As an increasing amount of attention is paid to the exponential growth in certain progressive areas of global lighting markets - notably that of energy efficient solutions - a new study has predicted that the smart lighting market will be worth $6.8 billion (£4.5 billion) by 2018.
This would equate to a compound annual growth rate of 36 per cent starting this year, which the study puts down to "lighting control systems, energy efficiency, development in electronics and sensor technology, eradication of incandescent lamps, favourable government policies and evolution of novel wireless technology".
According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the demand for 'intelligent' lighting is increasing at a "tremendous" rate, perhaps helped by the fact that more and more people are looking for energy efficient solutions as the price of electricity continues to rise.
'Smart lighting' is controlled by certain environmental or external factors, aside from a conventional on-off switch. They include - but are not limited to - systems which switch on and off depending on whether a person is present or not, or outdoor lighting which reacts to daylight hours and switches on once it has got dark.
An example of the effective use of smart lighting would be a recent initiative announced last month by Derbyshire County Council to replace lights in bus shelters across the county with LED lighting, which will only turn on during hours of darkness. Furthermore, the intensity of lighting at the shelters will gradually increase when someone is present at the bus stop. At other times, the lighting will dim to save energy.
Lighting which 'knows' when it is and isn't needed - and which can turn itself on and off accordingly - can unsurprisingly save consumers a vast amount of money on their bills, which would explain why the market is set to surge dramatically over the next five years.
