Osram to spin off from Siemens, with further job cuts

Subject to shareholder approval, Siemens will spin off its lighting subsidiary Osram next year as a separate company. After shelving plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares, due to unfavorable market conditions, Siemens will hand over 80.5% of the Osram business to existing Siemens shareholders.

By avoiding the IPO route, the deal becomes “more independent of capital market conditions,” said Siemens. As an independent company, Osram will have access to more flexible financing options.

However, Siemens wants to retain a level of control in its subsidiary; Siemens AG will hold 17% of shares in the devolved Osram, while the Siemens pension fund will hold 2.5%. If the deal is approved by a 75% majority at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on January 23, 2013, then Siemens’ shareholders will receive one Osram share for every ten Siemens shares.

The discussion to make Osram a separate company has been going on for a couple of years. Siemens announced in March 2011 that it would conduct an IPO in fall of that year. The IPO was delayed due to the state of market – both the lighting market and the overall global climate – and then subsequently cancelled.

Osram is the world’s second-largest lighting company, behind Philips, and has annual sales of around EUR 5 billion.

While getting ready to split from Siemens, Osram is already under a major restructuring program involving the loss of thousands of jobs. The aim is to save a total of EUR 1 billion by 2015.

The job losses, both in Germany and internationally, are mostly via the closure of manufacturing plants that make products that are reaching the end of their product lifecycles.

But elsewhere, Osram is investing in its capabilities to manufacture products using newer lighting technologies – or, in its own words, “building up capacities in future-oriented business areas.” This reflects the changes being seen throughout the lighting industry.

For example, Osram has inaugurated a new halogen production line at its Eichstättlocation, and construction of a second line is already underway.

The company also plans to invest “a low three-digit million euro figure” over the coming years in its LED assembly plant in the Chinese province of Jiangsu. This plant will manufacture products for key segments of the Chinese market and the entire Asia region. In five years’ time, Osram expects this region to account for around half of the global general-lighting market.

OLED luminaire from WILA wins Osram design competition

At the recent Lux Live tradeshow in London, Osram held an OLED luminaire design contest entitled “The Artist”. The competition gave designers a chance to use a range of OLED components from Osram to create their own masterpiece, with the winner receiving GBP1000. 

Judged by visitors to the stand, the winner was Christopher Vater of WILA, with the O-Ledic concept.

Vater (left) of WILA, and Osram's Cathcart

Ian Cathcart, National Sales Manager, OEM, Osram UK, said: “Congratulations to our worthy winner, Christopher Vater, a Product Designer at WILA, for harnessing the incredible possibilities of OLED with a design that impressed all the visitors to the Osram stand. Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Osram, which is why we were keen to run a competition to inspire the next generation of designers.” 

O-Ledic design from WILA

The modular O-Ledic design includes two types of panels, which can go either in the center or at the end of a strip. And as shown in the image below, the strips can be built into any number of shapes and designs.

Over the last few years, tradeshow visitors have seen many OLED luminaire designs, although these should be considered prototypes rather than true products. Companies such as Osram, which manufactures and supplies OLED panels, are waiting patiently for the market to develop.

Designers enjoy the new design freedoms offered by OLEDs, especially their ultra-thin format. As planar, surface-emitting light sources that don’t require reflectors or lenses, the OLED light sources essentially become the luminaire, so minimalism is the order of the day. And if the manufacturers such as Osram eventually succeed in offering flexible OLED components that can be curved into different shapes, this will offer yet another design dimension.

OLEDs might be the technology behind the thinnest planar light sources – in the same ways that OLED TVs offer ultrathin form factors – but LED panels offer an alternative. And currently, compared to OLEDs, the LED is mature, stable and reliable.

In fact, Osram was also showing at Lux Live a neat luminaire, the Silento, based on LED edge-lit panels that can be adjusted to direct the light as required. Available now, and considerably cheaper than an OLED prototype. 

Osram's Silento LED-based luminaire

Intelligent lighting controls to grow hand in hand with commercial LED lighting market

The ongoing adoption of LED lighting in commercial buildings, alongside new wireless technology, is fueling related growth in the market for intelligent lighting controls. So says a recent report from Pike Research, which estimates that the global market for intelligent lighting controls will expand from $1.5 billion in 2012 to more than $4.3 billion in 2020.

Pike says that the falling cost of LED lighting is triggering lighting-retrofit projects in many existing commercial buildings. Since LEDs are particularly well-suited to digital control, it is an easy step for many building owners to incorporate additional lighting intelligence at the same time.

Such intelligence can take the form of photosensors, dimming ballasts and dimming controls, along with the communications and interfaces necessary to tie controls into a building-management system. Strategies such as occupancy sensing, daylight sensing, and building-wide networks are all starting to gain broad acceptance at the same time as greater energy efficiency is being required by building codes and regulations.

Major lighting companies such as Philips and Osram regularly discuss the transformation of the lighting industry, with the decline of the lamp-replacement business model, and the growing importance of LED “solutions” – meaning integrated lighting systems and networks.

"Building-wide lighting management systems have developed rapidly over the past few years, giving building managers better tools with more information and more control," said Pike’s senior research analyst Eric Bloom. "Rapid growth in sales is forcing controls vendors to develop products that can incorporate LEDs, or risk being left behind."

Central or distributed control?

While centrally-controlled lighting systems are on the rise, a competing trend is toward lighting systems with distributed intelligence. With the reduction in cost in miniature electronics, more sensors and control intelligence can be built directly into light fixtures. Fixtures in a room can communicate wirelessly with each other, allowing for room-level intelligence with a minimal amount of equipment, wiring, and expense. While systems like this will proliferate, the dominant trend is still expected to be greater central control as costs decrease, and as more building owners and managers understand the potential benefits, according to the report.

The report, "Intelligent Lighting Controls for Commercial Buildings", analyzes the global market opportunity for intelligent controls across nine building types: office, retail, education, healthcare, hotels & restaurants, institutional/assembly, warehouse, transport, and multi-unit residential. Pike Research is part of the global Energy Practice of Navigant (NYS: NCI). 

Halo 4 hits London skies

The night sky over London on Monday night was dominated by a huge orange shape, possibly mistaken for a UFO until you realized it was dangling from a giant helicopter.

Halo 4 glyph over Tower Bridge in central London (source: Cinimod Studio)

Turns out is was a stunt by Microsoft to promote the release of Halo 4, a new game for the Xbox 360 console. The “glyph” is the symbol of the game’s evil Didact.

Not surprisingly, LEDs (more than 110,00) were used to create the lighting effects, although energy efficiency was undoubtedly low on the list of priorities for the Xbox marketing team.  

(Source: Cinimod Studio)

The lighting effects were created by Cinimod Studio who described the glyph as “one of the largest and brightest man-made structures to ever fly over a capital city. The symbol measures 50 feet in diameter, weighs over 3.2 tons and was illuminated by 20 kW of pure orange LED light.

This Wired article contains a video showing how the structure was put together.

Lighting leads in UK greentech retrofits

A new energy-efficiency survey shows that lighting projects are predominant over other technology retrofits implemented in the UK over the last quarter.

The survey was released by performance analysis firm EEVS Insight, which said that energy efficiency is “firmly on the corporate radar.” Almost three-quarters of the 176 respondents had undertaken energy-saving projects in the last three months. Respondents were from a wide range of commercial consumers (142) and energy-efficiency technology and services suppliers (34).

Lighting was the most popular technology grouping: of 457 projects commissioned in the last three months, 25% were lighting-related.

Key survey results from Energy Efficiency Trends report (source: EEVS) 

Naturally, major financial gains were expected by most consumers, with almost eight out of ten expecting projects to pay for themselves within five years. EEVS said this represented a broad 20% annual return on investment. Put into context, in the last 12 months the FTSE-100 Index returned 5.4%, the All Share Index 6.8%, and UK real estate just 3.5%.

Ian Jeffries, EEVS Head of Commercial, said that “commercial energy efficiency does appear to represent a tremendous investment opportunity.”

However, Jeffries also said that the survey has highlighted a major paradox. “While consumers have robust financial expectations, the survey also shows that energy-saving performance – the key driver of financial returns – is rarely measured in a robust and uniform manner,” he said.

As a result, consumers may be unaware of the real financial gains being generated by their energy-efficiency investments, a situation that contrasts sharply with established investment sectors such as equities or real estate. 

Among other survey results, shows that 7 out of 10 projects (70%) were financed using in-house sources of finance. Third-party finance from banks and other financial institutions was largely unused (5%).

The survey also showed general dissatisfaction with the UK government, with respect to its management of both energy-efficiency policy and the wider economy, as the chart below shows.

UK government effectiveness for promoting energy efficiency  (source: EEVS)

EEVS Insight plans to update its Energy Efficiency Trends report each quarter. 

Worst Automotive Applications of LEDs

The Jalopnik website has an excellent top ten of the worst automotive applications of LEDs...in their opinion. See if you agree. Or send us your own examples.

Auroralia Award and LED fixtures in the Grand Place, Brussels

Last week, I visited in Belgium in order to participate in the judging for the 2012 Auroralia Award. This competition, described in more detail below, aims to reward the best initiatives in sustainable urban lighting, and is organized jointly by LUCI and lighting manufacturer Schréder.

On the same trip, Schréder provided a tour and presentation on the project to illuminate the historic architecture of the Grand Place in center of Brussels (see photo). The location is a UNESCO world heritage site and - once the LED lighting scheme is complete - visitors will be able to enjoy the remarkable buildings after dark. 

Hotel de Ville, Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium (photo courtesy of Schréder).

The lighting scheme includes 1600 BaroLED linear fixtures from Schréder, which had to be placed in locations so that they are not visible when viewed from below.

The scheme was created by the lighting designers Isabelle Corten, Louis Dandrel and Patrick Rimoux. LED lighting allows the buildings to be bathed in white light, but the central control system also enables the implementation of dynamic RGB programmes for different events.

The first phase of the project was inaugurated in early October 2012 when the City Hall (pictured) was illuminated. The illumination of the other facades, the sound system and central control system are currently being installed to finish the project in June 2013.

Auroralia Award

The Auroralia Award winners will be announced in Lyon, France, on December 7, 2012, as part of the city's Festival of Lights (Fête des lumières).

A total of 16 projects were evaluated, ranging in size from small test installations involving tens of fixtures, to the behemoth that is Los Angeles, which has already installed more than 100,000 LED street lights.

OLED lighting market to reach $1.7 billion by 2020

Despite support from some of the biggest players in the global lighting industry, OLED lighting products have been slow to penetrate the market. At Light+Building in April this year, OLED panels and prototype lighting fixtures were easy to find, but price tags are high and sales volumes are low.

While OLED displays are a well-established technology, particularly in the smart-phone market, the promised take-off of the OLED lighting market has seen many false dawns. Market research firm Yole Développement estimates that sales of OLED lighting panels will amount to only $2.8 million in 2012.

OLED lighting market 2012-2020

However, Yole is predicting solid growth during the remainder of the decade, with the market reaching $1.7 billion by 2020. Growth will be driven mainly by general-lighting applications, which will represent more than 70% of the overall OLED lighting business in 2020.

In many lighting applications, OLEDs will compete with LED-based products, which have already made inroads into the market and have introduced some of the benefits of solid-state lighting – notably energy efficiency. OLED lighting is struggling with factors such as low efficacy compared with other technologies (not just LEDs), as well as higher costs and long-term reliability issues.

As a planar light source, OLED lighting offers exciting design possibilities that have seen the technology used in high-end luminaires and other niche applications. To access traditional market segments, such as commercial and office lighting, Yole says that OLED technology “will need to find a spark, as well as combine enough different niche markets to achieve the economies of scale that will decrease costs.” Yole believes this should be triggered by 2014 with the use of larger substrates and better process control.

Technology developments

As is typical for an emerging technology, a large variety of materials and OLED structures are still being evaluated and researched in order to improve the light performance and lifetime, and to decrease manufacturing costs.

OLEDs on the Philips stand at Light+Building 2012

There is still uncertainty whether the more successful material approach will be small-molecule OLED materials or polymer materials. However, Yole says that polymers continue to struggle to demonstrate the ability to turn their cost and performance potential into an industrial reality.

All OLED lighting panels in production use rigid glass substrates. However, progress in roll-to-roll processing, flexible ultra-thin glass and encapsulation solutions will enable the progressive penetration of flexible OLED panels into the lighting market.

Business models

The rise of OLED lighting will depend on the strategies adopted by OLED panel manufacturers. “New business models are mandatory: the traditional lighting industry will be reluctant to integrate new technology as it could eat away at margins,” explains Milan Rosina, technology & market analyst for OLED & Photovoltaics at Yole Développement. “OLED cost directly impacts the cost of OLED-based luminaires.”

Risona predicts that companies will struggle to integrate OLED technology into their lighting products, unless they have strong vertical integration. But they will also need good access to distribution channels. “The rise of OLED lighting will therefore depend on the right merger of the emerging OLED industry with the traditional lighting industry,” says Yole.

Moreover, for general lighting, the main challenge for OLEDs will be to identify the “spark” market that will allow the technology to develop economies of scale, and to create a marketing window conveying advantages and possibilities of the technology toward consumers.

Lux Awards 2012 presentation recognizes lighting excellence

The Lux Awards were presented on November 6 as part of the LuxLive tradeshow, which took place in London on November 6-7. The awards recognize the lighting industry’s top manufacturers, boldest clients, latest technologies and most inspiring installations. Winners were chosen in 16 categories covering architectural lighting, retrofit projects, urban lighting, retail lighting, new interior and exterior products, and innovations in the areas of light sources and controls.

Full details of the winners and all short-listed entries can be seen on the Lux Magazine website.  The Lux Awards are presented by Lux in association with the UK's Lighting Industry Association. 

Controls Innovation of the Year

WINNER: 50W LED Driver Platform – EldoLED

EldoLED’s Solodrive 561 is a 0-10V dimmable, constant-current LED driver. Dimming is smooth all the way down to zero. Solodrive’s two LED outputs offer the possibility of driving a high-power 50W LED array connected to a single output, or driving two strings of 15 LEDs at 350mA. LEDcode allows easy extension of the Solodrive’s feature set with time, motion and brightness-based intelligence. Judges described it as a ‘clever package’ and were impressed with its smooth dimming to zero output, a rarity in LED control.

Light Source Innovation of the Year  

WINNER: E-Core Candle – Toshiba

The E-Core LED 6W Candle from Toshiba delivers a 250-lumen replacement for a traditional 25W incandescent lamp without compromising on the quality of the light. The design of the virtual filament inside the E-Core Candle LED gives the illusion of a traditional lamp and directs the light in a uniform and elegant manner perfect for chandeliers, table lamps and wall-mounted decorative luminaires. Judges said this LED lamp ‘had the soul of an incandescent candle lamp’. It looked ‘fabulous even when dimmed’.

Exterior Luminaire of the Year  

WINNER: Aeroblades – Cree and Speirs + Major

Aeroblades is the result of a collaboration between independent lighting design practice Speirs + Major and LED manufacturer Cree in which the two companies set out to produce the next generation of urban amenity lighting. With over 20 different optics, the range offers exceptional optical control with very high efficiency. The LEDs have been grouped into modules of ten to allow the luminaires to be scaled to meet a wide range of output requirements. Judges called it a ‘dramatic new form factor’ that was ‘truly innovative’ and ‘expertly executed’.

Interior Luminaire of the Year  

WINNER: Laser Blade – iGuzzini

iGuzzini’s Laser Blade is an LED indoor recessed fitting designed to deliver a concentrated, dramatic light that eliminates light beams that cross the eyes and which are not required to light the objects. The product is designed to produce a very concentrated light with a 25° cone. Laser Blade can also produce a general light, with 50° cones, with highly efficient lenses and with very little glare. The judges said the Laser Blade was ‘beautifully executed’ with ‘superb attention to detail’.

Recycling Award  

WINNER: Skinflint Design

Skinflint specialises in reclaimed lighting and salvaged lights with an emphasis on industrial fixtures. Fittings are restored, rewired and fitted with energy-efficient light sources, rescuing beautiful products from landfill or sale as scrap metal. The judges said: ‘Re-use like this has a role to play in low-energy lighting in the right environment and with the right light source.’

Retrofit Lighting Project of the Year  

WINNER: The Crown Jewels, Tower of London – Sutton Vane Associates

The £2.5 million refurbishment of the Jewel House at the Tower of London includes a relighting scheme by Sutton Vane Associates. It markedly improves the visitor’s visual experience and improves light output and efficiency. Judges were ‘blown away’ by this ‘once-in-a-lifetime project’ and cited a ‘stunning and highly sophisticated design’ that ‘made the jewels sing’.

Lighting design: Sutton Vane Associates -- Exhibition design: Ralph Appelbaum

Industrial Project of the Year  

WINNER: Royal Mail National Distribution Centre, Daventry – Philips Lighting

Philips and Romec collaborated to create a bespoke LED lighting scheme for Royal Mail at its Daventry distribution centre. Philips’ GentleSpace is a high-bay LED luminaire that replaces HID high-bays of up to 400W, enabling significant energy savings. The Royal Mail can expect savings of £9,000 a year in energy costs. Judges thought that the lighting installation was a ‘massive improvement’ on the previous scheme which delivered ‘big savings’ for the client.

Lighting design: Romec/Philips

Equipment: Philips GentleSpace

Commercial Project of the Year   

WINNER: Rothschild Bank, London – GIA Equation

GIA’s stunning scheme for Rothschild Bank is a worthy winner. The reception is illuminated with dimmable CMH downlighters. Daylight mimicking principles were used in all open-plan offices, using high-frequency dimmable T5 fluorescent luminaires with 3000K and 4000K lamps on alternate circuits. The meeting room floor is entirely lit by LED light sources using a combination of backlit fabric panels and LED downlights and wash lights. Judges described this as ‘a beautiful scheme’ with ‘great attention to detail’.

Lighting design: GIA Equation

Urban Lighting Project of the Year  

WINNER: Bradford City Park – Arup

Carefully balancing the lighting for differing pedestrian experiences at Bradford City Park, Arup has delivered a flexible, playful night-time setting while maintaining the functional city centre. City Park has enhanced the overall image of Bradford and has provided a catalyst for regeneration. Judges called it a ‘transformative project’ that is ‘socially inclusive’.

Lighting design: Arup -- Lighting columns and sculpture: Wolfgang Buttress -- Interactive public art: Haque Design + Research -- Equipment: WE-EF, Erco, Encapsulite, ElektoLED, Philips, E:Cue

Retail and Leisure Project of the Year  

WINNER: Morrisons Stanground – Morrisons plc and NG Bailey

The Morrisons Stanground site is Europe’s first all-LED store, reducing energy costs, maintenance costs and installation time all by around 50 per cent. The store also uses daylight harvesting, working alongside Dali-controlled luminaires, with lightlines going down the aisles as opposed to Morrisons’ traditional cross-aisle approach. The project ‘takes quality low-energy LED lighting to a mass audience,’ said the judges.

Architectural Lighting Project of the Year

WINNER: Worth Abbey Church, East Sussex – DPA Lighting Design

The new lighting scheme at Worth Abbey Church significantly improves light levels for ambient and task requirements, using much longer life lamps and offering easy-to-access maintenance. The scheme is now fully scene-set dimmable and reused the existing luminaires where possible. With its sophisticated use of controls, this project ‘does exactly what the client requires it to’, said the judges.

Lighting design: DPA Lighting Design -- Architect: Heatherwick Studio -- Equipment: Mike Stoane Lighting, ACDC, Philips Color Kinetics, Lutron

Client of the Year

WINNER: Waitrose – nominated by Synergy

A client with a strong energy reduction agenda who is ‘consistently open to new ideas’, said the judges. Waitrose’s  recently-opened Stratford store in east London is the world’s first Breeam ‘Outstanding’ retail project. Following successful trials at its Bracknell store, lighting one aisle with a specially designed 600 x 600mm LED module, Waitrose has lit the complete sales area of its new store in Stratford upon Avon with solid-state lighting. It is believed to be the first retail store in the UK to do this without exceeding an energy consumption of 10W/m2.

Manufacturer of the Year  

WINNER: Harvard Engineering

Judges described the growth of Harvard as ‘the stand-out success story of the British lighting industry in recent years’.  Its culture of ‘innovation and risk taking’ undoubtedly helped drive its growth to become one of the leaders in design, development and manufacture of electronic HID ballasts, LED drivers and control products. Its LeafNut wireless streetlighting control system has been a major technical success. The company has invested heavily in LED technology and the success of its CoolLED range of LED drivers has been a key contributor to growth. It has recently combined LeafNut with LED technology with the launch of its LeafNut-enabled CLP driver.

SLL Young Lighter of the Year  

WINNER: Sabine De Schutter

Lighting Design Practice of the Year  

WINNER: Sutton Vane Associates

For the ‘sheer quality’ of its output over the period from the Olympic Park landscaping and public realm – which was both ‘sympathetic and iconic’ – to the ‘flawless’ treatment of the Crown Jewels, judges said SVA was the outstanding lighting design practice in 2012. The Crown Jewels won the Retrofit Lighting Project category while the Olympic Park in London and Titanic Belfast were highly commended in the Urban Lighting and Architectural Lighting Project categories respectively.

Lux Person of the Year  

WINNER: Nigel Harvey, CEO, Recolight

The judges named Nigel Harvey the Lux Person of the Year to recognise his role in the ‘enormous sucess’ of Recolight, the leading compliance scheme for WEEE lamps in the UK. Under Harvey’s stewardship, the organisation has funded the recycling of over 125 million lamps, which has prevented a third of a tonne of mercury from entering landfill.

In 2010, lamps accounted for just two per cent of the tonnage of business electrical equipment placed on the market in the UK, but accounted for over 22 per cent of the business WEEE collected, according to Environment Agency figures. Much of the success is attributable to Harvey’s leadership and commitment to both the spirit and letter of the WEEE legislation.