Thumbs up to some others acting against the ever increasing regulation of what lighting can or can't be used. Unsurprisingly, it comes from a special sector - it's no doubt easier to engage people on specific issues rather than more generally, all the more so if it involves their daily lives.
So, after petitions and complaints from those concerned with cinema/photography or museum/exhibition work, here's a campaign from those primarily concerned with theatre, music and other event and stage lighting:
The UK based Save Tungsten Campaign (website, facebook page, twitter)
The organisation behind it is therefore ALD, the Association of Lighting Designers, quote
"the professional body representing all those who work or are interested in the creation of lighting design for live performance and events in the United Kingdom and around the world".Save Tungsten Campaign Website introduction:
Incandescence — The Magic of Light
Stage lighting is telling stories with light . . . light that creates the air that surround the performer, magically creating ‘place’ in which the theatre: actor and audience, spring to life.
We need light onstage; sunlight, moonlight, twilight, firelight, candlelight, oil, gaslight, limelight, fluorescent, carbon arc, plasma, LED . . . and incandescent light. We know we live in a time of dramatic change. It is mandatory that we in the theatre reduce our carbon footprint, otherwise our stages will likely be washed away before our globe becomes uninhabitable.
We designers welcome and embrace change. We revel in new things and new lights. But we cannot throw away all the good things that we have inherited. We applaud new light sources, we will learn their characteristics, and enjoy the new opportunities they bring.
We must have flexible light; light that can be warm or cool; light that can be ever-so dim or blindingly bright, light that can subtly or brashly change its characteristics, full wave-length light that can truly reveal every color in the spectrum; but most of all, beautifully illuminate the human face, the humanity, which lies at the heart of all our work.
At the present time, that means that the incandescent lamp is an essential weapon in the designers’ arsenal . . . it cannot be done without. Nothing exists that offers the subtlety that is fundamental to our stage. We will use all that is new, but we must not lose or destroy the beauty of the light that has, for so long, been the center of our world of theatre.
Preserve the availability of incandescent light sources for theatrical use.
Richard Pilbrow
ALD President
Friday, March 15, 2013
Extract from the Facebook description:
Michael Hulls, Paule Constable, Neil Austin, David Finn and a whole bunch of us are trying to galvanise support amongst live event lighting designers, electricians and supervisors (concerts, drama, musicals, opera, dance) for a campaign to preserve Tungsten sources and their production in the future.
We started off worrying that Government legislation would kill off Tungsten as a source but many of us are now more concerned at the reduction in the production of various types of Tungsten lamps - it seems the manufacturers themselves are starting to push towards other sources and are phasing out Tungsten lamps by stealth.
So we propose to lobby manufacturers of lighting instruments and lamps, particularly Phillips because of their enormous global market and because they have stated that they are no longer investing any R&D into Tungsten lamp technology.
Facebook update post October 23 2013
(my emphases and parentheses [italic] comments added)
Progress update from James Laws:
In any “Save anything” campaign, there is an initial wake-up call to a situation, followed by a lot of worrying in ignorance. Thanks to the two meetings précised below, we can now work within evolving parameters, which is less exhausting and more likely to bring us results. By the time these meetings were convened, there was realisation that, in general terms, the supply of tungsten lamps is endangered by legislation and lamp manufacturers’ interpretation of and reaction to that legislation.
Meeting 1: London, 12 June
The ABTT show was the first chance for the Save Tungsten campaigners to meet with a major lamp manufacturer, John Gorse of Philips Lighting. Mr Gorse is also Chair of the Lighting Industry Association (LIA) Technical Committee. His Philips colleague, Id Inval Wynne Jones, who is Secretary of the same committee, was also there. The following brief resume is taken from some excellent notes taken by Andy Collier with an accuracy and scientific understanding that we shall sorely miss.
Richard Pilbrow chaired the meeting for some twenty campaigners. Michael Hulls stressed that we want to sort fact from fiction on how legislation affects the lamps that we need and what the timescale is for withdrawal of tungsten.
Laurence Barling, Technical Manager of the LIA, explained that legislation is progressing from non-directional lamps to include some directional lamps next year. However, many of our lamps are protected, as they are non-domestic.
Specific examples of domestic lamps as tabled by Mark Jonathan were vulnerable because LED alternatives are being developed and marketed. However, Philips is worried at the speed of banning [Hardly!] (complete in some cases by 2016) because of the problem of dimming the replacements.
A discussion ensued concerning dimming and questioning the will of Philips and others to continue to manufacture tungsten domestic lamps for specialist markets.
[Presumably here as elsewhere Philips seeks bans on all their less profitable varieties to block others from making them - which is understandable, but should not get political backing]
Meeting 2: Brussels, 21 June
This was a short exploratory meeting between Ruben Kubiak, the Official of the European Commission (EC) who is responsible for the Regulations on Ecodesign of Lamps, and Simon Pike, ALD member. Simon was able to demonstrate that LED is not always an adequate substitute for tungsten. From this initial understanding, the following points emerged:
• We need to make specific requests to the EC and others. Blanket modification of regulations will not happen.
• Our use of domestic lamps for theatrical use can be protected within the regulations.
Simon then gave a good explanation of the differences in scope of the non-directional and directional regulations. Simon gives some useful websites for further research and four specific recommendations, as follows:
1) Lighting designers need to define their objectives in terms that are understandable to policy-makers (in particular, the European Commission).
2) The ALD should become involved in the quarterly UK government meetings on Ecodesign (I will investigate further).
3) Investigate whether PEARLE would be an appropriate body, and willing, to represent the interests of the lighting community on the Commission Ecodesign Forum. Do any Save Tungsten campaigners have contacts in SOLT or TMA? Paule Constable is currently in touch with SOLT.
4) Investigate whether lack of knowledge is discouraging theatre suppliers from selling lamps as “special purpose lamps”. If this is a problem, consider developing a guidance note.
“Our Man in Brussels” will prove invaluable as this saga unfolds.
Thanks to John Gorse and Philips for their contribution to clarifying the situation.
May follow up with these in separate post or posts to prevent undue length here:
Philips reaction, June 2013
Philips allays theatre designers’ fears over future of tungsten lamps
eg John Gorse, technical marketing manager at Philips, said that – in terms of the legislation – "the amount of products that are going to be specifically affected is nothing really to worry about"... "loopholes in current legislation banning tungsten bulbs for the domestic market enable theatre designers to access lamps that might be banned in the UK." Ah yes, sounds familiar.
Also, UK lighting designer and EU consultative "stakeholder" Kevan Shaw of savethebulb.org has on his company blog a good post about this, describing the limitations of LEDs in substituting for Tungsten lamps for concert lighting.
Regarding the EU consultations mentioned, there will be a public consultative meeting November 25 in Brussels about the general EU incandescent lighting regulations as introduced 2009 on domestic markets.
More information about it will be seen here and on the Facebook group that relates to this blog:
Incandescent Light Bulb Alliance (http://facebook.com/groups/bulballiance)
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