Taiwan Promotes Green Life Through Lighting Innovation

Through decades of transformation and upgrading, Taiwan's lighting industry has earned global recognition not only for its industrial technology, but also for its product innovation.

Taiwan's lighting products, which incorporate creative and artistic design in addition to skilled manufacturing technologies, have won international awards annually in recent years. To encourage companies to be dedicated to product design, the organizers of this year's Taiwan International Lighting Show (TILS), the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association (TLFEA), worked out an “Innovative Product Award” contest for the first time. The response from lighting suppliers has been enthusiastic.

Of 87 entries from 50 companies, 10 items entered the final competition and three were selected as the final award winners: The “LED Glass Brick” by Lei Yueh Enterprise Co., “3D LED Crystal Cube” by Ledgend Technology Inc., and “'ALBERO' LED Floor Lamp” by Darfon Lighting Corp.

“Now, Taiwan's lighting companies are very active in joining various product design competitions,” commented Y.C. Chao, president and CEO of TAITRA. “This implies that they are very confident of their products.” Chao noted that some products which failed to win the “Innovative Product Award” went on to win other competitions; indeed, he said, he considered every entry in the contest a creative masterpiece.

“Lighting is one of the strategic industries that the government has pinpointed for development as a major locomotive force for Taiwan's economic growth in the 21st century,” said Jerry Ou, director general of the Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Ou, who presented the awards on behalf of the MOEA, made his remarks at the awards ceremony held on the opening day of TILS, which ran May 18-21. “All of the entries are innovative in many ways, so the contest is extremely hard to judge,” he said. The three winning products, along with the other seven finalists, were displayed at the TILS “Innovative Product Pavilion.”

LED Glass Brick─Lei Yueh Enterprise Co.
The LED Glass Brick developed by Lei Yueh Enterprise is a combination of LED lighting and glass construction material. The company uses LED technology to give its glass bricks a colorful lighting effect, making them especially suited to construction projects with a special emphasis on wall decoration or public lighting. “The colorful lighting emanating from the walls can make a building feel like a crystal palace,” said Ethan Lin, the company's marketing manager.

Applied along the Love River in Kaohsiung, the LED Glass Brick provides a wondrous atmosphere that is also fitted to five-star hotels and other public places. A further advantage is that the LED bulbs used in the glass bricks are energy-efficient and have a long life span.

Lin believes that the ambiance generated by the LED Glass Brick is so unique that no other lighting product can compete with it, with colors that change automatically to present a colorful world. “The LED Glass Bricks made with embedded IC chips allow users to adjust the ways the color of the lighting changes,” he stressed.

Lei Yueh has been dedicated to lighting design and production for over three decades since its establishment in 1976, and is now a specialized company for lighting production, design, and marketing.

3D LED Crystal Cube ─ Ledgend Technology Inc.
The 3D LED Crystal Cube made by Ledgend Technology is a transparent box embedded with numerous LED bulbs that present changing visual effects in different shapes. “What is presented inside the box can be pictures, logos, abstract images, or simple text messages, and all of them can be customized to fit the special demands of different users,” said a company official. Ledgend is promoting its 3D LED Crystal Cube a brand-new advertising medium.

According to the company, the built-in chip system that controls the LED light bulbs enables the box to present messages in three languages: Chinese, English, and Japanese. The cube can be made in any shape or size based on customers' requirements. “It could be as small as a jewel display box,” commented the official, “or as large as a pillar reaching from floor to ceiling.”

The LED bulbs can be used in both cold and hot environments ranging in temperature from minus 10 to plus 40 degrees Celsius. The life expectancy of the LED bulbs is about 5 million hours.

Ledgend Technology was established in 2008 as an LED lighting designer and manufacturer. The name is a combination of LED and Legend, implying that the company creates legendary applications of LED lighting products through creative design.

“ALBERO” LED Floor Lamp ─ Darfon Lighting Corp.
The “ALBERO” LED Floor Lamp from Darfon Lighting Corp. comes in the shape of a tree, bringing the abstract concept of natural plant life into the home. According to the company, “ALBERO” is the Italian word for “tree.” A unique feature of the “ALBERO” floor lamp is that its branches incorporate multiprocessors which calculate the energy needs of each branch according to its height and angle.

As a subsidiary of the Darfon Electronics Corp., Darfon Lighting focuses on making lighting products using new-generation energy-saving lighting sources. “Since its establishment,” commented Andy Su, president of Darfon Electronics and chairman of Darfon Lighting, “the company has earned various international and domestic lighting awards for its innovative lighting products such as the CALLA LED Desk Lamp, CALLA PLUS Floor Lamp, and ALBERO LED Floor Lamp.” The ALBERO can be extended to 190 cm in height and has a minimum illumination of 600 lux.

Dimmable LED Street Lamp without Adaptor ─ Justenergy Technology Corp.
Justenergy Technology Corp., which was established under Advanced Connectek Inc. only in March, had two products that reached the finals of the “Innovative Product Award” contest. Though it failed to win an award this time, its parent Advanced Connectek has won several prestigious awards including the iF Gold in Germany, IDEA in the U.S., Taiwan Excellence. The Dimmable LED Street Lamp without Adaptor is able to operate without a transformer and saves cost by using power efficiently.

The LED bulb used in the street lamp can withstand temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius and as high as plus 100 degrees. The bulb is highly efficient, light, and compact, and has a life span of 20,000 hours. The company's Dimmable HV LED Pendant Lamp has features similar to those of the Dimmable LED Street Lamp without Adaptor, but is designed mainly to be used indoors.