it in the house. The LED, among other technological lamps, is part of what is called Smart Lighting.
In addition, with technology increasingly focused on the day-to-day ease of their users as well as their safety, the newest creation in terms of Intelligent Lighting is LiFi, created by Signify, a leader in the global lighting market. As reported by journalist Anna Kellen, from TechTudo, this product “looks like science fiction” because it transmits, through the light, data between devices, the same as traditional Wi-Fi. Signify studies point out that LiFi can be up to 100 times faster than Wi-Fi and has greater security than the latter.
With all this in mind and the increasingly imminent proximity of smart cities and homes, there remains the pertinent doubt pointed out by a participant in the Connected Lighting 2018 event that took place on Thursday, August 9 in São Paulo: “Will the lamps, with so many utilities and innovations, continue to transmit light?”
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