Call it the Ikea-fication of America. It seems that more and more people are  getting interested in design, especially when it comes to their own home. In  decades past, household furniture and decorations didn't vary a whole lot.  Growing up in the twentieth century, odds are your friends' homes probably had  a pretty similar couch and coffee table as your own. Thanks to new technology  and an explosion of interest in retro styles, that has changed.  

 Let There Be Light

 New construction methods for residential developments over the years have  ushered a new level of diversity in housing stock. There's the prewar single  family home, the mid-century condo, and the newer steel-and-concrete buildings.  Tastes vary more than ever, and interior designers are enjoying the array of  projects. But design is not just furniture and hanging art. A huge component to  the feel of a home is the lighting, and new technology on the market is  changing the way our homes look and feel. The changes are also economic.  Emerging technology will influence maintenance costs, energy bills and even how  we interact with light on a daily basis.  

 For decades, the American market overwhelmingly depended on incandescent bulbs  since electricity entered residential homes in the 1910s. Incandescent bulbs  use a thin filament that heats up with an electrical current, and emits a very  pleasant, warm yellow light. Despite their warm glow, they are very  inefficient. Incandescent bulbs work at about five percent energy efficiency,  and they burn out quickly. “A high-voltage [incandescent] bulb will draw 100 watts of power. The 100-watt lamp usually works for about 500 hours,” says Harold Salkin, the president of Custom Lighting of America in Royal Palm  Beach.  

 Before the advent of newer technologies, most consumers considered wattage to be  synonymous with brightness. A 60-watt bulb worked well for a reading lamp, and  a 100-watt bulb was typically used for overhead area lighting. But in fact,  wattage only signifies the amount of power being used to generate light. “A 12-volt low voltage system to equal 100 watts, we would use a 35-watt halogen  lamp for the same output,” says Salkin. When growing energy prices prompted more demand for efficiency,  the easiest switch from incandescent was halogen. For the most part, halogen  lights maintain a similar quality of warm light, and are considerably more  efficient that than incandescents.  

 Incandescents, Halogens, Fluorescents

 For years the most reasonable alternative to the incandescent and halogen bulbs  was fluorescent light. Everyone knows fluorescent light from offices, malls,  and many other commercial spaces. “Fluorescents are never really a good choice, because it's a harsh type of  lighting,” says Arnold Schulman, founder and principal designer at Arnold Schulman Design  Group in Miami. That's why they never gained favor in residential homes,  despite their much greater energy efficiency. Today, compact fluorescent bulbs,  which work in a typical incandescent socket, are replacing incandescents on the  residential market, due to the demand for greater efficiency and new federal  laws, limiting the sale of the incandescent bulbs. “Incandescent gives you the warmest type of lighting, but with new laws  incandescents are going to be a thing of the past,” says Schulman.  

 “People are willing to invest a little more in a better technology, especially in  the last 12 to 18 months. People realize they pay a little bit more now, but  they save down the road,” says Zev Herman, president of Superior Lighting in Fort Lauderdale. That better  technology is the light-emitting diode, also known as LED. They're used for TV  and computer monitor displays, and now they're increasingly being used as a  light source. Unlike its predecessors, LED uses an electronic process to  generate light. “Compared to a halogen, which is like a mechanical process, LED is an electronic  process.” Because it has computer chips, and companies like Cree and Samsung today have  the best chips in the world, says Salkin, LEDs still give off heat, just as  computer processors do. But, they use far less energy. “With LEDs, we can use a seven-watt system and get the same amount of light from  a 100-watt incandescent,” says Salkin. “One 35-watt halogen lamp will get 5,000 to 10,000 hours average use before it  needs to be tossed. The LED is rated anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 hours of  consumption,” he says.  

 Light-Emitting Diodes

 At first the novelty of LEDs and their easy maintenance made them more popular  in outdoor situations, but the technology wasn't quite there yet for indoor  lighting. “When LEDs first came on the scene the only available lighting was also a very  harsh type of lighting, a very blue-white light. It was a very unflattering  light,” says Schulman. “The LED industry has come a long way. They're now able to give you more light  per bulb, and they're also able to give you warmer light, different qualities  of light. You can almost produce an incandescent value light out of an LED bulb  now,” he says. The increased use of LEDs indoors also has to do with new construction  techniques. Newer condo buildings are built with steel support structures, and  then concrete is poured in for the ceilings and floors. “Concrete ceilings don't allow you to put in recessed lighting, which is the best  kind of lighting, in order to do overhead recessed lighting, you have to get  creative by building soffits or coffers,” says Schulman. The concrete ceilings don't allow for installers to wire an  overhead fixture, he says.  

 Designers and architects are finding creative ways to combat the problem. One  innovation is in perimeter lighting. “With LEDs, you don't have to drop the ceiling as much because LED fixtures are  not as deep. LED lighting comes in a form like tape lighting. What's happened a  lot is you drop the ceiling two or three inches, and you perimeter light the  room,” says Schulman. As you can imagine, perimeter lighting can feel quite different  than traditional overhead lights. They wash the walls, and the quality of light  is much more indirect in the middle of the room, where people spend most of  their time. Condo owners that opt for perimeter lighting also like the ability  to change the lights with different settings, depending on how the room's being  used at a given time.  

 LEDs are not just for the living room or kitchen. They're also being used more  and more in common areas. Even though the upfront cost is more expensive than  the alternatives, the nature of the technology offers more cost-savings than  just a lower energy bill. “On an installation like a condo, you're going to save on the shipping of the new  bulbs that have to be changed out. You don't have to pay the person that  changes the bulbs, that comes into the formula of savings,” says Salkin. That's because LEDs tend to last between 25,000 and 50,000 hours  on average, so they rarely need to be changed. For example, 50,000 hours would  mean almost 6 years of luminosity if  it was never turned off.

 Ambiance at a Reasonable Price

 Still, the market prices for LEDs will only go down as they become more popular.  “All of the technology is changing on a monthly basis,” says Salkin. He says he gets samples of new LED products and technology that  are giving the light quality of incandescents a run for its money, and he  expected the price will run pretty close to halogens and incandescents in just  a couple of years.  

 LEDs are changing everything when it comes to design, but form still follows  function in many ways. One way designers have adapted from the growing lack of  overhead lighting is with sconce lighting. Sconce lighting is where you have  fixtures on the walls, decorative fixtures often of metal and glass. They  become like art pieces and they also light the area, so it's like a two-in-one,” says Schulman.  

 “If it's properly introduced to the core of the room, it becomes part of the  ambiance of the entire room. It draws your eye up and gives you the whole  height of the room as opposed to just looking at the furniture at a low level.”  

 Fixtures and sconce lighting are also an important consideration in common areas  and lobbies, and with the huge spectrum of designs and styles, sometimes it's a  hard decision to make. “Be open to the suggestions that the experts will give you. Usually it's just to  try a couple fixtures before you buy them,” says Herman. “Don't just buy something off the Internet or what someone tells you looks nice.  You got to actually get a sample and put one in and make sure you like the  fixture and make sure you like the light out of it,” he says.  

 In lobbies and some common areas, LEDs show their current limitations. “Up until now, LED hasn't been very effective over about 10 or 12 feet high, so  some of these condos have very high ceilings, and LED hasn't gotten there yet,  but they're working on it. You're dealing with between 2 and 12 watts, so  although on a lower ceiling they've come a long way with the spread and  intensity of the light, they're very close to giving you proper lighting from a  height of 20 to 25 feet. Some lobbies are that high,” says Schulman. Designers and installers also have to be aware of safety  concerns. “You want to make sure it's ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. It  can't stick out more than four inches off the wall,” says Herman. Also, you have to make sure the wall and lights are high enough so  that people who have visual disabilities don’t walk into them.  

 A Matter of Taste

 Design and decoration can be a matter of personal taste. Now, more than ever,  tastes are diverse and many designers and lighting companies are aware of the  newer technologies. Advancements in light technology also will lead the way to  being more energy-efficient. Not only do LEDs lower your energy consumption,  they're also affording new ways to light your home. With the pace of innovation  getting faster and faster, it's hard to say what will be possible even five  years from now.  

 Tom Lisi is an editorial assistant at The South Florida Cooperator and other  publications.