In this issue of e-power we speak to Mrs. Ekta Sanghvi, Principal, Lighting Concepts – a leading consulting firm that advising clients on all aspects of Lighting.
After completing her formal education in Electronics Engineering and Lighting, Ekta went for Design Certification from US and Germany. She assisted a few international lighting designers before founding Lighting Concepts, a firm focused on end to end advisory services in Lighting since 2004 based in Pune. Lighting Concepts also has LEED Consultants on board.
Ekta is an active member of IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America). A few of her landmark project include the EON Freezone IT Park at Kharadi, Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai and several high end residences across various Indian Cities. Presently she is associated with several leading Architects and Interior Designers for various projects in India as well as global markets.
LightScaping : Interesting Effects in Lighting – Download Presentation
What is your role as a lighting consultant?
Lighting is the most important dimension of architecture in addition to interior, exterior and civil. In conceptualizing, just like an architect creates a storyboard, we create lighting design boards. As a consultant we take ownership or end to end responsibility from conceptualization lighting theme with detail lighting design in Autocad including the layouts, looping layouts, budgeting, scheduling, fixture and light selection to installation assistance.
In lighting conceptualization we address to visual hierarchy, intensity levels, contrast engineering, light distribution, and any other specific requirements pertaining to ambience, creating focal points in interiors and exteriors.
Next we do integration with Building Management Systems. More importantly, we co-ordinate with Security people and ensure adequate light for clear visibility in areas monitored through CCTVs. Post execution, we again cross-verify if everything is done according to specification. We supervise in mounting, aiming and focusing of lights to achieve desired impact.
The project handover includes maintenance schedule or guide specifying the type of lamps used (luminaire, make, code etc.) maintenance and replacement procedures. This is applicable for lighting fixtures too, which may not be readily available. Most of the times, we have to be the last ones to handover our work to client.
What value do you bring to the project?
The value that we bring to the project is unique and specific to that project. For example, I would like to share our work in case of street lights. Now there is a urgent need to improve efficiency and effectiveness of Street lights. So we are working with the Muncipal Corporation to help them achieve about 80% savings in current energy consumption of street lights.
Today, the street lights consist of 2 X 250W bulbs. The distance between two street lights is twice the height of the street light pole. With improved design which intelligently uses reflectors and optics, we can use bulbs of just 2 X 70W and the distance between two poles can be extended to 4-5 times of the height of the pole. For this particular project our work not only brings in a huge savings in the power consumed but also helps save on capital expenditure for street lights.
How do you rate the current scenario of using expert help for lighting in the market?
Well, the awareness about lighting design was still low until recently. About six years ago, clients use to misunderstand us as a trader. Today, the situation is much better. There is greater awareness about the kind of ‘value’ that a lighting consultant brings to the project. People have seen, experienced our work, realized the benefits and that has got the ball rolling. So today, most of our business comes from referrals.
I believe the large companies that provide lighting products would also be providing consulting services?
Yes. The consulting services are essentially limited to advice on their range of products. But then in these cases the limitation of the product becomes the limitation of the project. That comes very differently with us. If I were to draw out the most important proposition that we bring to any project – it is unbiased advice where the requirements of the project comes first. In terms of brand or fixtures we have a whole palette around the world. Being an independent consultant allows us to be able to pick and choose the best of the available solutions, products and technologies in lighting.
What are the common/ typical mistakes in lighting?
Most common mistakes like, when in an interior downlights fixture where you have more than one CFL and when replace either usually there is a different color within the same fixture. This happens purely when there is a change in the color of lamp and then we complain.
I will not term it is as a mistake, but there is a tendency to pick up and use the latest thing available in the market without complete knowledge of the subject. For example, lately you will see that lot of people are using LED lighting. Often the reason sighted is energy savings. But what most don’t realize is that just the use of LEDs doesn’t mean you are saving on energy. In fact, in many cases CFL is more appropriate option both in terms of cost, energy savings and quality of illumination. 
It is important to understand the application of LEDs. No doubt they are better in saving energy, but they are suitable for only certain type of applications. LED is increasingly being used for general illumination too. I would say LED technology per se is not yet ready for application in general illumination.
There are lots of technical issues that currently limit the use of LEDs in general illumination. Since LEDs are a point source of light, direct view of LEDs for a long time is harmful to your eyes mostly due to glare issues. We still don’t have standard rules of use established for LEDs like we have for other lamp sources.
How do you see the problems in lighting in workshop, factories where some manufacturing activities are being carried out.
Lighting has to be configured depending on factory type and the type of work. For example if you are doing fine work you need more light and visibility. So the use of only skylight or high-bay light may not be enough. Bad lighting will affect both health of the person and production quality. Illumination levels in factories are one area that gets scarce attention. It becomes even more critical in places where hazardous chemicals, acids etc. are used in production process.
What are immediate and urgent areas of improvements in closed temperature controlled environments?
An important area of improvement is the layout of lights. Typically, one will see cluster of two or four lights put in one line running above the cubicles. Now this is easy for maintenance but a extremly poor design when we consider working conditions and energy consumption. Use of target or task oriented lighting can help in saving energy, but is often pushed aside citing higher capital expenditure.
For many of the companies, today, employees work late into the night. This affects the Circadian cycle of employees, which in turn leads to loss of sleep and other health problems. Proper lighting can be very useful minimizing the health related problems due to all night shifts or working late into the night.
How are we placed vis a vis the developed world in terms of lighting?
We in India are a lagging a step behind. For example, use of T2, T3 type tubelight is prevalent in the developed world. In India we still use T5 type of light.
What are the future trends in terms of technology in lighting?
There are organic LEDs on the horizon. We can say there are the next generation of current LED lights. Then there are phosphorus sheets, which are as thin as a paper and are likely to find commercial application in lighting.
In terms of overall nature of technology evolution, I think over the next one or two decades we will get to see huge variants of lights being developed and used for extremely specific purpose. So the field as a whole will be very specialized and the co-relation between technology and application or utility will be tighter. For example, the phosphorous sheet lighting probably has no or limited application in general lighting but has great utility for some specific application.
Other dominant theme, we all know is energy savings. So we are more likely to see cheaper versions of far more energy efficient lighting in near future.
To conclude, I would say we will have an ever expanding choice of technology and ever increasing choice of variants for each technology. Typically, today for any project we evaluate over 200 different types of lamps with huge number of variants in each type. As this figure grows the real challenge will be pick and choose the right type of lighting for your application. Ultimately, Lighting is a combination of both Art and Science. And as consultant we have to keep the focus to bring in both in our work.
