Hot Topics in Lighting for 2021: GUV Lighting & Smart Poles
Article Courtesy of Gresco Lighting
GUV Lighting
Nothing is as certain as change! Just when we have settled on our LED options, finished the evaluations, the rates, communicated throughout our organizations what happens? Upgrades, that’s what! And no, this is not large fries with that Big Mac. It is not that easy; it is more like getting off the weight of that large fries with the Big Mac! We have some work to do here.
So, what kind of change? It will depend on your LED vendor alignment, but we are seeing major upgrades across several vendors in LED drivers. Cooper Lighting Solutions has changes to many products with a new light engine that performs +/- 13% better than the AF Series in Archeon, Navion, Galleon and in the decorative LXF/LXT and UTLD Series. Does that sound like your product mix? These changes also happen with no changes in the appearance of these products.
Do not stress, we are behind the scenes working on the appropriate recommendations, reducing stock levels of the older generation, and contacting customers to roll this change out effectively. As your lighting provider, it hits us hard too, but along with changes comes opportunity! We could potentially improve the bottom line by providing a product that uses lower wattage to produce the same or greater lumen output. We have been busy since December looking at what you are using and discussing what you need. Do you want more light? Do you want the same amount of light at lower wattage? What costs are associated? How does the change work with hold tickets? Thankfully, this is not our first rodeo and we have built in processes to keep products flowing through significant changes from our vendors.
For this Covid weary world we offer a bright spot (although you really can’t see it) – GUV or Germicidal Ultraviolet Disinfection. Ultraviolet light can disarm viruses including Covid, and eliminate bacteria, mold, and fungi.
We are busy working on our Gresco Corporate facility restrooms and training space so that we can safely bring back training opportunities. To do this, we are using two types of technology – one to disinfect surfaces and one to actively disinfect airborne contaminants. You can read up on the products here: Cooper Lighting GUV Disinfecting Brochure. Look for updates once we have this installed!
Smart Poles
On another topic and trend for 2021, comes Smart Poles. Did you get a 5G phone for Christmas? These phones will drive the build out of 5G, mostly in metropolitan areas, but it is coming. What does this have anything to do with lighting? Do you have a beautiful downtown streetscape with lighting and decorative poles, and it is a notable part of the ambience that makes your community stand out? Now you are asked to support providers asking for a dense population of 5G antennae! Will you use more poles? Will you control the style? What is this going to look like in your downtown? Solution: Hapco Smart Pole solutions with multi-chambers to allow lighting circuits separate from the network providers without adding additional locations in the streetscape. This not only works for 5G but can provide solutions for cameras, along with all sorts of detection devices like atmospheric and gunshot detection. Contact your Gresco Lighting representative for simple to fully decorative units to match your existing downtown!
