Global lighting technology giants Philips

GLOBAL LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY GIANTS

Philips is a global leader in lighting technology and complete lighting solutions. Industry Europe takes a closer look at the world’s foremost lighting company and how its cutting-edge LED technology benefits consumers and retailers worldwide whilst helping to protect the environment.

Philips has led the world in lighting technology since it was founded in 1891 by Anton and Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company began by manufacturing carbon-filament lamps and by the turn of the century had become one of the largest producers in Europe. Stimulated by the growing industrial revolution in Europe, Philips set up its first research laboratory which was responsible for groundbreaking innovations such as the X-ray and radio technology.

Over the years Philips has continued to be responsible for many innovative technological breakthroughs that have enriched people’s everyday lives worldwide.

Philips Lighting is the leading provider of lighting solutions and applications for both the professional and consumer markets. The company addresses lighting needs across the full spectrum of living environments from homes, shops, offices, schools factories and hospitals, to residential areas, sports arenas and street lighting. In addition Philips Lighting delivers light-inspired visual enhancements through architectural and city beautification projects. The company’s lighting is also used for specific applications, including horticulture, refrigeration lighting and signage, as well as heating, water purification and healthcare applications.

Today Philips is an innovative global leader in its many business disciplines and employs more than 120,000 people in over 60 countries. The company is also a global leader in energy-efficient lighting solutions in areas such as road lighting, office and industrial applications as well as in hospitality and home environments. Currently Philips employs more than 53,000 people in its lighting sector and remains committed to creating a sustainable future with exciting, new lighting technologies.

Philips’ sustainability focus is evident in some of the high profile contracts it has completed in recent years. For example, in February this year (2015) it completed the upgrade of 10 ships for Europe’s leading holiday cruise company, Costa Cruises. More than 300,000 Philips LED lights have been installed to enable a 60 per cent reduction in the energy used to power each ship’s lighting.

A powerful partnership

In April this year, Royal Philips announced that its Philips Hue personal wireless lighting can now be controlled through Apple Watch. Philips Hue is part of a seamless ecosystem covering bulbs, lamps and controls, as well as integration with the Apple HomeKit.

According to Eric Rondolat, CEO at Philips Lighting: “We know that light is at the heart of the digital home. With Apple Watch you can instantly adapt Philips Hue lighting to suit every moment and occasion. Together we are making personalised lighting simpler and more accessible through the convenience of Apple Watch.”

Apple Watch uses the widgets from the Philips Hue app to control the lights in the home. If the geofencing is activated on a user’s iPhone, they will get a notification on their Apple Watch to inform them that the lights are on as they arrive home – meaning they no longer need to look for the switch in the dark. Also through Apple Watch, precise personalisation of lighting is possible within the same room.

Innovative street lighting

Last year, Philips Lighting announced the establishment of a joint partnership with Ericsson to launch an innovative new connected LED street lighting model. The partnership solves two major issues that cities are facing today: providing citizens with improved network performance in dense urban areas as well as high quality, public lighting that is energy efficient.

Philips and Ericsson combine the benefits of mobile connectivity and LED lighting in a ‘lighting-as-a-service’ model for cities. It allows city authorities to offer space within their connected lighting poles to network service providers for mobile broadband infrastructure. Philips will now offer cities LED street lighting that can include mobile telecoms equipment from Ericsson. Mobile operators working with Ericsson for mobile broadband infrastructure will be able to rent space in the poles. In this way, mobile network operators will be able to improve data coverage and capacity for citizens, resulting in enhanced mobile broadband services. The model also accelerates the payback time for city infrastructure, by making the up-front costs of installing and managing these systems more affordable, so reducing the strain on city budgets.

Philips LED street lighting can generate energy savings of 50 to 70 per cent, with savings reaching 80 per cent when coupled with smart controls – as validated by a study conducted by The Climate Group in 12 of the world’s largest cities.

Focus on sustainability

Philips Lighting has made the issue of sustainability a core part of its strategy. In the US alone fluorescent lighting consumes around 200 terawatts-hours of electricity annually. If all of these lights were replaced with Philips Lighting’s 200 lm/W TLED’s, the US would use around 100 terawatts-hours less energy, which is equivalent to the output of 50 medium sized power plants. This would represent a saving of more than US$12 billion and prevent about 60 million metric tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.

In order to meet the growing global demand for sustainability, the Technology Foundation STW and Philips have taken the initiative to form a new ‘sustainability’ partnership. With eight key research project proposals already approved, the programme was officially launched on 16th April 2013. The aim of these projects is to develop innovative, efficient lighting that will also be available for entirely new applications. This important five-year programme has had three million euros allocated to it and each party will contribute 50 per cent each to the research fund.

Global lighting continues to increase significantly worldwide, partly due to the shift to a 24-hour economy and by the year 2050 global lighting consumption is expected to be almost three times higher than it is today. Therefore much more energy efficient lighting needs to be developed. This adds to the vital research being carried out by the ‘Advanced Sustainable Lighting Solutions’ partnership, which is working towards high-efficiency, attractive and affordable lighting that is also developed in an environmentally responsible way. Such optimised lighting systems can contribute considerably to the solutions for social change in a variety of key areas such as food production, health and well-being. n