Notable innovations in lighting systems have been supporting the growth of the smart lighting market. Additionally, the widespread scope of application of intelligent lighting solutions across varied sectors has aided industry expansion. Increased emphasis on the implementation of technologically advanced solutions in smart city projects has also impelled product demand in recent years.
Smart lights are considered to be a key component of smart homes. Smart LED bulbs run on software that can be controlled either through an application, smart home assistance, or other smart accessories, which allows users to automate lights or control lighting in space remotely, thereby eliminating the requirement for conventional wall switches.
Notably, an appealing feature of these lights is that users can get them to turn on automatically by setting a schedule for them. Most smart lights are accompanied by a mobile application that helps users control the lights as well as set timers for them. Overall, smart lights are easy to set up and cost-effective as well as enhance productivity.
Moreover, the growing popularity of the Lighting as a Service (LaaS) model on account of its various advantages has also made smart lighting solutions more accessible. As per a report by Global Market Insights Inc., the smart lighting market size is estimated to exceed USD 20 billion by 2028.
Following are the major trends that are projected to massively impact the progress of the global smart lighting industry through the forecast timeline:
- High energy-efficiency of smart lights with advanced technological integration
Smart bulbs typically use LED technology and are thus, more energy-efficient than conventional incandescent lights and compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. In addition, smart bulbs enable users to dim the lights and utilize only as much electricity as they require as opposed to regular bulbs that constantly work on full brightness.
The mobile app also helps monitor energy consumption of smart bulbs in real-time, reducing unnecessary spending of energy. In office buildings, lighting load constitutes a sizable share of total power consumption, which has prompted significant research efforts to develop targeted solutions.
To that effect, a March 2022 Energy and Buildings study introduced a smart self-calibrating lighting control system devised to decrease this load by automatically adjusting according to daylight as well as occupancy, simultaneously offering personalized lighting to each occupant. The system quantifies occupancy and illuminance through sensors placed at each workstation, leveraging an unobtrusive self-calibration process.
2. Product adoption across varied industry verticals
Artificial lighting finds constant usage in everyday life, both in home and office spaces, impacting visibility in indoor as well as outdoor settings. In the past few years, different types of smart lighting systems have become available in the market and researchers have been focusing on assessing their usability and efficacy, particularly for public, office, and private spaces. This has broadened the scope of application of smart lights across diverse industries.
To cite an instance, smart lighting solutions have exhibited potential for use in the order picking process in the logistics sector, wherein they can enhance order picking & operational performance, improve worker well-being, and reduce energy usage. Other than the industrial sector, the residential segment has witnessed an upsurge in the utilization of these solutions.
Most smart lights come with an app that helps users control the lights. Many smart lights can also be controlled through voice assistants like Siri, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant as well as remotely. This has helped smart lights to be easily integrated into the smart home model, which is driving product uptake in wide-ranging applications.
3. Smart city projects fueling product demand in key regions
Existing infrastructure networks in cities provide residents with public lighting, energy, transport, communication, and other services. Replacing or updating these aging infrastructures is usually conducted independently from each other. However, there is massive untapped potential in advancing and integrating these networks. As part of smart city projects, smart connected lighting has gained importance as an energy-saving lighting solution.
About 360 million streetlights are slated to exist globally by 2029 and currently, only a quarter of them use LED lamps. In effect, smart lighting promises 50-70% reduction in energy consumption. During the ongoing pandemic, the smart lamppost could play a vital role in COVID-19 Response and Recovery by managing crowds through CCTV and encouraging the public to get back onto the streets safely, for instance, which poses considerable economic and mental health advantages.
Moreover, soaring usage of smart technology would improve the image of a city, attracting more investments and visitors. Remarkably, the Smart Cities Marketplace Initiative in Europe has realized the benefits of sensible monitoring applications in offsetting the additional expenses of powering and infrastructure maintenance for providing a broader set of services. Consequently, high incorporation of intelligent lighting in smart cities is augmenting smart lighting market growth.
4. Increasing efforts by smart lighting companies to bolster product uptake
In residential settings, the concept of smart lights has emerged as a crucial aspect of the smart home concept where their primary objective is to promote user convenience, comfort, and security, while accommodating the lighting needs of residents. The rising number of smart lighting bulbs in homes has expanded the application scope of these systems in residential settings and their effects on energy performance and well-being.
To quote an instance, in November 2021, Bridgelux, a leading innovative LED solutions provider, introduced Thrive 93, its range of innovative LED products with a unique formula suitable for high efficiency as well as natural light-like spectrum. The novel product can create stable LED solutions that represent the closest match to natural light in the critical wavelength range i.e., from blue to green, for human health.
Bridgelux’s Thrive range leverages a broad-blue chip technology and a specific phosphor blend to bridge the cyan gap that is commonly observed in most LED solutions. The enriched blue spectrum and full spectrum coverage offer several benefits like better eye comfort, emotional well-being, and sleep cycle. Mounting availability of similar solutions developed by smart lighting companies is impelling business growth.
Will smart lights shape the future of the lighting industry?
With prominent advantages associated with the use of smart lighting, there are still some challenges impeding its growth in the lighting sector. A major hurdle in product adoption is that smart light bulbs are yet to be perfected in terms of their incorporation in smart homes.
Some other challenges obstructing the uptake of these systems include high initial cost and data privacy concerns, among others. Nonetheless, despite a few challenges, smart lighting systems offer numerous advantages and are increasingly finding applications across multiple industries, which is foreseen to support smart lighting market growth in the future.
