The winners of this year’s Lighting for Tomorrow competition was announced today during the American Lighting Association (ALA) Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. The judging panel included enLIGHTenment Magazine’s Editorial Director Linda Longo.
The annual program challenges manufacturers to develop residential lighting products that successfully incorporate advances in both design and energy efficiency. By recognizing exceptional new products, Lighting for Tomorrow seeks to meet consumer expectations and leap over market barriers that typically inhibit the adoption and use of energy-efficient residential lighting products.
This year’s competition reflected several key technology developments and market trends:
• The market is witnessing a reinvigorated drive for simplicity and user-friendliness in connected or smart lighting products.
• The success of a decorative luminaire is often due to the way the designer uses various materials in conjunction with LEDs, as well as the combination of functional lighting and a sophisticated artistic appearance.
• Ceiling fixtures with flat luminous surfaces, as well as traditional slim under-cabinet fixtures, have become even thinner thanks to optical plastics and tiny LEDs designed to uniformly edge-light large diffuse surfaces.
• LED filament bulbs are becoming larger and more decorative in their filament design, some even acting as functional light sources in their own right rather than just luminous decorations for dim environments.
The 2017 judging panel met on June 6-8 at the UL University facility in North Carolina and reviewed 130+ products, including LED indoor fixtures, LED outdoor fixtures, LED retrofit kits, LED replacement lamps, OLEDs, lighting control devices, connected lighting products, and ceiling fan lights. The judges were pleased to see outstanding products demonstrating developments in form factor and construction while taking advantage of solid-state lighting technology.
• From among the decorative fixture submissions, the judges designated two winners, an honorable mention, and a design award. The Blackjack Lighting Iridium pendant and Project Greener Planet Dharma are winners; AFX, Inc. Post receives an honorable mention; and the Hubbardton Forge Zephyr LED pendant is given the Judges’ Design Award.
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• The task lighting fixture category resulted in four winners and an honorable mention. The winners are the Good Earth Lighting 3-Head, Motion-Activated Flood Light and three products from WAC Lighting: Duo AC LED Color Option Light Bar, Silo X20, and Oculux. L’Image Home Products takes an honorable mention for the Dimmable Ultra Slim LED Undercabinet Wave with Integrated Wave Sensor.
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• Replacement lamp winners are Bulbrite Industries LED Filament Bulb T6 and the GREEN CREATIVE REFINE Series PAR38. Honorable mentions — with the additional designation of being the best 60- and 100-watt equivalents respectively — are Bulbrite Industries’ LED A19 and MaxLite’s LED A21 lamp.
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• Connected or “smart” lighting winners are: Acuity Brands Lighting’s 6SL Bluetooth Speaker Light by Lithonia Lighting and Leviton Manufacturing Co.’s Decora Smart with Wi-Fi Technology Universal LED/Incandescent Dimmer.
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• The emerging technologies winner is the OTI Lumionics Aerelight A1, with Acuity Brands Lighting Lithonia Lighting LED Grow Light and Dolan Designs Inc. Scene Master Chandelier collecting honorable mentions.
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• The judges selected Special Recognition Awards for four products that have notable attributes or fulfill a market or lighting application need. Products meeting a particular market need are Globe Electric Company (USA) Inc.’s G40 LED Vintage Filament Bulb, which provides a large-sized LED option for additional design applications, and LEDVANCE SYLVANIA’s Ultra LED 3-Way A21 lamp which has higher wattage equivalent outputs than previous LED 3-way bulbs. A special recognition award for filament design goes to Globe Electric Company’s A19 LED Spiral Filament Bulb. The PlanLED epikós receives special recognition award for being especially senior-friendly.
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• The Emerson Volta ceiling fan receives the Judges’ Challenge Award, which includes a special call to action for the ceiling fan industry. As more ceiling fan companies incorporate LED, they must carefully consider attributes of LED lighting and the impact of the fan on design to enable a positive customer experience.
The award-winning products are showcased in a printed brochure and on the Lighting for Tomorrow Web site. In addition, the awarded products and companies will be featured in videos, lighting publications, and trade show exhibits throughout the coming year. To download the brochure and access complete details on the competition, visit www.lightingfortomorrow.com.
Lighting for Tomorrow is sponsored by the American Lighting Association (ALA), the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) and UL. Over one dozen energy efficiency organizations across the U.S. and Canada participated in supporting the 2017 competition as co-sponsors.
