A Masterclass in Lighting Design

30 April, 2010

The days of the energy-guzzling incandescent light bulb are numbered, but as I found out when I visited lighting design company John Cullen this week for a lighting design masterclass, replacing the old-fashioned tungsten filament lamp is no simple matter.

Incandescent lamps waste 95 per cent of the energy they consume as heat, so adopting more efficient light sources is an obvious and effective way to reduce energy consumption.

Incandescent bulbs over 100 watts were phased out last year, and by 2013 there will be a total UE ban on all GLS (General Lighting Service lamps, more commonly known as incandescent bulbs).

John Cullen is running a series of lighting design masterclasses with the company's design director Sally Storey, offering plenty of useful information on how to get the best out of low-energy and energy-efficient light sources.

The designers at the company's showroom in Chelsea have set up a 'lamp bar' to compare the different kinds of light bulb, and the difference is illuminating. While LED lights are beginning to offer a real alternative to incandescent or halogen bulbs, the colour of the light they give is noticeably 'colder', and they don't function nearly as well as traditional bulbs when operated on a dimmer switch.

'I don't think LEDs are the solution for everything yet, says Storey. 'People say that we'll get used to the cold light from LEDs, but I'm not so sure.'

But Storey is hopeful that the light quality of LED's and other more efficient light sources will improve significantly. In the meantime, Storey, who talked the class through some of her exquisitely designed lighting schemes, has found that combing or 'layering' different kinds of light sources can produce amazing affects while reducing energy consumption. One particularly impressive example of which was a staircase lit using a combination of LEDs and other light sources, which requires only 7 watts - unthinkable with incandescent or halogen bulbs alone!

John Cullen is running two more lighting design master classes on 15 June and 21 September. To book your place, go to www.johncullenlighting.co.uk