Again?

I've lost count of how often I've written it down, spelled it out and talked it through. Back when everyone praised the compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) to the skies and trashed the incandescent lamp, I was the lone voice that kept saying "But wait a minute, let's think a bit more." Not only the lamp manufacturers but also the state (the energy ministry) and the environmental groups (Greenpeace) joined hands and rushed to change our lamps. While they saved our world(!), I stammered "but, but" like a naive child. CFLs contain mercury, and nobody had solved recycling. It was clear that this hysterical switch would hand us a bill we can't pay in the long run. It was no use. We happily swapped out our lamps. (A personal choice. There isn't a single compact fluorescent in my home. I keep a large stock of incandescent lamps, and I recommend you do the same.) Within 5 to 10 years we will all see the results. Statistics on waste collectors who get cancer, or more environmental disasters at landfill sites, will force us to think again. Sadly, by then it will be too late.

Now we face a new era. The LED revolution. LED in front of us, behind us, to our left and to our right. Now the CFL is a big no-no. Marketing documents talk more and more about its mercury and the harm it does to the environment. Please don't take this as me blaming anyone. Marketing is the art of making a case. You have to make the best of the material you have. But we shouldn't conclude that the products on sale work always and everywhere, or that they win in every situation. And with LED in particular, you don't have to offer every client colour change just because LED can do it. If we had used CFLs only where they belonged, I would have had no objection. But no, you said they were right for everything. You said change them. Nobody mentioned that they can't be dimmed, that their life gets shorter outdoors, or that they must not go into closed luminaires. What a waste. We are left with millions of CFLs that will be rubbish in a year or two. Today the same goes for LED.

Once again, all of us will have to live with the results of this aggressive marketing. This time the balance sheet is good for the environment. LED clearly contains no chemicals that harm the environment. The problem is the speed of the switch. The trouble it causes will, in the long run, destroy faith in the industry once again. People talk about hotel projects in Antalya that turned into LED junkyards within 6 months. How will you persuade that bitter client to use LED again? We have historic buildings that our mayors, with Singapore as their model, have turned into fairgrounds. Driving back into the city from the Tüyap exhibition centre on the E5, we now pass kebab houses in every colour on both sides of the road. And there are more of them every day. Our culture never had this many colours, so why the rush to sell LED?

What I'm trying to say is this: The switch will happen. Change is a must. We should move to every new technology over time and with our eyes open. We don't have to rush in, smashing everything on the way. Sometimes our industry starts to look to me like a big halay (a Turkish folk line dance) that tramples whoever gets in front of it. Let's breathe, calm down and act with common sense. That's all I ask. We made this mistake once. Let's not make it again. Please...

Stay with the light until our next issue…

Emre Güneş
Professional Lighting Design Türkiye