Saying goodbye to a lamp that shaped our industry

Although the appendix of the EU directive explicitly lists use in explosion-protected areas as an exception, there are still knock-on effects on the industrial sector; since the quantity of fluorescent lamps being produced will decrease significantly, the prices of the few light sources that are still officially available to purchase will skyrocket. This will make the use of LED light fittings as fully-fledged alternatives to fluorescent lamps profitable, as an ROI of less than two years will be feasible, even in difficult circumstances. In the past, light fittings were typically sold without a lamp – they are now competing with light fittings that come fully equipped with all the light sources they require.

It is all the more important to ensure that all previously required light colours are available. While fluorescent lamps with lamp code 840 (colour temperature 4000 K and colour rendering >80) were very popular for indoor lighting, lamps with a higher colour temperature were used for outdoor lighting and in certain geographical regions – lamp code 865 here refers to a colour temperature of 6500 K and colour rendering >80. LED light fittings must fulfil all these requirements.

It seems that there is still some way to go until LEDs will be able to offer all the features of a fluorescent lamp. However, LEDs already have one thing that definitely gives them an edge over fluorescent lamps. They have a future; sadly, fluorescent lamps do not.