The first year of My Energy course at Uni involved a brilliant Lecturer to come and give us a talk. This gentleman is 'Mr Lighting'. There is nothing about lighting he doesn't know. Simply put, he's into lighting how we are into shaving.
He had one of these beards, which just demands attention and admiration. I will never forget him.
He does the lighting for big names like Buckingham palace and so on. Anyway, he came in with what I can only describe as 4 massive, industrial 'suitcases'. Each opened out into a type of market stall displaying hundreds of different types of bulbs, or
'lamps' as the pro's call them. All in various shapes and sizes that I have never seen. He had a go at B&Q type stores for stocking rubbish lamps.
He asked my friend to go and stand under a particular light. My friend has pale skin. The light was switched on and my friend instantly looked healthier, and had a subtle but natural-looking glow/tan. The transformation was unreal. Yet, it didn't look like there was a light being shined from above.
He said lamps like these can be used in hospitals so when visitors come and see a patient, they can comment on how well the patient looks and it would keep their spirits high. Sounds crazy, but you had to be there and see it. He talked about different applications for beam angles and all kinds of stuff that I never really thought about.
For example, I remembered him recommending this series of lamp
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The rest of the lecture followed with great interaction and enthusiasm. One of my best-ever lectures.
One of his main points was that we (the students) should go to a proper lighting shop. The likes of B&Q are not going to sell you a top lamp; in the same the way you're not going to pick up a top DE razor at your local supermarket's shaving section.
There are MUCH better energy saving lamps out there, but we have been pushed into buying the most common and cheaply produced one's that you can now pick up for 70p.
I convinced my dad to buy some expensive energy-saving lamps for our living room, on recommendation from my lecturer. They were expensive, but in 4 years not a single one (8 in total) have blown out, and they only takes 20-30s to reach full brightness. The light quality is very good and as close to traditional tungsten bulbs as you can get. The lighting shop we went to, had to order them in.
I read somewhere that companies have wasted millions into the cheaper, common fluorescent lamps and legislation was rushed in to help them sell all their stock.
The lights in the rest of our place need replacing next year and I will be looking at my notes from that lecture when I've saved up to replace them.
