“Smart” lamps combine technology breakthroughs in wireless communications and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Often controlled by a smartphone app, these lamps can dim, change colour and shift to new scenes all by simply touching your phone. However, the lamps consume energy even when they are not in use. The standby functions drastically increase the lamp’s total energy use and the standby energy can easily be larger than the energy used for providing lighting. In order to better understand smart lighting features and their associated energy use, the IEA 4E SSL Annex is studing the energy performance of smart wireless lamps and luminaires.
